Diffusion of Innovation 5th Edition Everett M' Rogers Innovators and Laggards

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Diffusion of Innovation5th Edition Everett M.
RogersInnovators and Laggards

• Jonathan Gratch

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Social Systems

• Defined sets of interrelated units that are
  engaged in joint problem solving to accomplish a
  common goal.
• Each unit of a social system can be distinguished
  from another
• Norms -- the established behavior patterns for
  members of the social system.
• The most innovative member of a social system is
  often perceived by other members of the system to
  be deviant and accorded a lower status than the
  average members of the social system

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Change-Agents

• Change Agent are individuals who seek to alter a
  systems acceptance of an idea.
• Individuals are generally external to the system
  they are seeking to change.
• Usually professionals with a University degree in
  a technical field
• Use opinion leaders to affect change within the
  social system.

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Opinion Leaders

• Member and Informal leaders of a system
• Exemplify and express the systems structure
• Can be either innovative or oppose change for the
  system
• More exposed to all forms of external
  communication (mass media, wide interpersonal
  networks)
• More sophisticated and have higher socioeconomic
  status
• Tend to be more innovative depending on system
  norms.

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Five Adopter Categories of Innovativeness

• Innovators
• Early Adapters
• Early Majority
• Late Majority
• Laggards

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Characteristics of Innovators

• Active seekers about a new idea
• High Level of Mass Media Exposure
• Wide Interpersonal Networks
• Coping with a High Level of Uncertainty
• Generally outside the norms of the social systems
• High level of Socioeconomic independence

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Early Adopters

• The individual to check with
• Respected by their Peers
• A central part of the communication network of
  their social system.
• Convey Subjective opinions and evaluations
  through the communication network.
• A History of successful, discrete, use of New
  Ideas

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Early Adopters

• Sought by Change Agents to increase the rate of
  diffusion in a social system
• These are the Opinion-Leaders of their social
  system.

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Early Majority

• Show a Willingness to Follow, but Seldom Lead
• Can Contain 1/3 of the individuals within the
  social system.
• Are not opinion leaders in their system
• Gain information through interactions with peers
• Their period of adoption is longer than the rate
  of the two previous categories
• Adopt a new idea right before the majority of the
  population.

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Late Majority

• Adopts the new idea just after the average member
  of the a system
• Adoption may be an economic necessity
• Adoption may occur due to peer pressure
• Low resources produces large amounts of
  uncertainty
• The systems norms must favor the innovation
  before adoption occurs

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Laggards

• Possess almost no Opinion Leadership
• Decisions are made based upon what has been done
  previously
• Have relatively traditional values
• Low resource availability
• Rate of adoption lags far behind awareness
• Tends to be suspicious and skeptic of new ideas.

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A Laggards Rationale

• Resistance to an Idea my be entirely rational
  from the laggards point of View.
• Cell phones
• Level of Complexity Cell phone services are
  confusing
• Incompatible with their Values Public Phones are
  everywhere and inexpensive
• Relative Disadvantage I have no need of a cell
  phone and it usually had poor Transmission

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Innovativeness and Adapter Categories

• Curve takes off with interpersonal communication
• Levels off as each individual to tell the idea to
  a peer that has not yet adopted
• 10-20 is the heart of the adoption phase at
  which point it becomes difficult to halt
• S curve is typical for measuring cumulative
  numbers of adopters

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Innovativeness and Adapter Categories
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The Innovativeness-Needs Paradox

• Individuals who most need the benefits of an
  innovation are generally the last to adopt it.
• These individuals include the less educated and
  less wealthy)
• Individuals who need the benefits if an
  innovation the least are the first do adopt.
• Example Contraceptives

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The Innovativeness-Needs Paradox

• What Cases this Paradox?
• Suspicion of the Change-Agent
• Why are they telling me to do this?
• Challenging of Traditional Beliefs
• This is not how it has always been done!
• Deviance from the Social Systems Norms
• Change Agents follow the path of least resistance
  
• The elites adopt more willingly and rapidly, are
  the most educated and sophisticated.

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The Innovativeness-Needs Paradox

• Consequences of the paradox
• Widening the gap between the information rich and
  information poor
• Targeting Late adapters can be reached with
  highly targeted individualized messages.

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Who Adopts?

• Adoption can occur at any level of a system or
  organization
• It is not always top down.
• Adoption of an innovation can occur do to
  authority figures or orders.
• It is difficult to determine where adoption begins