Applying the Diffusion Of Innovation Theory
In applying the diffusion of innovation theory, it is important to understand potential adopters and their decision-making process. Important factors in decision making include who makes the decision, and whether the decision is made freely and implemented voluntarily. Based on these considerations, three types of innovation decisions have been identified:
- Optional innovation decision: This is made by an individual who is in some way distinguished from others in a social system.
- Collective innovation decision: This is made collectively by all individuals of a social system.
- Authority innovation decision: This is made for the entire social system by a few individuals in positions of influence or power.
There are categories of adopters that serve as a classification of individuals within a social system on the basis of innovativeness. According to Everett Rogers , these categories include:
Categories Of Adopters
Categories of innovation adopters include innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards.
- Innovators: Innovators are the first individuals to adopt an innovation. Innovators are willing to take risks, youngest in age, have the highest social class, have great financial liquidity, are very social, and have the closest contact to scientific sources and interaction with other innovators. Risk tolerance has them adopting technologies which may ultimately fail, though their financial resources help them absorb these failures.
- Early adopters: This is the second fastest category of individuals who adopt an innovation. These individuals have the highest degree of opinion leadership among the other adopter categories. Early adopters are typically younger in age, have a higher social status, have more financial liquidity, possess an advanced education, and are more socially forward than late adopters. They are more discrete in adoption choices than innovators, as they realize that judicious choice of adoption will help them maintain a central communication position.
- Early majority: Individuals in this category adopt an innovation after a varying degree of time. This time of adoption is significantly longer than with the innovators and early adopters. The early majority tends to be slower in the adoption process, has above average social status, has contact with early adopters, and seldom holds positions of opinion leadership in a system.
- Late majority: Individuals in this category will adopt an innovation after the average member of the society does. These individuals approach an innovation with a high degree of skepticism. The late majority typically has below average social status, has very little financial liquidity, shares contact with others in the late majority and the early majority, and has very little opinion leadership.
- Laggards: Individuals in this category are the last to adopt an innovation. Unlike some of the previous categories, individuals in this category show little to no opinion leadership. Laggards typically tend to be focused on "traditions", are likely to have the lowest social status, have the lowest financial liquidity, be the oldest of all other adopters, and are in contact with only family and close friends.
Research done in the early 1950s at the University of Chicago attempted to assess the cost-effectiveness of broadcast advertising on the diffusion of new products and services. The findings were that opinion leadership tended to be organized into a hierarchy within a society, with each level having most influence over other members in the same level, and on those in the next level below it. The lowest levels were generally larger in numbers, and tended to coincide with various demographic attributes that might be targeted by mass advertising. However, the study found that direct word of mouth were far more influential than broadcast messages, which were only effective if they reinforced the direct influences. This led to the conclusion that advertising was best targeted, if possible, on those next in line to adopt, and not on those not yet reached by the chain of influence.
Consequences Of Adoption
There are both positive and negative outcomes when an individual or organization chooses to adopt a particular innovation. In her article, "Integrating Models of Diffusion of Innovations," Barbara Wejnert details two categories for consequences: public and private. Public consequences refer to the impact of an innovation on those other than the actor, while private consequences refer to the impact on the actor itself. Public consequences are usually concerned with issues of societal well-being, while private consequences are usually concerned with the improvement of quality of life or the reform of social structures.
Benefits Versus Costs
The benefits of an innovation obviously refer to the positive consequences, while the costs refer to the negative. Direct costs are usually related to financial uncertainty and the economic state of the actor. Indirect costs may be social, such as social conflict caused by innovation.