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Diffusion of Innovations Theory

By Everett M. Rogers
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INTRODUCTION
• Helping a society to adopt a new technology or
practice is not easy. Often resistance is
encountered and people become frustrated.
• To help organizations understand this process of
how an innovation (new technology) is adopted
among members of a group, researcher Everett
M. Roger has done extensive study of how new
technologies are accepted among social groups.
• Rogers is the author of the well-known book,
“Diffusion of Innovations.”
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Origin of the diffusion of innovations (DOI)

theory
• The origins of the diffusion of innovations (DOI) theory are
varied and span across multiple disciplines.
• Rogers identifies six main traditions that impacted diffusion
research: anthropology, early sociology, rural sociology,
education, industrial, and medical sociology.
• The diffusion of innovation theory has been largely influenced
by the work of rural sociologists. In the book Diffusion of
Innovations, Rogers synthesizes research from over 508
diffusion studies and produces a theory for the adoption of
innovations among individuals and organization.
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GET TO KNOW…
o Everett M. Rogers (March 6, 1931 - October
21, 2004) was a communication scholar,
sociologist, writer, and teacher.

o Rogers was born on the family Pinehurst

Farm in Carroll, Iowa

o After pursuing a degree in agriculture, Rogers earned his PhD in

Sociology and Statistics at Iowa State University (1957).

o His doctorate work stemmed from both his personal interest in

understanding why farmers in Iowa, including his father, resisted
using such new inventions in their fields as high-yielding hybrid
seed corns, chemical fertilizers and weed sprays as well as how
such new applications diffuse among farmers over time.
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What is Diffusion?
• According to Rogers,
“Diffusion is the process in which an innovation is
communicated through certain channels over time
among the members of a social system”
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Main Elements of Diffusion

• The Innovation
• Communication Channels
• Time
• A Social System
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Main Elements of Diffusion

• The Innovation
Is an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as
new by an individual or other unit of adoption
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Main Elements of Diffusion

• Communication Channels
the means by which messages get from one individual to
another
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Main Elements of Diffusion

• Time
Decision process in which an innovation is adopted
the length of time required to pass through the
innovation-decision process
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Main Elements of Diffusion

• A Social System
Members of that society engaged to accomplish a
common goal
a set of interrelated units that are engaged in joint problem
solving to accomplish a common goal
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The 5 Stages of Adoption – Decision Process

Knowledge

Persuasion

Reject
Decision

Accept
Implementation

Confirmation
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KNOWLEDGE
• Knowledge: when an individual (or other decision-
making unit) is exposed to an innovation’s existence
and gains an understanding of how it functions
• introduced to new product or practice
• In this stage the individual is first exposed to an
innovation but lacks information about the innovation.
During this stage of the process the individual has not
been inspired to find more information about the
innovation.
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PERSUASION
• Persuasion: when an individual (or other decision-
making
unit) forms a favorable or unfavorable attitude towards
the innovation
• initial feelings about the product /practice
• In this stage the individual is interested in the
innovation and actively seeks information/detail about
the innovation.
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DECISION
• Decision: when an individual (or other decision-making
unit) engages in activities that lead to a choice to adopt
or reject the innovation
• use the product or not or adopt the practice or not
• In this stage the individual takes the concept of the innovation and
weighs the advantages/disadvantages of using the innovation and
decides whether to adopt or reject the innovation. Due to the
individualistic nature of this stage Rogers notes that it is the most
difficult stage to acquire empirical evidence
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DECISION

Types of Innovation-Decisions

• Optional Innovation-Decision
• Collective Innovation-Decision
• Authority Innovation-Decision
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Optional Innovation-Decision
• This decision is made by an individual who is in
some way distinguished from others in a social
system.
• Example: In rural area school teachers cannot
provide onlne classes because of language &
technology adoption.
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Collective Innovation-Decision

• This decision is made collectively by all

individuals of a social system.
• Examples: In some premier school, all class have
state-of-the –art computer labs and high speed
wifi facility because the parents & the school
itself willing to provide it.
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Authority Innovation-Decision

• This decision is made for the entire social system

by few individuals in positions of influence or
power.
• Example: The new Minister of Education has
agreed to allow use of virtual classrooms at the
out break of the corona pandemic.
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IMPLEMENTATION
• Implementation: when an individual (or other decision-making
unit) puts a new technology to use
• use new product or adopt new practice (e.g. hand washing)
• In this stage the individual employs the innovation to a varying
degree depending on the situation. During this stage the individual
determines the usefulness of the innovation and may search for
further information about it.
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CONFIRMATION
• Confirmation: when an individual (or other decision-making
unit) seeks to reinforce or revoke (reject) an innovation-decision
• ceases or continues to use the product/or adopt the practice
• Although the name of this stage may be misleading, in this stage the
individual finalizes their decision to continue using the innovation
and may use the innovation to its fullest potential.
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Adoption of Change
• The rate of adoption of innovations usually
occurs in an “S” curve. The variation in the slope
is due to the rapid or slower rates of adoption.
Individuals who are involved with the change
fall into adopter categories.
• Begins with slow change, it is followed by rapid
change and ends in slow change (constant) as
the product matures or new technologies emerge
or new practice adopted
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S-Curved of Diffusion
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Adopter Classes
• Innovators - 2.5%
• Early adopters – 13.5%
• Early majority – 34%
• Late majority – 34%
• Laggards – 16%
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Who Is The INNOVATOR?

