PERSONAL INFLUENCE AND DIFFUSION OF

INNOVATIONS
Personal influence is best described as the effect or change in a
person’s attitudes or behavior as a result of communication with
others. It can occur in a number of ways.

Communication leading to influence may be source – initiated (by

the influencer) or recipient – initiated (by the influence).

Communication resulting in influence may be verbal or visual.

Communication may result in one-way/two way influence, that is the

individual may influence while being influenced.
 Personal influence is used by word-of-mouth is oral
communication or advertising.

Word-of-mouth communication is so strong, because-

-Itis reliable and trustworthy. It can help people to make

better buying decisions.

-Itprovide social support and give a stamp of approval to a

purchase.

-The information provided is often backed up by social-group

pressure to force compliance with recommendations.
 Communication and influence flow
Personal influence is dependent upon the process of communication. For years,
marketers assumed that communication was a one-way process flowing from the
marketer to consumers. Later, the process of communication and influence was found
not to be an exclusively direct flow as had been originally supposed.
Instead, influence can move from the mass media directly to influential or opinion
leaders, who then through interpersonal networks, pass on to their associates what
they have seen or heard.
Consumer

Media Opinion
Marketer Consumer 2 Consumer 4
Leader

Consumer 3 Consumer 5

Consumer 6
 The Interpersonal Flow of
Communication

 Two-Step Flow
◦ Views opinion leader as a middleman between
the impersonal mass media and the majority of
society
 Multistep Flow
◦ Takes into account the fact that information and
influence often are two-way processes
 A communication model that
portrays opinion leaders as
Two-Step
direct receivers of
Flow of
information from mass
Communication
Theory media sources who, in turn,
interpret and transmit this
information.
 Figure: Two-Step Flow of Communication Theory

Step 1 Opinion Step 2 Opinion

Mass Media Receivers
Leaders
(the masses)
 A revision of the traditional
two-step theory that shows
multiple communication
flows: from the mass media
Multistep
simultaneously to opinion
Flow of
leaders, opinion receivers,
Communication
Theory and information receivers;
from opinion leaders to
opinion receivers; and from
opinion receivers to opinion
leaders.
Figure: Multistep Flow of Communication Theory

Step 2
Step 1a
Opinion
Opinion Step 3
Mass Media Receiver/
Leaders
Seekers

Step 1b
Information
Receivers
 The process by which one
person (the opinion leader)
informally influences the
Opinion
consumption actions or
Leadership
attitudes of others who may
be opinion seekers or
opinion recipients.
What is Opinion Leadership?

Opinion Opinion
Leader Receiver

Opinion
Seeker
 A person who informally
Opinion
gives product information
Leader
and advice to others.
 An individual who either
actively seeks product
Opinion
information from others or
Seeker
receives unsolicited
information.
 The person who receives an
Opinion
opinion offered by another
Receiver
person.
Characteristics of Opinion Leader:

- Opinion leaders may have higher social status within the class.

- They have greater exposure to mass media that are relevant to their
area of non-leaders.

- They are more gregarious than non-leaders are. They are generally
more sociable or companionable.

- They are more innovative than non-leaders. They are innovators, the
first people to purchase a new item.

- They are also more familiar with and loyal to group standards and
values than are non-leaders.

- Opinion leaders demonstrate a willingness to stand out or be

different in a group situation by disseminating information through
word-of-mouth communication.
Why Opinion Leaders Attempt
to Influence Others
Motivations Behind Opinion
Leadership
 The Needs of Opinion Leaders
◦ Self involvement
◦ Social involvement
◦ Product involvement
◦ Message involvement
 The Needs of Opinion Receivers
◦ New-product or new usage information
◦ Reduction of perceived risk
◦ Reduction of search time
◦ Receiving the approval of the opinion leader
 Purchase pal
 Surrogate Buyers Versus Opinion Leaders
Why followers accept personal influence

The marketer would certainly want to know the situational

attributes under which opinion leadership will most likely occur so
that he or she could actively cultivate the process. There are
numerous product, individual and group characteristics that can be
expected to influence the acceptance leadership by followers.

The market maven

A neighborhood expert may have information ranging over several
topics. Market mavens therefore are defined as individuals having
information about many kinds of products, places to shop and other
facts of markets, who initiate discussions with consumers and
respond to their requests for market information.
They may then be reached with promotional messages and may
then participate in additional communication and influence their
group members.
 The process by which the
acceptance of an innovation
Diffusion
is spread by communication
Process
to members of social system
over a period of time.
 The stages through which an
individual consumer passes in
arriving at a decision to try (or
not to try), to continue using
Adoption
(or discontinue using) a new
Process
product. The five stags of the
traditional adoption process are
awareness, interest, evaluation,
trial, and adoption.
 Elements of the Diffusion
Process

 The Innovation
 The Channels of Communication
 The Social System
 Time
 Defining Innovations

 Firm-oriented definitions
 Product-oriented definitions
 Market-oriented definitions
 Consumer-oriented definitions
 Product-Oriented Definitions

