preview

Rogers' Diffusion and Adoption Research Essay

Better Essays

Rogers' Diffusion and Adoption Research

Why do technology initiatives fail despite their promises and boundless possibilities?

From integrating technology in education to introducing technological innovation in agriculture, users acceptance presents a complex set of challenges to innovation diffusion. According to Everett Rogers, one reason why there is so much interest in the diffusion of innovations is because "getting a new idea adopted, even when it has obvious advantages, is very difficult" (Rogers, 1995, p. 1).

In the instructional technology field, the rapid advances in information technology urges on the educational reform. This reform created a need for more research in the educational application of …show more content…

We will define terminology and discuss the different components associated with the adoption and diffusion theory.

The main concern of the innovation diffusion research is how innovations are adopted and why innovations are adopted at different rates. Rogers (1995) states there are four main elements of diffusion - innovation, time, communication, and social system. Derives from the four main elements, Rogers defines diffusion as "the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system" (Rogers, 1995, p. 5). The descriptions of the four elements in diffusion are as follow:

Innovation

According to Rogers (1995), an innovation is "an idea, practice, or object that isperceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption" (p. 11). Five characteristics of innovations are identified and they help explain the differences in adoption rates (Rogers, 1995).

Characteristics of innovations

Relative advantage - potential adopters need to see an advantage for adopting the innovation. Compatibility - innovations need to fit in with potential adopters' current practices and values. Complexity - innovations' ease of use will lead to more rapid adoption. Trialability - potential adopters want the availability of "testing" before adopting. Observability - potential adopters want to see observable results of an innovation.

Time

Time relates to the speed with

Get Access