Adopter categories

Innovators / Venturesomeness
• First to adopt new idea
• One or two in community
• Cosmopolite
• Hazardous, daring, rash & risky
Characteristics
Large farms
High net work & risk capital
Willing to take risks
• Not middle aged
• Well educated
• Respect & prestige
• mentally alert
• Many formal & informal contacts outside the
immediate locality
 Early Adopters: Respectable
• Localities
• Opinion leaders
• Man to check with
• Local missionary for speeding the diffusion
process
• Respect by locals and peers
 Characteristics
• Quick to use tried ideas
• Large farms, high income, high education than
later adopters
• Participate in the local event and Govt.
programmes
• Read papers and farm journals
 Early Majority : Deliberate
• Adoption just before the average members
• Interact with peers
• Leadership is rare
• Deliberate before complete adoption
• Innovation decision is relatively longer
 Characteristics
• Above average in age, education
• Medium high socio-economic status
• Less active in formal groups
• Not formal leaders but participate in ext prog
• Associate with people own community
• Value the opinion of friends & neighbours
• Few farm journals & bulletins
• Referred as friends & neighbours
 Characteristics
• Less education & older than early majority
• Major part of formal organizational
membership – less participation
• Fewer leadership roles
• Less reading of news papers, magazine than
early majority
• Less participation outside community
activities
 Laggards : Traditional
• Last to adopt
• No opinion leadership
• Most localities in their outlook
• Point of reference is past
• Interacts with others who have traditional
values
• Suspicious of innovators, innovations, &
change agent
 Characteristics
• Less education, oldest
• Participation is least in all govt. activities
• Hardly read farm magazines & bulletins
 Late Majority: Skeptical
• Adopt just after the average member
• Adoption – economic necessity & social
pressure
• Do not adopt unit most others
• Depends on system norms
• Peer pressure for adoption