Log In
Or create an account ->
Imperial Library
Home
About
News
Upload
Forum
Help
Login/SignUp
Index
Cover
Dedication
Preface
Chapter 1: Elements of Diffusion
Water Boiling in a Peruvian Village: Diffusion That Failed
What is Diffusion?
Controlling Scurvy in the British Navy
Nondiffusion of the Dvorak Keyboard
Four Main Elements in the Diffusion of Innovations
1. The Innovation
2. Communication Channels
3. Time
4. A Social System
Diffusion of Hybrid Corn in Iowa
Summary
Chapter 2: A History of Diffusion Research
The Beginnings of Diffusion Research in Europe
Gabriel Tarde and Imitation
Georg Simmel’s Stranger
The British and German-Austrian Diffusionists
The Rise of Diffusion Research Traditions
Paradigms and Invisible Colleges
The Anthropology Research Tradition
Miracle Rice in Bali: the Goddess and the Computer
Early Sociology
Rural Sociology
The Diffusion of Modern Math in Pittsburgh
Worldwide Diffusion of the Kindergarten
Public Health and Medical Sociology
The Columbia University Drug Diffusion Study
The Taichung Field Experiment
STOP AIDS in San Francisco
Communication
Diffusion of News of the September 11 Terrorist Attacks
Marketing
Opinion Leaders and Mavens in the Diffusion of Electric Cars
Geography
General Sociology
Networks in Recruitment to Freedom Summer
Trends by Diffusion Research Traditions
A Typology of Diffusion Research
Summary
Chapter 3: Contributions and Criticisms of Diffusion Research
The Status of Diffusion Research Today
Criticisms of Diffusion Research
The Pro-Innovation Bias of Diffusion Research
Pure Drinking Water in Egyptian Villages
Preference for Sons in India and China
The Individual-Blame Bias in Diffusion Research
The Recall Problem in Diffusion Research
The Issue of Equality in the Diffusion of Innovations
Summary
Chapter 4: The Generation of Innovations
The Innovation-Development Process
1. Recognizing a Problem or Need
2. Basic and Applied Research
Birth of the Laptop Computer at Toshiba
3. Development
How the Refrigerator Got Its Hum
Classifying the Segway
4. Commercialization
Fumbling the Future at Xerox PARC
5. Diffusion and Adoption
6. Consequences
Serendipity in the Discovery of Warfarin
Socioeconomic Status, Equality, and Innovation Development
Hard Tomatoes in California
Tracing the Innovation-Development Process
The Shortcomings of Tracer Studies
Future Research on the Innovation-Development Process
The Agricultural Extension Model
Summary
Chapter 5: The Innovation-Decision Process
A Model of the Innovation-Decision Process
The Knowledge Stage
Which Comes First, Needs or Awareness of an Innovation?
Three Types of Knowledge About an Innovation
Early Versus Late Knowers of Innovations
The Persuasion Stage
The Decision Stage
The Implementation Stage
Re-Invention
How Much Re-Invention Occurs?
Re-Invention Is Not Necessarily Bad
Why Does Re-Invention Occur?
Re-Invention of Horse Culture by the Plains Indians
The Confirmation Stage
Dissonance
Discontinuance
The Discontinuance of Smoking
Forced Discontinuance and the Rise of Organic Farming
Are There Stages in the Innovation-Decision Process?
Process Versus Variance Research
Evidence of Stages
The Hierarchy-of-Effects
Stages-of-Change
Communication Channels in the Innovation-Decision Process for Tetracycline
Communication Channels by Stages in the Innovation-Decision Process
Categorizing Communication Channels
Mass Media Versus Interpersonal Channels
Cosmopolite Versus Localite Channels
The Bass Forecasting Model
Communication Channels by Adopter Categories
The Innovation-Decision Period
The Rate of Awareness-Knowledge and Rate of Adoption
The Length of the Innovation-Decision Period by Adopter Category
How the Internet Is Changing the Innovation-Decision Process
Summary
Chapter 6: Attributes of Innovations and their Rate of Adoption
Black Music in White America: Rap
Rate of Adoption
Research on the Attributes of Innovations
Measuring the Attributes of Innovations
Organizations as the Units of Adoption
Postdiction Versus Prediction
An Agricultural Innovation That Failed
Relative Advantage
Economic Factors and Rate of Adoption
Status Aspects of Innovations
Overadoption
Relative Advantage and Rate of Adoption
Preventive Innovations
The Effects of Incentives
Mandates for Adoption
Compatibility
Compatibility with Values and Beliefs
Compatibility with Previously Introduced Ideas
Compatibility with Needs
Photovoltaics on a Million Roofs
The Daughter-in-Law Who Doesn’t Speak
Compatibility and Rate of Adoption
Technology Clusters
Naming an Innovation
Positioning an Innovation
Acceptability Research
Indigenous Knowledge Systems
Complexity
Trialability
Observability
Cellular Telephones and the Lifestyle Revolution
Summary
Chapter 7: Innovativeness and Adopter Categories
Diffusion of Farm Innovations in a Colombian Village in the Andes
Classifying Adopter Categories on the Basis of Innovativeness
The S-Shaped Curve of Adoption and Normality
Measuring Organizational Innovativeness
Who Adopts?
