Article 1 AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON HUMAN, TECHNOLOGICAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL INTERACTIONS WITHIN HEALTH CARE SINDRE HØYLAND University of Stavanger, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Media, Culture and Social Sciences, N-4036 Stavanger, Norway. Phone: +47-5183-1514, Email: sindre.hoyland@uis.no (corresponding author) KARINA AASE University of Stavanger, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Media, Culture and Social Sciences, N-4036 Stavanger, Norway. Phone: +47-5183-1534, Email: karina.aase@uis.no Abstract - This paper examines interactions between humans, technology, and organization within health care based on a case study exploring the process and outcome of implementing an electronic error reporting system in a large health care organization. By applying a within-case triangulation of qualitative data from three studies at a regional Norwegian hospital, this paper identifies eight interactions that influence the process and outcome; of these identified interactions, six were of a negative character compared to one positive and one partly positive. In light of these results, it is evident that early awareness and the identification of interactions occurring during an organization’s process of implementing a new technology or system can help target and break possible chains of negative influences as well as strengthen positive influences. Key words: Human, technological and organizational interactions; identifying theoretical and empirical interactions; system implementation. INTRODUCTION Complex interactions between humans, technology, and organization characterize a health care organization (Kohn, Corrigan, & Donaldson, 1999; Gaba, 2000; Institute of Medicine, 2001). The level of complexity is apparent in the contrast between the non-standardized nature of health care work and the standard working modes required by electronic reporting and/or information systems (Berg, 2003). The complexity is also evident in the incompatibility between the traditionally applied reactive and punitive approach to deviations and errors in health care (Hudson, 2003) and the need to develop a reporting system and organizational culture that supports learning and reflection rather than punishes errors (Kaplan & Fastman, 2003). Moreover, previous studies have suggested that relations exist between the introduction of new reform processes in health care, the dominant mentality of increased efficiency among managers and employees, and the culture of silence and lack of reporting initiatives at the enterprise level (Wiig & Aase, 2007). Further chains of complexity result from those already described; for example, the absence of an individual and collective learning due to a reactive culture can be linked to new reforms and production goals shaping the everyday mentality of efficiency rather than safety among managers and employees within health care. This chain and others like it add to the impression of complexity when studying the health care organization, making it problematic to clearly isolate individual human, technological, and organizational influences on information technology and/or systems. To address this difficulty, the current article focuses on identifying human, technological, and organizational interactions rather than individual influences by combining several theoretical perspectives on the human, technological, and organizational aspects of implementing information systems and technology. Together, these perspectives provide a selection of theoretical interactions used to identify and describe the nature of the Issue 1 2008 V V O O L L 1 1 2 2