Diffusion of innovations

About: Diffusion of innovations is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2139 publications have been published within this topic receiving 191397 citations. The topic is also known as: diffusion of innovation & diffusion of innovations theory.

Diffusion of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatments: Development, Dissemination, and Implementation

Abstract: Theory and research regarding the diffusion of innovations and technology transfer have advanced our understanding of how new ideas and technologies are developed, disseminated, adopted, and implemented by individuals and organizations. Although diffusion has been studied in other fields, it is not often applied to mental health and substance abuse treatment. However, findings from diffusion-of-innovations research can assist in bridging research-practice gaps that lead to clients receiving treatments whose effectiveness has not been assessed or to clients not receiving the most effective treatments. This article reviews theory and research regarding the diffusion of innovations and highlights areas for application to mental health treatment, including the transportability of treatments into real-world settings, strategies to disseminate treatments, attributes of treatments that affect their adoption, and organizational change factors that affect implementation.

A Two-Step Estimation of Consumer Adoption of Technology-Based Service Innovations

Abstract: Firms initially offer new technology-based services to a limited number of customers to reduce risks and maximize their returns on the investments in the new technology. Consequently, consumers' adoption of new technology-based services is restricted by the limited access provided by the businesses. A model of consumer adoption was developed and estimated via a two-step procedure. A significant sample selection bias was found with regard to access when estimating consumer adoption of a relatively new innovation, computer banking, but no such bias was found for a mature innovation, ATMs. ********** Recent advances have introduced innovative ways of using electronic technologies to deliver services to consumers (Bitner, Brown, and Meuter 2000; White 1998). Consumers have increasing access to innovative financial services mediated by electronic banking technologies, ranging from automated teller machines (ATMs) to smart cards and computer banking. Using these innovative services, consumers can conduct fast and convenient financial transactions and obtain account information without visiting banks (Lee and Lee 2000; Lee, Lee, and Schumann 2002; White 1998). The theory of diffusion of innovations (Rogers 1995) is a well-established theoretical framework (Gatignon and Robertson 1985) that explains how technological innovations spread across individuals within a social system. Diffusion research is currently at a relatively mature stage (Sultan, Farley, and Lehmann 1990). However, most studies have focused on organizational, rather than consumer, adoption of technological innovations (Frambach et al. 1998; Gauvin and Sinha 1993). With an exception of the self-service context (Bitner, Brown, and Meuter 2000; Meuter et al. 2000; Parasuraman 2000), it is not well recognized that an individual consumer's decision to adopt technology-based innovative services is often constrained by access. For instance, a consumer may want to use computer banking, but if his or her bank does not offer such a service, the consumer cannot adopt it. In this case, the consumer's non-adoption of technological innovations stems from lack of access rather than from his or her reluctance to accept new technology. That is, adoption is observed only when consumers have access to the technology-based service. Therefore, it is necessary to use Heckman's (1979) two-step estimation approach, which adjusts for sample selection bias to estimate individuals' adoption correctly (Boyes, Hoffman, and Low 1989; Meng and Schmidt 1985). Past research on consumers' adoption of innovations has identified isolating communication factors that can predict individuals' adoption (Lee, Lee, and Schumann 2002). Researchers (Kennickell and Kwast 1997; Lee and Lee 2000) have found that adopters of technology-based financial service innovations have distinct demographic characteristics, such as youth, affluence, and higher education levels. Furthermore, the diffusion literature and previous studies of consumers' use of self-service technology suggest that consumers' perceptions of innovation characteristics, such as complexity, trialability, and observability (Rogers 1995; Strutton, Lumpkin, and Vitell 1994); perceived benefits of technology (Davis 1989; Lee, Lee, and Schumann 2002); reliability (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry 1988); and security (Swaminathan, Lepkowska-White, and Rat 1999) are potential determinants of consumers' willingness to adopt technology-based service innovations. The purpose of the current study is to investigate the factors affecting consumers' adoption of technology-based service innovations, while adjusting for sample selection bias associated with limited consumer accessibility to those innovations. The effects of perceived innovation characteristics and individual socioeconomic characteristics on consumers' adoption of technological innovations are estimated using a censored probit model that adjusts for sample selection bias. …

The adoption of new technology: the case of object-oriented computing in software companies

Abstract: This study examines the adoption of new technologies within organizations, The significance of this research is to broaden the understanding of technology adoption within organizations by focusing on adoption at the individual level, The key research question that is examined is: "what factors contribute to the adoption of new technology by individuals within firms?" A model is presented to distinguish adopters from nonadopters based on four sets of constructs: (1) the characteristics of the individual; (2) individual's perception of group characteristics; (3) individual's perception of company characteristics; and (4) individual's perception of technology. Unlike previous studies that focus only on top management in firms, this study examines adoption at the level of middle managers, engineers and technical personnel, i.e., those individuals who are more likely to actually use this technology in the workplace. The study links previously studied elements of adoption and diffusion of innovations to the specific case of a relatively recent innovation for organizations, As an example, an empirical examination of adoption of object-oriented technology (OT) in software companies is conducted. This technology is a software development technique that uses pretested and routine methods or "objects" to design, construct and assemble software programs. It is a new way of thinking about software based on abstraction that exists in the real world. The results of this study show that individual characteristics, perception of group characteristics and company characteristics are significantly related to OT adoption, but the individual's perception of the technology is not. The proposed model predicts adopters of new technology, such as OT, with 86% accuracy, The results suggest the factors that top management need to focus on in order to facilitate new technology adoption in firms.

Predicting the adoption of connected autonomous vehicles: A new approach based on the theory of diffusion of innovations

Abstract: On the grounds that individuals heavily rely on the information that they receive from their peers when evaluating adoption of a radical innovation, this paper proposes a new approach to forecast long-term adoption of connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs). The concept of resistance is employed to explain why individuals typically tend to defer the adoption of an innovation. We assume that there exists a social network among individuals through which they communicate based on certain frequencies. In addition, individuals can be subject to media advertisement based on certain frequencies. An individual’s perceptions are dynamic and change over time as the individual is exposed to advertisement and communicates with satisfied and dissatisfied adopters. We also explicitly allow willingness-to-pay (WTP) to change as a result of peer-to-peer communication. An individual decides to adopt when (i) there is a need for a new vehicles; (ii) his/her WTP is greater than CAV price; and (iii) his/her overall impression about CAVs reaches a cutoff value. Applicability of the proposed approach is shown using a survey of employees of the University of Memphis. Our results show that the automobile fleet will be near homogenous in about 2050 only if CAV prices decrease at an annual rate of 15% or 20%. We find that a 6-month pre-introduction marketing campaign may have no significant impact on adoption trend. Marketing is shown to ignite CAV diffusion but its effect is capped. CAV market share will be close to 100% only if all adopters are satisfied with their purchases; therefore, the probability that an individual becomes a satisfied adopter plays an important role in the trend of adoption. The effect of the latter probability is more pronounced as time goes by and is also more prominent when CAV price reduces at greater rates. Some caveats may be inserted when considering the study results as the findings are subject to sample bias and data limitations.