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Diffusion of Innovation

Background Information

First studied by a French sociologist in 1890

Jean-Gabriel de Trade

Friedrich Ratzel continued work

Most popular display is Diffusion of Innovations by Everett Rogers

Considered founder of theory

First to publish as a theory and thematically link its concepts

(Rogers, 1995)

This social theory phenomena was first studied in the late 1800’s by a french sociologist named Jean-Gabriel de Trade. His work was later continued and expanded upon by a German anthropologist Friedrich Ratzel. The first published works including this theory is housed in the book DIFFUSION OF INNOVATION by Everett Rogers.

Everett Rogers is considered the founder of this theory because he was the first one to take all the ideas and not only study and expand upon them, but he also was the first one to create a publication dedicated to this theory.

Diffusion of Innovation

Tipping Point

Certain trends have a “tipping point” in which an idea, concept, or invention becomes adopted by the masses

The idea of the tipping point and the basic beliefs of the theory of diffusion of innovation are extremely similar, and we will explore this further in a minute.

Diffusion Defined

Is the method that an “innovation” or an idea spreads through certain channels in certain social settings

Also factors in the time it takes to spread

What are some different channels that are used to spread messages?

Peer to peer is the strongest channel

(Rogers, 1995)

A diffusion, in this sense, is the method and time it takes for a certain “idea” to spread through certain social channel. In other words, it’s the certain steps and people involved in those steps that will take an idea from just being that, an idea, to an epidemic or a wide-spread adoption

Innovation

Innovation: An idea!

An innovation is simple. It’s just an idea. However innovation isn’t the standard word used when talking about new ideas and thoughts.

Social System

Group of people who form a sub-group of the population because of a common interest

Since the term “SOCIAL SYSTEM” is in the definition let’s take a second to talk about what a social system is. It’s really a group of people divided into a subgroup according to a common interest.

Can anyone think of any ideas?

CHURCH

UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL IN GENERAL

HOMETOWN

SES

Etc?

Synthesis!

Diffusion of Innovation:

“the process by which an innovation is communicated throughout certain channels among members of a social system over a certain amount of time”

(Rogers, 1995)

Now that we know definition let’s start and try to understand this social theory. As a refresher, the diffusion of innovation theory is defined as “THE PROCESS BY WHICH AN INNOVATION IS COMMUNICATED THROUGH CERTAIN CHANNELS OVER TIME AMONG THE MEMBERS OF A SOCIAL SYSTEM. According to the theory, there are four main CONSTRUCTS one has to factor into the equation of idea adoption.

Main Categories of DOI

Characteristics of Innovations

5 sub-constructs

Characteristics of Individuals

5 categories of system member innovativeness

“Channels” of communication:

the context of one’s social system

the influence of opinion leaders

The Diffusion Process (i.e., timeframe)

5-step process

(Orr, 2003)

Remember, peer-to-peer networks are the strongest channels for diffusion

Characteristics of Innovation

RELATIVE ADVANTAGE

COMPATIBILITY

COMPLEXITY

TRIALABILITY

OBSERVABILITY

Characteristics of Innovation

Relative advantage

The degree to which an innovation is seen as superior to the idea before it

Satisfaction, convenience and social prestige all play a part in this sub-construct

(Orr, 2003)

The first one is RELATIVE ADVANTAGE. This is the idea that the new idea, or innovation needs to be better than the idea that was before it.

Characteristics of Innovation

Compatibility

degree to which an innovation is compatible, or consistent with previous values and needs of the future

(Orr, 2003)

The second sub-construct of the innovation is compatibility. This is the degree to which an innovation follows the previous values of the social system, if it will take care of the needs of their future. The more the idea follows these compatibility sub-constructs, the more easily the idea will be adopted.

