ADOPTION OF COMMUNICATION AND

DIFFUSION INNOVATION IN
EXTENSION DEVELOPMENT

Trisakti Haryadi
• Understand the limits of agricultural extension

Is the innovation adoptable?

Yes. No.
Then why is it not adopted? What to do?

It is new. Learning Lack skills, Develop a Public

failure. resources. better benefits?
Adoption technology:
will occur. Target that Training. one that is Financial No action.
failure. adoptable. payments.
Promote Wait for
awareness good year. Regulation.

Source: Pannell 2008

 Five Stages of Adoption
1. Awareness: "the individual is exposed to the innovation but
lacks complete information about it".
2. Interest: "the individual becomes interested in the new idea
and seeks additional information about it".
3. Evaluation: the "individual mentally applies the innovation to
his present and anticipated future situation, and then decides
whether or not to try it".
4. Trial: "the individual makes full use of the innovation".
5. Adoption: "the individual decides to continue the full use of
the innovation". .
Five stages in the Innovation - Decision Process
 What is diffusion?
“Diffusion is the process by which an innovation
is communicated through certain channels over
time among the members of a social system.”

“It is a special type of communication, in that

the messages are concerned with new ideas.”

(Rogers, 1995)
Awareness of the Problem: people must perceive there is a problem in the
first place.

Interest: after being aware they need to show an interest in the specific
problem;

Knowledge/comprehension: in order to decide to go for change and adopt

an innovation, people need to be knowledgeable about it;

Attitude: attitude is another factor determining people's orientation in

accepting and adopting an innovation;

Legitimisation: is the innovation in line with the norms and legal system of
the community? This aspect is related to the overall legislation and policy
currently in use. However it can also be related to the cultural and social
acceptance of the innovation, and the fact of having to face strong peer
pressure in order to adopt it; and

Practice: before actually adopting and putting in action an innovation

people need to try it out in order to test its feasibility and effectiveness.
Further actions might be needed to ensure its sustainability.
 Key concepts:
• Innovation: “an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as
new by an individual or other unit of adoption.”
• Communication channels: “the means by which messages
get from one individual to another.”
• Time: “The innovation-decision period is the length of time
required to pass through the innovation-decision process.”
“Rate of adoption is the relative speed with which an
innovation is adopted by members of a social system.”
• Social system: “A social system is defined as a set of
interrelated units that are engaged in joint problem solving
to accomplish a common goal.”
 Adopter Categories
• Innovators: the first individuals to adopt an innovation -- willing to
take risks, youngest in age, have the highest social class, have great
financial lucidity, very social and have closest contact to scientific
sources and interaction with other innovators. Risk tolerance has
them adopting technologies which may ultimately fail. Financial
resources help absorb these failures.
• Early Adopters: the second fastest category of individuals who
adopt an innovation. These individuals have the highest degree of
opinion leadership among the other adopter categories. Typically
younger in age, have a higher social status, have more financial
lucidity, advanced education, and are more socially forward than
late adopters. More discrete in adoption choices than innovators.
Realize judicious choice of adoption will help them maintain central
communication position
 Adopter Categories
• Early Majority: adopt an innovation after a varying degree
of time, significantly longer than the innovators and early
adopters. Early Majority tend to be slower in the adoption
process, have above average social status, contact with
early adopters, and seldom hold positions of opinion
leadership in a social system.
• Late Majority: will adopt an innovation after the average
member of the society. These individuals approach an
innovation with a high degree of skepticism and after the
majority of society has adopted the innovation. Late
Majority typically have below average social status, very
little financial lucidity, in contact with others in late
majority and early majority, very little opinion leadership.
 Adopter Categories
• Laggards: the last to adopt an innovation.
Unlike some of the previous categories,
individuals in this category show little to no
opinion leadership. These individuals typically
have an aversion to change-agents and tend
to be advanced in age. Laggards typically tend
to be focused on “traditions”, have lowest
social status, lowest financial fluidity, oldest of
all other adopters, in contact with only family
and close friends.
 Homophily & Heterophily
• Homophily: the degree to which people who
are part of the same interactions and social
circles are similar
• Heterophily: love of the different; individuals
who are diverse in the same social group;
attracted to differences
• Heterophiles are innovators and early
adapters; crucial to the diffusion process
 Factors that affect adoption
• Innovations are different
– profitability, relevance, level of complexity,
observability of trial results
• People/industries have different resources
– land, labour, capital, management skills, knowledge
• People are different
– personality, age, family structure, individual values,
beliefs and goals
• People operate within different socio-political
environments
– communication networks, legal constraints, access to
markets, cultural factors, institutional drivers
 Characteristics of innovations
The following are characteristics that may influence an individual’s decision to
adopt or reject an innovation:
• Relative advantage: how improved an innovation is over the previous
generation.
• Compatibility: the level of compatibility that an innovation has to be
assimilated into an individual’s life.
• Complexity: If the innovation is too difficult to use an individual will not
likely adopt it.
• Trialability: determines how easily an innovation may be experimented
with as it is being adopted. If a user has a hard time using and trying an
innovation this individual will be less likely to adopt it.
• Observability: is the extent that an innovation is visible to others. An
innovation that is more visible will drive communication among the
individual’s peers and personal networks and will in turn create more
positive or negative reactions.
 Characteristics of innovations 1
Two main elements that affect adoption:
• Relative advantage
– The degree to which the innovation is perceived
as being superior to the practice it replaces, or
available alternative practices
• Trialability
– The ability to trial the innovation on a small scale
and learn from that trial
 Characteristics of innovations 2
• Relative advantage – affected by
– Impact on short-term and medium-to-long term
profitability
– Adjustment costs
– Impact on riskiness of production
– Compatibility with existing technologies, practices and resources
– Compatibility with beliefs and values
– Innovation complexity
• Trialability – affected by
– Innovation divisibility
– Observability of trial outcomes
– Innovation complexity
– Skill levels required to implement a trial
 Innovation Decisions
What type of decision is based on two factors:
1. if the person making the decision is doing so freely and voluntarily
2. who makes the decision.
There are three types of innovation decisions (the ways people adapt
to new ideas/stuff/technology)
1. Optional Innovation-Decision: This decision is made by an
individual who is in some way distinguished from others in a social
system.
2. Collective Innovation-Decision: This decision is made collectively
by all individuals of a social system.
3. Authority Innovation-Decision: This decision is made for the entire
social system by few individuals in positions of influence or power.
FACILITATING THE ADOPTION PROCESS
1. Earlier knowers of an innovation have more formal education
than later knowers.
2. have higher socioeconomic status than late knowers.
3. have more exposure to mass media channels of
communication than later knowers.
4. have more exposure to interpersonal channels than later
knowers.
5. have more change agent contact than later knowers.
6. have more social participation than later knowers.
7. are more cosmopolite than later knowers.