• An innovator or pioneer is a person or an organization
who is one of the first to do something and often opens up
a new area for others and achieves an innovation.
@ the first individuals to adopt an innovation
• The characteristics:
- willing to take risks
- youngest in age
- have the highest social class
- have great financial lucidity
- very social
- have closest contact to scientific sources and
interaction with other innovators
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Who Is The INNOVATORS?

• Some people that are often called innovators:
 Isaac Newton - pioneered classical mechanics
 Albert Einstein- pioneered quantum physics
 Sir Richard Arkwright - credited for inventing spinning frame
 Wright Brothers - pioneered controlled flight
 Thomas Edison - developed the first economically feasible light
bulb
 Henry Ford - pioneered mass produced motor cars
 Isambard Kingdom Brunel - revolutionized public transport and
engineering
 Nikola Tesla - pioneered the induction motor
 Robert H. Goddard - pioneered the liquid rocket engine
 Tim Berners Lee- invented the World Wide Web
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Who Is The EARLY ADOPTER?

• Is an early customer of a given company, product, or
technology; in politics, fashion, art, and other fields, this
person would be referred to as a trendsetter.
• A customer who, in addition to using the innovation will
also provide considerable and candid feedback to help the
vendor refine its future product releases, as well as the
associated means of distribution, service, and support.
• The characteristics:
▫ 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
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Who Is The EARLY MAJORITY?

• Individuals in this category adopt an innovation after a
varying degree of time
• This time of adoption is significantly longer than the
innovators and early adopters
• The Characteristics:
 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 system
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Who Is The LATE MAJORITY?

• Individuals in this category 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.
• The Characteristics:
▫ Late Majority are typically skeptical about an innovation,
▫ have below average social status,
▫ very little financial lucidity, in contact with others in late
majority and early majority, very little opinion leadership
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Who Is The LAGGARD?

• Individuals in this category are the last to adopt an innovation
• Unlike some of the previous categories, individuals in this
category show little to no opinion leadership.
• The Characteristics:
▫ have an aversion to change-agents and
▫ tend to be advanced in age.
▫ 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, very little to no
opinion leadership.
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How does this relate to

Instructional Design & Technology?
• Understand why certain technologies are
adopted while others are not. Don’t just
blame the teachers.
• Be able to utilize this theory in introducing
and adopting new technologies in your own
circle.
• Create a model to use in systematically
implementing new innovations in the future.
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What to Consider About the Innovation?

• Relative Advantage: how much better is it?

• Compatibility: meet a need or improve an existing
product
• Complexity: easy to use?
• Trialability: way to try it out
• Observability: can you see results?
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How To Adopt Innovations in Instructional

messages
• 5 steps of Burkman's User Oriented Instructional
Development process:

1. Identify the potential adopter

2. Measure relevant potential adopter perceptions
3. Design and develop a user-friendly product
4. Inform the potential adopter (of the product's user-
friendliness)
5. Provide Post Adoption Support
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Examples of Innovations In Education

• Web-based education

• Digital Learning Environments – using technology to

fundamentally redesign the learning experience in
ways that lead to increased student engagement and
academic success; can include innovations in online
learning, virtual worlds, gaming for learning, and
simulations
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CONCLUSION
• The study of diffusion theory could lead to the development
of a systematic, prescriptive model of adoption and diffusion.
• Instructional technologists & designers have long used
systematic models to guide the process of instructional
development (ID).
• These systematic ID models have resulted in the design and
development of effective and pedagogically sound
innovations.
• A systematic model of diffusion could help guide the process
of adoption and diffusion in a similar manner and, perhaps,
with similarly effective results.
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REFERENCES
• Rogers, Everett M.(1962). Diffusion of Innovations. Free Press of
Glencoe, Macmillan Company.
• Rogers, Everett M. (1983). Diffusion of Innovations. New York:
Free Press.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_innovations
• http://www.zonalatina.com/Zldata99.htm
• http://www.futurelab.org.uk/
• http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/technology/front_tech.ht
m
o http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwitr/docs/diffusion/
• Rogers, Everett M. "New Product Adoption and Diffusion". Journal
of Consumer Research. Volume 2 March 1976 pp. 290 -301.
• Center for Educational Technology. (1989).Schoolyear 2000:
Models for excellence. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Educational
Technology, Florida State University.