Characteristics of Innovation

Complexity

the degree to which an innovation or idea is perceived hard to understand or use

People are disinterested if an innovation is too complex

(Orr, 2003)

The third sub-construct is complexity, This is the degree to which an innovation is perceived to be hard to understand or hard to use. This is a big factor when tailoring an innovation to a particular social system. The innovation will not be adopted if the idea is too hard to understand or execute. People will become disinterested.

Characteristics of Innovation

Trialability

the ability of an innovation to be experimented with

Can an innovation be tested?

(Orr, 2003)

The fourth sub-construct is trialability. This deals with the ability of the innovation to be tested. Much like the theories we have been presenting, if an innovation can not be tested, even if the testing is limited, the idea will have a harder time being adopted.

Characteristics of Innovation

Observability

the degree to which the results of the innovation can actually be seen by others

(Orr, 2003)

The final sub-construct of innovation is observability. The easier it is for a social system to adopt an innovation if it is able to see the results.

Characteristics of Individuals

Innovativeness depends on people…

Degree to which individuals adopt new ideas faster than OTHER members of a social system

Five main adopter categories

(Rogers, 1995)

Let’s next talk about INNOVATIVENESS and the constructs of that category. This is the second construct that needs to be talked about. The next set of sub-constructs that need to be understood before fully putting the picture of DIFFUSION OF INNOVATION together include the INNOVATIVENESS of an idea, and what kind of people are critical to this process. INNOVATIVENESS basically deals with who is going to adopt the idea and when they are going to do so. There are five main adopter categories that we will be learning.

5 Categories of Adopters

Innovators

Early adopters

Early majority

Late majority

Laggards

The five main categories of adopters are, in order, the innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. It’s really important where people fall into these categories because a lot of emphasis is put on the innovators as well as the point in the process of adoption where the majority of people have adopted the innovation, thus creating a TIPPING POINT.

Innovators

First 2.5% of the individuals to adopt the innovation

Usually have financial resources available

Able to understand technical knowledge

Able to cope with a high degree of uncertainty

The most crucial people in the innovation process are the innovators themselves. These are the first 2.5% of the social system that are mainly responsible for creating the innovation in the first place. Some characteristics of an INNOVATOR include the ability to have financial resources available, able to understand technical aspects of an innovation, and the ability to cope with a high degree of uncertainty. They are the ones that create the innovation more often than not. Can anyone think of an idea of an innovator? DONALD TRUMP, Blake MYCOSKIE (mikoskey) from TOMS SHOES, BILL GATES

Early Adopters

Next 13.5% to adopt an innovation

Usually more integrated than innovators

Usually local to social system

Opinion leaders

The second set of a social system to adopt an innovation are called the early adopters. These people are usually more integrated than the innovators in their particular social system. They are the opinion leaders in their system, and are sought because they are looked at as role models. They are respected by their peers and usually take the innovation, adopt it, and than talk about it to increase the chances of adoption. A lot of times, COLLEGE KIDS are early adopters (facebook, twitter). Also included would be members, news anchors on a local news station, local politicians, etc.

Early Majority

34% of social system

Adopt an innovation just before average member does

Connected, but do not hold positions of high power

The third group are the early majority. They usually adopt an innovation before the average person in the social system. They usually interact with their peers more but do not necessarily hold positions of power. They are a very important link in the diffusion of innovation process. The early majority consists of what kind of people do you think?

Late Majority

34% of social system

Adopt the innovation just after average person

Adopt because of pressure, but are cautious

The fourth group is the late majority. They adopt the innovation just after the average person. They usually adopt an innovation because of peer pressure, but are more cautious and reserved than the first three groups. The innovation needs to be solid before the late majority adopts it, otherwise the innovation more than likely stops with this group.

Laggards

Last 16% of group

No opinion leaders

Decisions are made by the past, what has previously been done

The laggards are the last 16% of a social system to adopt an innovation. They are the hardest to convince because they use past experiences and what previously has been done as far as the innovation to decide to adopt or not. They tend to be suspicious, and resist change. The problem with this group is that their resources are limited and they may not have the full picture of the innovation when deciding to adopt or not. These might be more the elderly generation that has lived in a different era growing up.

