TYBBA (SEM-VI) CBB DR.

SUDHADHARA SAMAL

PROF. V.B.SHAH INSITUTE OF MANAGEMENT,

AMROLI, SURAT

COURSE: B.B.A
YEAR: T.Y.BBA (SEM –VI)
SUBJECT: Consumer Buying Behaviour
Faculty: Dr. Sudhadhara Samal

UNIT 5: Diffusion of Innovation

• Diffusion of innovations:
o The diffusion process,
o The adoption process,
o A profile of the consumer innovator.

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5.1 Diffusion of Innovations Theory

➢ What Is the Diffusion of Innovations Theory?

The diffusion of innovations theory is a hypothesis outlining how new technological and other
advancements spread throughout societies and cultures, from introduction to widespread
adoption. The diffusion of innovations theory seeks to explain how and why new ideas and
practices are adopted, with timelines potentially spread out over long periods.

The way in which innovations are communicated to different parts of society and the subjective
opinions associated with the innovations are important factors in how quickly diffusion—or
spreading—occurs. Important to understand when developing market share, this theory is
frequently referred to in the marketing of new products.

➢ Understanding the Diffusion of Innovations Theory

The theory was developed by E.M. Rogers, a communication theorist at the University of New
Mexico, in 1962. Integrating previous sociological theories of behavioral change, it explains
the passage of an idea through stages of adoption by different actors. The main people in the
diffusion of innovations theory are:

• Innovators: People who are open to risks and the first to try new ideas.
• Early adopters: People who are interested in trying new technologies and establishing
their utility in society.
• Early majority: Those who pave the way for use of an innovation within mainstream
society and are part of the general population.
• Late majority: Another part of the general population—the set of people who follow
the early majority into adopting the innovation as part of their daily life.
• Laggards: People who lag the general population in adopting innovative products and
new ideas. This is primarily because they are risk-averse and set in their ways of doing
things. Eventually, the sweep of an innovation through mainstream society makes it
impossible for them to conduct their daily life (and work) without it. As a result, they
are forced to begin using it.

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Factors that affect the rate of innovation diffusion include the mix of rural to urban within a
society's population, the society's level of education, and the extent of industrialization and
development. Different societies are likely to have different adoption rates—the rate at which
members of a society accept a new innovation.

Adoption rates for different types of innovation vary. For example, a society may have adopted
the internet faster than it adopted the automobile due to cost, accessibility, and familiarity with
technological change.

5.2 The Diffusion Process

The diffusion of innovation is the process by which new products are adopted (or not) by their
intended audiences. It allows designers and marketers to examine why it is that some inferior
products are successful when some superior products are not.

Rogers’ draws on Ryan and Gross’s work to deliver a 5 stage process for the diffusion of
innovation.

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1. Knowledge
The first step in the diffusion of innovation is knowledge. This is the point at which the would-
be adopter is first exposed to the innovation itself. They do not have enough information to
make a decision to purchase on and have not yet been sufficiently inspired to find out more.

At this stage marketers will be looking to increase awareness of the product and provide enough
education that the prospective adopter moves to the second stage.

2. Persuasion
Persuasion is the point at which the prospective adopter is open to the idea of purchase. They
are actively seeking information which will inform their eventual decision.

This is the point at which marketers will be seeking to convey the benefits of the product in
detail. There will be a conscious effort to sell the product to someone at this stage of the
diffusion of innovation.

3. Decision
Eventually the would-be adopter must make a decision. They will weigh up the pros and cons
of adoption and either accept the innovation or reject it.

It is worth noting that this is the most opaque (S. Non-transparent) part of the process. Rogers
cites this as the most difficult phase on which to acquire intelligence. This is, at least in part,
due to the fact that people do not make rational decisions in many instances. They make a
decision based on their underlying perceptions and feelings and following the decision they
attempt to rationalize that decision. Thus, obtaining an understanding of the decision making
process is challenging – the reasons given following a decision are not likely to be
representative of the actual reasons that a decision was made.

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4. Implementation
Once a decision to adopt a product has been made the product will, in most cases, be used by
the purchaser. This stage is when the adopter makes a decision as to whether or not the product
is actually useful to them. They may also seek out further information to either support the use
of the product or to better understand the product in context. This phase is interesting because
it suggests that designers and marketers alike need to consider the ownership process in detail.