Continuous
Innovation

Dynamically
Continuous
Innovation

Discontinuous
Innovation
 A new product entry that is
an improved or modified
version of an existing
product rather than a totally
Continuous
new product. A continuous
Innovation
innovation has the least
disruptive influence on
established consumption
patterns.
 A new product entry that is
Dynamically sufficiently innovative to
Continuous have some disruptive effects
Innovation on established consumption
practices.
 A dramatically new product
Discontinuous entry that requires the
Innovation establishment of new
consumption practices.
Figure: The Telephone Has Led to Related Innovations

Discontinuous Dynamically Continuous Continuous

Innovations Innovations Innovations
Telephone answering machines Hold button
Call forwarding Line-in-use indicator
Call waiting Redial button
Telephone Caller ID Auto dialing feature
Banking by telephone Touch-tone service
Call-prompting systems 800 Numbers
900 Numbers

Nationwide paging service Silent alert

Stock market quotation devices Message displays
Pager Sports scores delivery Build-in alarm clock
Two-way paging Interchangeable fashion
Pager watch color cases
Fax modem Plain paper fax
Mobile fax machines Speed dial buttons
Fax Machine Home office systems Delayed send
(combined fax, copier, Copy function
computer printer) Paper cutter
 Product Characteristics That
Influence Diffusion

 Relative Advantage
 Compatibility
 Complexity
 Trialability
 Observability
Table: Product Characteristics That
Influence Diffusion
CHARACTERISTICS DEFINITION EXAMPLES
The degree to which Air travel over train travel,
potential consumers cordless phones over
Relative Advantage perceive a new product corded telephones
as superior to existing
substitutes
The degree to which Gillette MACH3 over
potential consumers disposable razors, digital
feel a new product is telephone answering
Compatibility
consistent with their machines over machines
present needs, values, using tape to make
and practices recordings
The degree to which a Products low in
new product is difficult complexity include frozen
Complexity
to understand or use TV dinners, electric
shavers, instant puddings
 Table continued

CHARACTERISTICS DEFINITION EXAMPLES

The degree to which a Trial size jars and bottles
new product is capable of new products, free trials
Trialability
of being tried on a of software, free samples,
limited basis cents-off coupons
The degree to which a Clothing, such as a new
product’s benefits or Tommy Hilfiger jacket, a
attributes can be car, wristwatches,
Observability
observed, imagined, or eyeglasses
described to potential
customers
 A sequence of categories that
describes how early (or late)
a consumer adopts a new
product in relation to other
Adopter
adopters. The five typical
Categories
adopter categories are
innovators, early adopters,
early majority, late majority,
and laggards.
Figure Adopter Categories

Early Laggards
Adopters
13.5% Early Late 16%
Majority Majority
Innovators 34%
34%
2.5%

Percentage of Adopters by Category Sequence

Categories of adopters: People will all adopt an innovation at
the same time, we might classify consumers on the basis of time of
adoption. Five adopter category have been identified:
-Innovator are the first to adopt new product.
-Early adopter: This group is more socially integrated locally than
are innovators.
-Early majority: Their adoption period is longer than that of the
two previous group.
-Late majority: This group can be described as “skeptical” about
new ideas and many yield only because of economic necessity or
incensing social pressures.
-Laggards: They are tradition bound and suspicious of innovations
and perhaps of those who offer them. They have the least education, the
lowest social status & income etc.
 Figure: An Enhanced Adoption Process
Model
Discontinuation or
Rejection
Rejection

Evaluation

Pre-existing Adoption
problem or Awareness Interest Evaluation Trial or
Need Rejection

Adoption or Rejection
Postadoption or
Postpurchase
Evaluation
Discontinuation
The adoption process: How products spread among population
groups, the model are:
- Awareness: The potential adopter find out about the existence of
a product but has very little information and no well-formed
attitude about it.
- Comprehension: The consumer’s having knowledge and
understanding of what the product is and can do.
- Attitude: Consumer develops favorable or unfavorable behavioral
predispositions toward the product.
- Legitimating: The consumer becomes convinced that the product
should be adopted. This stage is predicated upon favorable
attitudes toward the innovation.
- Trial: If possible, the consumer tests or tries the product to
determine its utility.
- Adoption: At this stage, consumer determines whether or not to
use the product in a full-scale way. Continued purchase or use of
item fulfills the adoption process.
 Marketing Impact on Diffusion

Diffusion concept Marketing impact

The innovation Marketing actions in product design and

positioning are critical in the consumer
perception of the innovation and its
characteristics.

The diffusion process Marketing actions can influence the pattern

and speed of diffusion for the total market and
by segment based on pricing, promotional
expenditures and distribution intensity.
Competitive marketing actions have a similar
effect.
The adoption process Marketing actions can modify the speed of
adoption and the form of the adoption process;
for example, via sampling programs which take
consumers from awareness to trial.

The communication Marketing change agents bear distinguishing

process characteristics from those in farming: they are
inherently self-serving and based. Advertising,
personal selling and sales promotion are the
dominant communication sources and can lead to
purchase without “objective, scientific
authority”.

Opinion leadership Making actions can both preclude the importance

and personal of personal influence and influence the
influence occurrence of personal influence degrading on
objectives.
Marketing Applications of Personal Influence:

If the marketer finds that personal influence is potentially strong for the
product, then he or she may desire to guide the process.There are:

-Identifying and using opinion leaders directly.

-Creating opinion leaders.
-Simulating opinion leaders
-Stimulating opinion leaders
-Stifling opinion leadership.