Implementing a BYOD Mobile Device Use Policy in a Hospital: Boundary Barriers at the Individual, Unit, and Organizational Level

• In Event: mHealth

Abstract

Mobile devices facilitate connectedness in many aspects of our lives; yet workplaces remain an understudied and often regulated environment for mobile device use. This study examines how one hospital system implemented a mobile communication app to help their locally mobile workforce communicate in a timely manner. Using boundary theory, we identify the key boundary management issues that personal mobile phone use in this US hospital created at the organizational, unit, and individual level. At the organizational level, the key issues are policy legacy, communicating policy, organizational control needs, dead zones, and mobile costs. At the group level, different hospital units create their own formal and informal policies. The biggest boundary issues for individuals are private ownership of a personal mobile device, job role expectations, and decision-making autonomy. Our discussion presents an overarching model of the influences on boundary management when permissive Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies are implemented. Our model explains why it is not easy to tell employees, “Go ahead and use your mobiles at work,” and have them immediately embrace this new way of communicating.

Authors

• Keri Keilberg Stephens, U of Texas - Austin

• Yaguang Zhu, The University of Texas at Austin

• Millie Harrison, The University of Texas at Austin

• Meena Iyer, Seton Hospital

• Terrie Hairston, RN, Seton Hospital

• John Luk, MD, U of Texas at Austin