5. Confirmation
This is the point at which the user evaluates their decision and decides whether they will keep
using the product or abandon use of the product. This phase can only be ended by abandonment
of a product otherwise it is continual. (For example, you may buy a new car today – you are
highly likely to keep using the car for a number of years – eventually, however, you will
probably sell the car and buy a new one).

This phase will normally involve a personal examination of the product and also a social one
(the user will seek confirmation from their peers, colleagues, friends, etc.)

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5.3 The Adoption Process:

Everett Rogers developed the innovation adoption model which is evolved from the work on
the diffusion of innovation in 1962. This model represents the stages a consumer passes through
in adopting a new product or services. According to experts, Rogers's model is appropriate
involving marketing of new products and adoption of most commercial services or practices in
developing countries. Like other models it says potential adopters must be moved through a
series of steps before taking actions. The following five stages are defined by Rogers.
(a) Awareness
(b) Interest
(c) Evaluation
(d) Trial
(f) Adoption

a. Awareness
This is the primary stage of Innovation Adoption Model. In the awareness stage of the model,
the consumer becomes aware of a brand or a product mostly through advertisements.

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b. Interest
This is the second phase of the Innovation-Adoption Model. This is a stage in which the
information about the brand or a product multiplies in the market and triggers the interest of
the potential buyers of the product to gain more knowledge and information about the product.
c. Evaluation
Evaluation is the third stage of the Innovation-Adoption Model that supplements the necessary
information regarding the product to the consumers. In this stage, the consumers evaluate and
try to gain a deeper understanding of the product that stimulated interest in them.
d. Trial
In this stage, the customers try the product before making the final choice to purchase the
product.
e. Adoption
Adoption is the final stage of the Innovation-Evaluation Model. In this stage, the customer
accepts the product, makes a purchase decision and finally purchases the product.
In the Innovation-Evaluation Model, the Awareness happens at the Cognitive Stage,
developing an interest and evaluation phases fall under the conviction phase, and the trial of
the product and the actual adoption fall in the Behavioral phase.

After achieving the level of awareness: it is necessary to develop interest. Thus is followed by
an evaluation stage in which it was thought that, word of mouth or interpersonal
communication not only can influence the buying decision, but can also help him moving the
prospect from the stage of interest to that of evaluation.
Finally, the trial occurs and adoption decision is precipitated. Just like when the challenge
facing company introducing new products is to create awareness and interest among consumers
and then get them to evaluate the, product favorably. The best way to evaluate a new product
is through actual use so that performance can be judged.
Marketers often encourage trial by using demonstration or sampling programmes or allowing
consumers to use a product with minimum commitment. After trial, consumers either adopt the
product or rejected.

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5.4 The Profile of a Consumer Innovator

Not all people are receptive to innovative offerings. People vary in degree with respect to their
receptivity towards new product/service offerings. This has been dealt with in the section
above, where we have also discussed the categories of innovators. The marketer needs to have
an understanding on what constitutes an “innovator”, and what differentiates him from late
adopters or non-innovators, so that he can design his marketing mix, and more specifically the
promotion mix accordingly. The traits/qualities/ characteristics that differentiate an innovator
from a non-innovator, indicate that separate media and message strategy need to be formulated
for the two of them. For innovators, the marketer should focus on the print media with
informative and rational appeal. On the other hand, for the late adopters and the rest of them,
the marketer should focus on the audio-visual media with social and emotional appeals.

