Showing papers on "Diffusion of innovations published in 1974"

The need for some innovative concepts of innovation: An examination of research on the diffusion of innovations

Abstract: This paper examines research on the diffusion of innovation, the final stage in the process of technological change. The focus rests primarily on two traditions in diffusion research: that of economists and that of sociologists. Diffusion researchers in these and related disciplines have made significant contributions to the understanding of the dynamics of processes of change; yet the state of the art in diffusion research is not equal to the sum of its parts. This is due in large measure to disciplinary parochialism: scholars have concentrated on those innovations, diffusion environments, explanatory variables, and analytical methodologies which are most compatible with their particular disciplines, despite the fact that diffusion is not a discipline-specific phenomenon. Deficiencies in current understanding of diffusion are examined in the context of this and other significant problems. The paper concludes by considering the policy relevance of diffusion research and suggesting issues with which future research might productively be concerned.

The Contagion of Political Unrest in Independent Black Africa

Abstract: social communication network. The geographic scale within which such diffusion processes occur is localized. While less extensive, there also are some empirical studies that have dealt with the diffusion of innovations within regional and national settings [3; 9; 18; 23]. Characteristically, such studies are concerned with the spread of new techniques, organizations, or ideas over large geographic areas; often the adopting unit is a business, a city, or some other institution. Another distinguishing feature of diffusion processes at this geographic scale is that innovations are thought to filter down the urban hierarchy. By contrast, those at the international scale are extremely small in number, and even fewer deal with the spatial diffusion of political phenomena. However, an excellent opportunity to assess such a diffusion is provided in sub-Saharan Africa where a series of changes in governmental regimes had been brought about by explicit or implicit uses of force. Most of the countries in the sub-Saha-

The process of innovation in the subsistence agriculture of north-east Thailand, with particular reference to the Lam Pao irrigation area, Changwat Kalasin

Abstract: The fieldwork for this thesis was carried out as part of the Lam Pao Socio-economic Survey of the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London. This thesis is concerned with the process of innovation in the subsistence agriculture which characterizes the relatively backward north-eastern region of Thailand and is exemplified by the Lam Pao Irrigation Area. Research was carried out in seven sample villages. In the first chapter the regional and systematic background is delineated. The salient features of the economy of Thailand are outlined and reasons sought for the country's lack of development. Secondly, the peculiar regional problems of the north-east are described and explanations for these problems offered. The systematic background involves two frameworks. On the one hand it involves an assessment of agricultural development theory; on the other hand it involves a study of origin, adoption and diffusion of innovations. Both these theoretical frameworks are critically assessed. The next chapter outlines the importance of irrigation as a catalyst for innovations in Thailand. It then describes the fieldwork area and assesses the common and peculiar features of the study villages. Finally, methods and techniques of study, both in and out of the field, are described and the major problems encountered are listed. In Chapter 3 the subsistence nature of the Lam Pao Sample is investigated. A wide variety of indices are used, both separately and in a composite index, to determine that the area is overwhelmingly subsistent. Next, two other variables crucial to the process of innovation and development are analyzed, viz. the population pressure and the degree of unemployment, be it real or disguised. The subsistence crop of the area is glutinous rice. In Chapter 4 the traditional cultivation of this crop is assessed and then innovations in rice cultivation are analyzed. These include the commercial instead of the subsistence cultivation of rice, the cultivation of non-glutinous rice and the introduction of new strains of rice. In the next chapter new crop innovations in the area are discussed and the potential and appropriateness of each crop is assessed. In subsequent chapters livestock innovations and technical innovations are analyzed and assessed. Then the interrelationship between individual innovations is determined by the use of the Guttman scale. Education, organization and experimentation are critically considered as stimulators to innovation. Finally, conclusions are reached and the relevance of the research findings assessed.

Simulation over space

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses simulation over space. Geographers use simulation modeling for the same reasons as other investigators. The approach helps to explore the implications of hypotheses using real or idealized data, to forecast effects of anticipated or possible system changes on performance, and to approach the power and precision of the laboratory situation. The largest amount of work utilizing simulation ideas has focused on the diffusion of innovations although a trend towards examining other phenomena, such as urban growth and ghetto formation, migration, and locational efficiency of facilities is gaining strength. The concern for the spatial or distributional aspects of processes tends to differentiate geographic work on simulation from work in social science disciplines. The basic component in many geographic simulation models is the place with its associated attributes rather than the individual or social group. The chapter examines the examples of geographic simulation models. It discusses a model that is under development and is designed to explore the spatial consequences of various assumptions about the development process in a new environment.

2. Diffusion of Innovations in West Africa: A New Look at the Western Model

Abstract: At the current level of development in the study area of Togo, several of the variable relationships consistently found in western research did not obtain. Education, for example, 1ed respondents away from agriculture to new areas of interest. It is felt that the path analysis model helped to explain the complex pattern of association and focus upon other variable relationships than those traditionally examined. It was thought that the adoption variable would correlate significantly with structural differentiation supporting the argument that adoption is a function of both the level and timing of societal development. This relationship may have been affected by the limited range in the adoption variable. The relationship was somewhat stronger between ownership and structural differentiation. It is suggested that further research be conducted to investigate the full adoption process and elaborate the present theoretical structure to discriminate among societies at different levels or times of social and economic development. In summary, it can be said that use of the western diffusion model in the study situation has resulted in unexpected and inconsistent findings. These inconsistencies may have been beneficial, however, in stimulating further development of the model and understanding diffusion as one aspect of the overall modernization process.