Showing papers on "Diffusion of innovations published in 1977"

Organization Structure, Individual Attitudes and Innovation

Abstract: Innovation (the initiation, adoption and implementation of new ideas or activity in an organizational setting) is reviewed in terms of organization context, structure, and member attitudes. A series of propositions and three predictive models are derived and presented as directions for future research and theory construction.

Regulatory Barriers to the Diffusion of Innovation: Some Evidence from Building Codes

Abstract: Previous studies, including the reports of the Douglas and Kaiser Commission, have suggested that outmoded local regulation of residential construction has impeded technical progress in the industry. In this paper, we try to identify the determinants of differences across communities in these regulations. The permissibility of four particular innovations in a cross section of jurisdictions in 1970 and the timing of these innovations are explained by attributes of local firms, labor unions, building officials, and housing demand. Our results suggest that the educational level of the chief building official, the extent of unionization, and the relative size of housebuilding firms in an area affect the diffusion of innovations in residential construction.

Leadership and Interaction Patterns in the Diffusion of Innovations Among the American States

Abstract: T f HIS PAPER uses the findings from a recently completed study1 of the diffusion of technological innovations in state highway and air pollution control agencies to assess two principal issues in current treatments of the diffusion of innovations among the states: (1) Is "innovativeness" a general timeless phenomenon? Or is it specific to a given time period and function? (2) Is interaction, i.e., adopter-nonadopter contact, a meaningful explanatory variable as presently employed?

The diffusion of hospital technologies: some econometric evidence.

Abstract: This paper examines the diffusion of five hospital technologies that have spread widely since 1950: the postoperative recovery room, the intensive care unit, the respiratory therapy department, diagnostic radioisotope facilities, and electroencephalograph. The regressions show that the logistic function describes the diffusion of hospital innovations as well as it does the diffusion of innovations in other industries, that the rates of diffusion for these technologies fall within the range established by work on other industries, and that the rates for technologies that were not yet widespread in the middle 1960s increased with the advent of Medicare and Medicaid.

Firms and Innovation Diffusion: Examples from Banking

Abstract: The diffusion of innovations used by firms themselves and those marketed to consumers are considered within a single framework based on the firm. This framework is represented by a general model which balances innovative and aggressive behavior, common to small firms, against the ability to bear the cost and risk of innovation adoption more common to large firms. A similar model for city-size diffusion patterns, based on the fact that large cities are risk-minimizing locations, contrasts with traditional hierarchical models which assume that large cities are usually the sites of first adoption. Examples of two innovations in the American banking industry were analyzed to test the models. The results suggest that traditional strict size-ordered models for firms and urban systems are not always appropriate, especially for innovations by firms.

The Diffusion of Innovation Among Local Governments

Abstract: This paper reports the findings of a study examining the diffusion of innovations among units of local government The results of the study were similar to the findings reported by Gray concerning policy innovation in the states Innovation in local government is issue-specific While geographic diffusion patterns were noted, they tended to be different for each specific innovation In general, there are no innovative or non-innovative cities Cities in Walker's innovative states were no more or less innovative than cities in his least innovative states Cities in the South and Southwest seem to be as innovative as their counterparts in other parts of the country

Innovation Profiles: A New Tool for Capital Equipment Manufacturers

Abstract: Bases itself on the premise that the categorisation of people who may adopt innovations is not the sole answer to the length of time taken for diffusion of innovations, but that a major factor is the characteristic of the innovations as perceived by adopters or non‐adopters. Says that marketers have an interest in decreasing the time taken for an innovation to diffuse throughout an industry by changing people from one category into another which is more progressive in outlook. States that two main industries were chosen to be used in this study – the flour milling industry and, to a lesser degree, the malting and dairying industries. Decided that the relationships between the time taken for innovations to diffuse throughout industry, and the characteristics of the innovations as perceived by technologists responsible for their introduction. Lays out the research method in detail and discusses this. Sums up that the research illustrates a method of studying the perceived characteristics technological innovation and shows a strong relationship between innovations and time taken.

Innovation in Adult Education: an Organizational Analysis

Abstract: Research on the diffusion of innovations has largely ignored the effects of organizational variables on planned educational change. The present study developed and tested a theoretical model of the organizational dynamics of innovation in adult edu cation agencies. The data base consisted of a randomly selected, national sample of 651 adult basic education programs. Innovation was measured by a composite index of innovative instructional and administrative practices. Findings based on multiple regression analysis were consistent with the principal assumptions of the model. Size, differentiation of staff roles, staff professionalism, and reliance on professional communication channels were positively associated with innovation. Director's professionalism had the largest direct impact on program innovation. It was concluded that organizational variables, especially staff professionalism, exert a major influence on innovation in adult basic education agencies. Research and policy implications are discussed.

The "Linking" Organization and Technology Transfer: An Examination of One National System.

Abstract: Academic science is not felt to be relevant to the pressing problems facing society. Useful knowledge must be created, and then disseminated. Transferring knowledge from the academic to the user se...

Innovation and Organization: A Polyorganizational Approach

Abstract: The diffusion of innovations in the social sector is the focus of this article. A multiorganizational perspective is taken, with emphasis on the role of government as a major promoter, retriever, and disseminator of new knowledge and social innovation. Factors that impede innovation dissemination are examined. These include systemic disjunctures, intrinsic characteristics of social innovations, organizational characteristics, and communication screening. More effective management orientations and information transfer mechanisms are proposed.

A study in the diffusion of innovation : steel rails in American railroads / BEBR No. 424

Abstract: This paper proposes and tests a model of the diffusion of innovation in the railroad industry. Specifically, the diffusion of steel rails, which supplanted iron rails in American railroads in the late 19th century, is examined. The model is supported by empirical tests.