As mentioned above, innovators are those consumers’ who are the first to go and purchase a
new product or service offering; they comprise 2.5 percent of the target market(s) adopters,
and they purchase the new product and service offering not because they possess a need, but
because they desire new ideas and concepts, and seek product and service innovations. They
have the interest and inclination to buy the “new”; and also have the purchasing power and the
access to do so. They possess the following traits/qualities/ characteristics:

a) Innovators are not “generic”; they are “specific” to a product and service type. Consumers
who are innovators of one product are more likely to be innovators of other new product/service
offerings in the same general product category. Hence, they possess interest in the product
category; those who innovate within a specific product category will innovate again within the
same product category.
Innovators are desirous of new products/services in a particular category, and so they seek
formal information from marketers, and informal information from their
peers/friends/colleagues. Because of their interest in the product/service category, their search
for information is active and ongoing, followed by deliberation, evaluation and assimilation of
information.

b) Consumer innovators are generally younger than late adopters or non-innovators; they have
more formal education, occupational status, and higher income and purchasing power. While

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education facilitates greater awareness, income facilitates a risk bearing ability (as they feel
that they can afford to make a mistake).

c) After a while, innovators tend to become opinion leaders. Innovators possess a level of
interest in the product/service category; they gather information on an ongoing basis, they are
the first to purchase the innovative offering, and are a powerful source of information for other
consumers. Other consumers like early majority and early adopters and early majority look up
to innovators for advice and guidance about the new products/services. The advice given by
innovators acts as a major influence, and impacts acceptance/rejection of the innovative
offering. The marketer should keep in mind that his offering leads to satisfaction for the
innovator; if the innovator is satisfied with the innovation, the product would generate a
favorable response from him as an opinion leader, and lead to quicker acceptance by the public.

d) Innovators also possess certain personality traits.

- They are low on dogmatism, and as such open and willing to try out new products/services
and/or brands. They are receptive towards the “new” and “unfamiliar.” Non-innovators, on the
other hand are closed, and approach the “new” with considerable anxiety and discomfort.
- They are high on the need for cognition. They are verbalizers.
- They are inner-directed, and decide to take risk with the “new”, relying on their attitudes,
perception, values etc. They take independent decisions rather than relying on others, and are
self governed. Non-innovators, are other-directed or socially-directed, whose
decisions/judgments depend on others; they wait and watch and they decide to go for the “new”.
- While on one hand, innovators tend to inner-directed, they are socially more accepted and
more 9 involved than non-innovators. They are accepted by others as “experts”, and thus
assume roles as opinion leaders. - They are also variety novelty seekers. They are always eager
to try out new offerings.
- Innovators happen to be high on optimum stimulation levels. They are willing to seek
adventure, seek novelty and they enjoy unusual experiences. As a corollary, they enjoy taking
risks.
- Innovators are risk takers, and are ever willing to take risks. This is because they are low risk
perceivers. Perceived risk is a measure of uncertainty or fear that a consumer feels with respect
to the consequences of a purchase and or usage of a new product. Consumer innovators score
low on perceived risk, and they experience little or no fear in trying out the “new”. This is

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primarily because they are well informed, and possess enough purchasing power. So the
likelihood to try new product/service offerings and/or brands is high.
- Innovators also display the quality of venturesomeness, which implies the their willingness
to accept the risk of purchasing new product/service offerings.
- They also exhibit the need for novelty and uniqueness. They want to be the first to try out the
“unique”, and also possess it. Thus, they go out and purchase the innovative offering.

e) Innovators also possess certain purchase, usage and consumption characteristics, which
differentiate them from non-innovators.
- Innovators are low on brand loyalty; in fact they are switchers. This is quite natural, for if
they were brand loyal, they would not have been variety novelty seekers, or venturesome, and
would not have been ever willing to try out new products/service offerings.
- They are deal hunters; they are always on the look out for good deals, and like to take
advantage of promotional offers, like free samples, discounts or small trial packs.
- They are heavy users of the product/service category. If a person has an inclination for
electronic products, and is the first to go and buy a mobile or the I-pod, it is more than likely
that he would also be the first to go and buy the I-pad. This implies that they act as innovators
for all products in that particular category.
- As innovators possess special interest in a product category, and want to keep themselves
aware and abreast with the latest, special-interest magazines and journals have a big role to
play in educating them. Marketers need to provide information in such magazines as innovators
prefer the print media over the audio visual. They gather and process information via central
route to persuasion.

Sources:
5.1 https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/diffusion-of-innovations-theory.asp
5.2https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/the-diffusion-of-innovation-strategies-
for-adoption-of-products
5.4
https://nptel.ac.in/content/storage2/courses/110105029/pdf%20sahany/module%208l40.pdf

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