IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i23p15778-d985703.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What Is Holding Back The Use of Drones for Medication Delivery in Rural Australia?

Author

Listed:
  • William Hogan

    (Department of Aviation, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia)

  • Matthew Harris

    (Department of Aviation, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia)

  • Alexander Brock

    (Department of Aviation, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia)

  • John Rodwell

    (Department of Management & Marketing, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia)

Abstract

In Australia, there is a significant health gap between rural and urban populations. One set of tools that could help lessen that gap is drones used for pharmaceutical delivery. There are extensive regulations surrounding the dispensing of prescription and controlled drugs, as well as strict requirements from aviation regulations for drone operators to meet. To assess and analyse the issues associated with operating at the intersection of pharmaceutical and aviation regulations in Australia, institutional theories can be applied. To inductively shed light on the key issues associated with the use of drones for the delivery of pharmaceuticals, a series of interviews were conducted using a truncated convergent interviewing approach. The common issues raised amongst experts highlight the complex challenge when developing drone networks for the delivery of pharmaceuticals. The main constraints appear to be due to aviation, not medication regulation. Legal grey areas, regulator inflexibility and other regulatory concerns stemming from strong institutional forces have created an environment limiting the use of drone delivery. Until drone regulations are changed, the potential of this innovative and developing sector is substantially restrained and those living in regional and rural areas will continue to have limited access to healthcare.

Suggested Citation

  • William Hogan & Matthew Harris & Alexander Brock & John Rodwell, 2022. "What Is Holding Back The Use of Drones for Medication Delivery in Rural Australia?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-12, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:23:p:15778-:d:985703
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/23/15778/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/23/15778/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Blake E. Ashforth & Barrie W. Gibbs, 1990. "The Double-Edge of Organizational Legitimation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 1(2), pages 177-194, May.
    2. Jennifer Howard-Grenville & Karen Golden-Biddle & Jennifer Irwin & Jina Mao, 2011. "Liminality as Cultural Process for Cultural Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(2), pages 522-539, April.
    3. Garud, Raghu & Karnoe, Peter, 2003. "Bricolage versus breakthrough: distributed and embedded agency in technology entrepreneurship," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 277-300, February.
    4. Christine Oliver, 1997. "Sustainable competitive advantage: combining institutional and resource‐based views," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(9), pages 697-713, October.
    5. Jiyoon Park & Solhee Kim & Kyo Suh, 2018. "A Comparative Analysis of the Environmental Benefits of Drone-Based Delivery Services in Urban and Rural Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-15, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Berrone, Pascual & Gelabert, Liliana & Fosfuri, Andrea & Gomez-Mejia, Luis R., 2007. "Can institutional forces create competitive advantage? An empirical examination of environmental innovation," IESE Research Papers D/723, IESE Business School.
    2. Gurneeta Vasudeva & Jennifer W. Spencer & Hildy J. Teegen, 2013. "Bringing the Institutional Context Back In: A Cross-National Comparison of Alliance Partner Selection and Knowledge Acquisition," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(2), pages 319-338, April.
    3. Lavandoski, Joice & Albino Silva, João & Vargas-Sánchez, Alfonso, 2014. "Institutional Theory In Tourism Studies: Evidence And Future Directions," Spatial and Organizational Dynamics Discussion Papers 2014-3, CIEO-Research Centre for Spatial and Organizational Dynamics, University of Algarve.
    4. Alex Nicholls, 2010. "The Legitimacy of Social Entrepreneurship: Reflexive Isomorphism in a Pre–Paradigmatic Field," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 34(4), pages 611-633, July.
    5. Scott R. Colwell & Ashwin W. Joshi, 2013. "Corporate Ecological Responsiveness: Antecedent Effects of Institutional Pressure and Top Management Commitment and Their Impact on Organizational Performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 73-91, February.
    6. Xiaoyu Yu & Yajie Li & Zhongfeng Su & Yida Tao & Bang Nguyen & Fan Xia, 2020. "Entrepreneurial bricolage and its effects on new venture growth and adaptiveness in an emerging economy," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 37(4), pages 1141-1163, December.
    7. Xiaoyu Yu & Yajie Li & Daniel Q. Chen & Xiaotong Meng & Xiangming Tao, 2019. "Entrepreneurial bricolage and online store performance in emerging economies," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 29(2), pages 167-185, June.
    8. Marco Aurélio Lima de Queiroz & Flávio Carvalho de Vasconcelos & Rafael Guilherme Burstein Goldszmidt, 2007. "Economic rents and legitimacy: incorporating elements of organizational analysis institutional theory to the field of business strategy," RAC - Revista de Administração Contemporânea (Journal of Contemporary Administration), ANPAD - Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Administração, vol. 11(spe1), pages 177-198.
    9. Antoaneta P. Petkova & Violina P. Rindova & Anil K. Gupta, 2013. "No News Is Bad News: Sensegiving Activities, Media Attention, and Venture Capital Funding of New Technology Organizations," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 865-888, June.
    10. Khurshid, Hamid & Snell, Robin Stanley, 2021. "Examining mechanisms for creating shared value by Asian firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 122-133.
    11. Najda Hayajneh & Taghrid Suifan & Bader Yousef Obeidat & Mohammd Abuhashesh & Raed Kareem Kanaan, 2020. "The relationship between organizational changes and job satisfaction in the Jordanian telecommunication industry," Journal of Social Sciences (COES&RJ-JSS), , vol. 9(1), pages 1-20, January.
    12. Vitaliy Roud & Thomas Wolfgang Thurner, 2018. "The Influence of State‐Ownership on Eco‐Innovations in Russian Manufacturing Firms," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 22(5), pages 1213-1227, October.
    13. Shahzad Khurram & Sandra Charreire Petit, 2017. "Investigating the Dynamics of Stakeholder Salience: What Happens When the Institutional Change Process Unfolds?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(3), pages 485-515, July.
    14. Venugopal Gopalakrishna-Remani & Robert Paul Jones & Kerri M. Camp, 2019. "Levels of EMR Adoption in U.S. Hospitals: An Empirical Examination of Absorptive Capacity, Institutional Pressures, Top Management Beliefs, and Participation," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 21(6), pages 1325-1344, December.
    15. David Vallat, 2015. "Une alternative au dualisme État-Marché : l’économie collaborative, questions pratiques et épistémologiques," Working Papers halshs-01249308, HAL.
    16. Baier-Fuentes, Hugo & Andrade-Valbuena, Nelson A. & Huertas Gonzalez-Serrano, Maria & Gaviria-Marin, Magaly, 2023. "Bricolage as an effective tool for the survival of owner-managed SMEs during crises," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    17. Zhang, Hongjuan & Young, Michael N. & Tan, Justin & Sun, Weizheng, 2018. "How Chinese companies deal with a legitimacy imbalance when acquiring firms from developed economies," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(5), pages 752-767.
    18. Lai, Kuei-Kuei & Chen, Yu-Long & Kumar, Vimal & Daim, Tugrul & Verma, Pratima & Kao, Fang-Chen & Liu, Ruirong, 2023. "Mapping technological trajectories and exploring knowledge sources: A case study of E-payment technologies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 186(PB).
    19. Park, Hyun-Soo & Auh, Seigyoung & Maher, Amro A. & Singhapakdi, Anusorn, 2012. "Marketing's accountability and internal legitimacy: Implications for firm performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(11), pages 1576-1582.
    20. Hossfeld, Heiko, 2018. "Legitimation and institutionalization of managerial practices. The role of organizational rhetoric," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 9-21.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:23:p:15778-:d:985703. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.