Adopter Categorization
Adopter Categories as Ideal Types
Innovators: Venturesome
Early Adopters: Respect
Early Majority: Deliberate
Late Majority: Skeptical
Laggards: Traditional
People Who Said No to Innovation: The Old Order Amish
Characteristics of Adopter Categories
Socioeconomic Characteristics
Personality Variables
Communication Behavior
Audience Segmentation and Adopter Categories
Cell Phone Laggards in Hong Kong
The Innovativeness/Needs Paradox and the Strategy of Least Resistance
Network Influences on Innovativeness
Summary
Chapter 8: Diffusion Networks
Opinion Leadership in the Diffusion of Modern Math
Models of Communication Flows
The Hypodermic Needle Model
The Two-Step Flow Model
Homophily and Heterophily in Communication Networks
Homophily and Heterophily
Homophily as a Barrier to Diffusion
Measuring Opinion Leadership and Network Links
The Role of Alpha Pups in the Viral Marketing of a Cool Electronics Game
Monomorphic and Polymorphic Opinion Leadership
Paul Revere’s Ride
Characteristics of Opinion Leaders
External Communication
Accessibility
Socioeconomic Status
Innovativeness
Innovativeness, Opinion Leadership, and System Norms
Opinion Leader Organizations
Do Opinion Leaders Matter?
Networks in the Diffusion of a Medical Drug
Diffusion Networks
Building a Network for the Diffusion of Photovoltaics in the Dominican Republic
Cluster Studies
Dr. John Snow and the Cholera Epidemic in London
Communication Network Analysis
The Strength-of-Weak-Ties Theory
Who Is Linked to Whom in Networks?
Social Learning Theory
The Critical Mass in the Diffusion of Interactive Innovations
The Critical Mass in the Diffusion of Fax
Diffusion of the Internet
The Concept of Critical Mass
Watching While Being Watched
The Sleeper
Individual Thresholds for Adoption
Why Do Individuals Adopt Prior to the Critical Mass?
Networks and the Turbocharger Effect
Strategies for Getting to Critical Mass
Summary
Chapter 9: The Change Agent
Targeting
Change Agents as Linkers
The Sequence of Change Agent Roles
Coercion in Norplant Diffusion Safaris in Indonesia
Factors in Change Agent Success
Change Agent Efforts
Client Orientation
Compatibility with Clients’ Needs
Sustainability: “Chicken” Davis in Nigeria
Change Agent Empathy
Communication Campaigns
The ORT Campaign in Egypt
Homophily and Change Agent Contact
Change Agents’ Contact with Lower-Status Clients
Para-Professional Aides
Change Agent Credibility
Inauthentic Professionalization of Aides
The Baltimore Needle-Exchange Project
The Use of Opinion Leaders
The Role of Demonstrations
Clients’ Evaluative Ability
The Agricultural Extension Service
Centralized and Decentralized Diffusion Systems
Advantages and Disadvantages of Decentralized Diffusion
Summary
Chapter 10: Innovation in Organizations
Types of Innovation-Decisions
Organizations
Virtual Organizations
Organizational Innovativeness
Size and Organizational Innovativeness
Structural Characteristics and Organizational Innovativeness
The Role of Champions
The Innovation Process in Organizations
Adoption of New Communication Technologies
Stages in the Innovation Process
1. Agenda-Setting
2. Matching
3. Redefining/Restructuring
4. Clarifying
5. Routinizing
The Santa Monica Freeway Diamond Lane Experiment: Implementation Failure
New Communication Technologies in Organizations
Summary
Chapter 11: Consequences of Innovations
Snowmobile Revolution in the Arctic
Studying Consequences
Classifications of Consequences
Desirable Versus Undesirable Consequences
Direct Versus Indirect Consequences
ORT: The Consequences of Consequences
Anticipated Versus Unanticipated Consequences
Steel Axes for Stone-Age Aborigines
Form, Function, and Meaning of an Innovation
The Irish Potato Famine
Achieving a Dynamic Equilibrium
The Mosquito Killer
Equality in the Consequences of Innovations
The Communication Effects Gap
Gap-Widening Consequences of the Diffusion of Innovations
Social Structure and the Equality of Consequences
Strategies for Narrowing Gaps
Wider Gaps Are Not Inevitable
The Digital Divide
Summary
Glossary
About the Author
Bibliography
Name Index
Subject Index
Copyright
← Prev
Back
Next →
← Prev
Back
Next →