Concept of Diffusion and Adoption

Concept of Diffusion and Adoption

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 concerned with the spread of messages that are perceived as new ideas and which will necessarily be received with some degree of uncertainty. The four main elements in the diffusion of new ideas are:

• Innovation
• Communication channels
• Time
• The social system

1. The Innovation

An innovation is a thought, behaviour, or product that is regarded as novel. The degree to which an invention is adopted depends on how its features are seen by individuals within a social system. While some inventions spread more slowly than others, some do so much more quickly. The relative benefit, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability of an invention all affect its pace of adoption.

The degree to which an invention is seen to be superior to the notion it replaces is reflected in its relative advantage. Economic metrics may be used to gauge the degree of relative advantage, but other key considerations include social standing, practicality, and satisfaction. Even if an invention offers a significant number of objective advantages, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is whether people see the invention favourably or not. The perceived relative benefit of an invention will determine how quickly it is adopted.

The degree to which an invention is seen as being compatible with the values, experiences, and requirements of prospective users is referred to as compatibility. An invention that is incompatible with the norms and values of a social system will not spread as quickly as one that is. Acceptance of a new value system is a rather long process that often comes before the adoption of an incompatible invention. When a certain software package cannot be utilised because it is incompatible with a computer’s operating system, technological compatibility may be at play.

The degree to which an invention is seen as being difficult to comprehend and utilise is referred to as its complexity. Most members of a social system can quickly understand certain inventions, while others are more complex and will spread more slowly. Innovations that are easier to comprehend are accepted faster than concepts that need for individuals to acquire new knowledge and abilities.

Trialability is the extent to which a new idea can be tested out on a small scale. In general, improvements that can be tested over time through payment plans are accepted more swiftly than technologies that cannot be divided. A trialable invention reduces uncertainty for someone who is contemplating utilising it and can gain experience via use.

The level of visibility of an innovation’s outcomes is referred to as observability. Individuals are more inclined to accept an invention if they can quickly perceive its benefits. Due to the frequent inquiries from friends and neighbours of a product user, such exposure encourages peer debate of novel concepts.
In general, innovations will be accepted more quickly than others if people believe them to have better relative advantages, compatibility, trialability, and observability.

2. Communication Channels

The communication channel is the second crucial component in the spread of new ideas. To attain a shared understanding, individuals produce and exchange knowledge via the process of communication. A communication channel is a way for two people to communicate with one another. While interpersonal channels are more successful in forming and changing attitudes toward a new concept and therefore influencing the choice to embrace or reject a new idea, mass media channels are more effective at spreading awareness about innovations.

Most people base their judgements of innovations on the opinions of peers who have accepted them rather than on the results of expert-conducted scientific study. Therefore, the diffusion process is fundamentally social in character, driven by people interacting with one another and socially constructing meaning for an idea.

The third element in the diffusion of new ideas is time. The time dimension is involved in three ways.

First, time is involved in the innovation-decision process. This is the mental process through which an individual (or other decision-making unit) passes from first knowledge of an innovation to forming an attitude toward the innovation; then to a decision to adopt or reject it; then to implementation of the new idea; and finally to confirmation of the decision to adopt the innovation. An individual seeks information at various stages in the innovation-decision process in order to decrease uncertainty about an innovation’s expected consequences.

The second way in which time is involved in diffusion is in the innovativeness of an individual or other unit of adoption. Innovativeness is the degree to which an individual or other unit of adoption is relatively earlier in adopting the new ideas than other members of a social system. There are five adopter categories, or classifications of the members of a social system on the basis of their innovativeness. These categories are: (1) innovators, (2) early adopters, (3) early majority, (4) late majority, and (5) laggards.

Innovators are defined as the first 2.5 percent of the individuals in a system to adopt an innovation. Venturesomeness is almost an obsession with innovators. This interest in new ideas leads them out of a local circle of peer networks and into more cosmopolitan social relationships. Control of substantial financial resources is helpful to absorb possible losses from an unprofitable innovation. The ability to understand and apply complex technical knowledge is also needed. The innovator must be able to cope with a high degree of uncertainty about an innovation at the time of adoption. While an innovator may not always be respected by the other members of a social system, the innovator plays an important role in the diffusion process.

Early adopters are the next 13.5 percent of the individuals in a system to adopt an innovation. Early adopters are a more integrated part of a social system than are innovators. Whereas innovators are cosmopolites, early adopters are localites. This adopter category, more than any other, has the greatest degree of opinion leadership in most systems. Potential adopters look to early adopters for advice and information about an innovation. Early adopters are the embodiment of the successful use of new ideas, and they know that to continue to earn the esteem of colleagues and to maintain a central position as an opinion leader they must make judicious innovation decisions.

The late majority is the next 34 percent of the individuals in a system to adopt an innovation. The late majority adopt new ideas just after the average member of a system. Like the early majority, the late majority make up one-third of the members of a system. Adoption may be the result of increasing network pressures from peers. Innovations are approached with a skeptical and cautious air, and the late majority do not adopt until most others in their system have done so. The weight of system norms must definitely favor an innovation before the late majority are convinced. The pressure of peers is necessary to motivate adoption.

Laggards are the last 16 percent of the individuals in a system to adopt an innovation. They possess almost no opinion leadership. Laggards are the most local in their outlook of all adopter categories; many are near isolates in the social networks of their system.

The third dimension in which time is involved in diffusion is in rate of adoption. This is the relative speed with which an innovation is adopted by members of a social system. The rate of adoption is usually measured as the number of members of the system that adopt the innovation in a given time period.

4. The Social System

The fourth main element in the diffusion of new ideas is the social system. A social system is defined as a set of interrelated units that are engaged in joint problem solving to accomplish common goals. The members or units of a social system may be individuals, informal groups, organizations, and/or subsystems. The social system constitutes a boundary within which an innovation diffuses. Diffusion is affected by norms, which are the established behavior patterns for the members of a social system, and by opinion leadership, which is the degree to which an individual is able to influence the attitudes or overt behavior of other individuals in a desired way with relative frequency.

A key concept in understanding the nature of the diffusion process is the critical mass, which occurs at the point at which enough individuals have adopted an innovation so that the innovation’s further rate of adoption becomes self-sustaining. The concept of the critical mass implies that outreach activities should be concentrated on getting the use of the innovation to the point of critical mass. These efforts should be focused on the early adopters, who are often opinion leaders and serve as role models for many other members of the social system. Early adopters are instrumental in getting an innovation to the point of critical mass, and, therefore, they are instrumental in the successful diffusion and adoption of an innovation.