Diffusion of Innovations

Diffusion of Innovations

1. Limitations

   • Pro- Innovation Bias
     • An innovation should be diffused and adopted by all members an in a rapid manner without rejection or reinvention  (often not possible with many objectives)
     • Designed for
       • Lower socioeconomic groups People with low lit levels Other vulnerable areas where adoption is difficult Easier and smoother in wealthy and highly educated populations
       • Preventative nature
         • adopt the new idea today and to prevent a future occurence 
         • No real innovations

2. Steps for Applying

   • 1. Select the topic
     • 2. ID the program population
       • 3. Derive a sample of best practices
         • 4. ID intermediary networks
           • 5. Identify opinion leaders in the intermediary network
             • 6. Collect pretest data
               • 7. Create a decision support tool
                 • 8. Set up research design conditioners
                   • 9. Measure the rate of adoption and participants' opinions posttest

3. Social Systems

   • Refers to people in a society connected by a common goal 
   • Homophily
     • Similarity among group members Innovations spread faster among homophilous groups
   • Social Network
     • A person- centered web of social relationships  To hasten diffusion, identify and utilize physical and virtual networks and create new networks
     • Change Agent
       • An individual who influences a potential adopter's decision about innovation in a favorable way.  The change agent must be used to FAVORABLY influence the decision
     • Opinion Leaders
       • Individuals who are influential in a community and sway the beliefs and actins of their colleagues either in a positive or negative direction 

4. Time

   • Interval between becoming aware of an idea and adopting it
   • Innovators
     • 2.5% Adopt quickly
   • Early Adopters
     • 13.5% Well- respected opinion leaders
   • Early Majority
     • 34% Who are highly connected within a peer system
   • Late Majority
     • 34% Skeptical and have low tolerance for uncertainty
   • Laggards
     • 16% Relatively isolated and last to adopt innovations if ever (hard to reach) 

5. Communication Channels

   • Interval between becoming aware of an idea and adopting it
   • Mass- media
     • television
   • Interpersonal Channels
     • face to face
   • Interactive Communication Channels
     • internet

6. DOI Process

   • Innovation Development
     • Development of innovation
   • Dissemination
     • How the innovation is communicated
   • Adoption
     • Refers to uptake of innovation by target population
   • Implementation
     • Regular use of innovation, focus on improving self- efficacy and skills of adopters
   • Maintenance
     • focus on sustainability Keeping adoption of behavior

7. Innovation

   • An idea/ practice/ product that is perceived about how good the new thing is
   • 3 Types
     • Incremental
       • Small improvement over previous products
     • Distinctive
       • Significant improvement but do not entail any new tech or approach 
     • Breakthrough
       • Based on a new technology or approach 
   • Attributes
     • Perceived Relative Advantage
       • Refers to the perception about how good the new product, idea, or practice is over the one it will replace 
     • Compatibility
       • Refers to the perception about consistency with values, past experiences, and needs of potential adopters
     • Complexity
       • The perception about the degree of difficulty in understanding and using the new idea, practice, or product 
     • Demonstrability
       • The degree to which an innovation may be experimented with on a limited basis
     • Clarity
       • Clarity of results is the degree to which outcomes of an innovation are clearly visible
     • Costs
       • The tangible and in tangible costs occurred in the new adoption
     • Reversibility
       • THe ability and degree to which status quo can be reinstated by ceasing to use the innovation
     • Pervasiveness
       • THe degree to which an innovation requires changes or adjustments by other elements in the social system
     • Reinvention
       • The degree to which a potential adopter can adapt, refine, or modify the innovation to suit his or her needs