Diffusion

Time

5 step process:

Knowledge: Person becomes aware of an innovation, has an idea of how it functions

Persuasion: Person decides whether they favor the innovation

Decision: Person engages in activities that either promote or deter them from engaging in innovation

Implementation: Person puts innovation to use

Confirmation: Person evaluates the results and decides to fully adopt the innovation

(Rogers, 1995)

The last group of sub-constructs we are going to discuss are the sub-constructs of TIME with respect to communication. The time construct is a 5-step process includes KNOWLEDGE, PERSUASION, DECISION, IMPLEMENTATION, and CONFIRMATION.

The first step in the time construct is knowledge. Much like every other idea, a person must have a knowledge base in order to begin to understand an idea, or an innovation.

Much like many of the other theories, persuasion plays a big part in how long it takes a person to adopt an innovation. If a person has a favorable attitude toward an idea, the more likely they will be to adopt it.

The decision is when the person engages in activities that either promote or deter a person to engage in an innovation.

In the confirmation step, a person evaluates their results and decides whether or not to fully adopt an innovation.

(Rogers, 1995)

To make things easier, let’s go through this flow chart to put the pieces together. At the side you see ADOPTION, which is the ultimate end result. The four main constructs include knowledge, persuasion, decision, and confirmation. All of this is done with respect to a TIME FRAME. Flowing off of the knowledge box are sub-constructs dealing with social norms and any other variable that might be factored into a decision that is based on the particular social system. Next to PERSUASION sits the 5 sub-constructs of INNOVATIENESS we discussed before. Next to the decision making process sits rejection and to the left sits adoption. In this certain process, the decision is critical in whether or not a person or social group will ADOPT or REJECT an innovation. This is where the 5 CATEGORIES OF TYPE OF SOCIAL SYSTEM GROUP plays the biggest role. Here, peer to peer relationships are the biggest indicators on whether an idea will be adopted or rejected. It is important to stress that the decision construct can go either toward adoption, or toward rejection with the two sub-constructs either being adoption at a later date or continued rejection. The fourth construct is confirmation, where the person has adopted the innovation.

Adoption

Knowledge

Persuasion

Receiver variable

Personality Characteristics

Social characteristics

Perceived need

Perceived characteristics

Relative Advantage

Compatibility

Complexity

Trialability

Observability

Decision

Adopt or Reject

Later Adoption

Continued Rejection

Confirmation

Critiques of Diffusion of Innovation

Pro-Innovation Bias

Individual Blame Bias

Does DOI transfer across cultures?

Impact of new technologies

PRO-INNOVATION BIAS means that an implicit assumption is that a given innovation will be diffused and then adopted by all members of a target group and won’t be reinvented or rejected.

INDIVIDUAL BLAME BIAS refers to the tendency to hold individuals responsible for their problems instead of the system in which they are members.

Summary

DOI theory explains trends and relates to the social aspect of epidemics

Focuses on the flow of information within a social environment

Describes how fads come and go

Let’s talk about the “SO WHAT” question. So what? So why care about this theory? This theory addresses the people and social aspect with relation to why an idea or innovation is adopted or rejected in social systems. It deals with a more broad sense of a population and key social factors and sub-groups of people who help create new innovations that are adopted. It is different that the other models that deal with social systems and influences from peer groups in the sense that the DIFFUSION OF INNOVATION theory takes into account the 5 key sub-groups of the population that help facilitate adoption of an innovation.

References

Orr, G. (2003). Diffusion of Innovation, by Everett Rogers: Reviewed by Greg Orr. From Stanford University’s Website: http://www.stanford.edu/class/symbsys205/Diffusion %20of%20Innovations.htm

Rogers, E. (1995). Diffusion of Innovation Theory. From Parsons University’s Website: http://a.parsons.edu/~limam240/thesis/documents/Diffusion_of_Innovations.pdf