Big 5 Personality Traits and Individual- and Practice-Related Characteristics as Influencing Factors of Digital Maturity in General Practices: Quantitative Web-Based Survey Study

BackgroundVarious studies propose the significance of digital maturity in ensuring effective patient care and enabling improved health outcomes, a successful digital transformation, and optimized service delivery. Although previous research has centered around inpatient health care settings, research on digital maturity in general practices is still in its infancy. ObjectiveAs general practitioners (GPs) are the first point of contact for most patients, we aimed to shed light on the pivotal role of GPs’ inherent characteristics, especially their personality, in the digital maturity of general practices. MethodsIn the first step, we applied a sequential mixed methods approach involving a literature review and expert interviews with GPs to construct the digital maturity scale used in this study. Next, we designed a web-based survey to assess digital maturity on a 5-point Likert-type scale and analyze the relationship with relevant inherent characteristics using ANOVAs and regression analysis. ResultsOur web-based survey with 219 GPs revealed that digital maturity was overall moderate (mean 3.31, SD 0.64) and substantially associated with several characteristics inherent to the GP. We found differences in overall digital maturity based on GPs’ gender, the expected future use of digital health solutions, the perceived digital affinity of medical assistants, GPs’ level of digital affinity, and GPs’ level of extraversion and neuroticism. In a regression model, a higher expected future use, a higher perceived digital affinity of medical assistants, a higher digital affinity of GPs, and lower neuroticism were substantial predictors of overall digital maturity. ConclusionsOur study highlights the impact of GPs’ inherent characteristics, especially their personality, on the digital maturity of general practices. By identifying these inherent influencing factors, our findings support targeted approaches to drive digital maturity in general practice settings.