Case 3 course 6 learning year 2 GW (BMEZ)
Name: Esmée Cox
Student number: i6160834
Date: 17 June 2019
Learning goals:
1. What are the different types of adopters? And what are their characteristics?
2. What factors influence the adoption (individual and organizational mention the
characteristics that facilitate and hinder the adoption and sustainability of
innovations, and safeguarding of a renewal)?
3. Explain the distribution of the adoption rate?
4. How does communication influence the adoption of an innovation?
Greenhalgh, T., Robert ,G., Bate, P., Macfarlane, F., Kyriakidou, O. (2005) Diffusion of
innovations in health service organisations. A systematic literature review. Blackwell
Publishing, Oxford.
Chapter 5 Adopters and adoption
Actor is an important contributor to the diffusion process.
It is important to note that categories such as ‘early adopter’ are not fixed personality traits
of individuals but are mathematically defined cut-offs for the adopters of any particular
innovation by a particular population.
Early adopters shared a number of positive characteristics: they tended to be better off,
better educated, more cosmopolitan (frequency of visits to big cities) and had wider social
networks.
Moore argues in his book ‘Crossing the Chasm’ that early adopters of high-technology
innovations are fundamentally different from later adopters. Persuading the later adopters
to adopt a new technology requires a shift from product-centered (‘fastest/smallest/lightest
etc.) values to market-centric values (warranty, service, system integration etc). Moore
suggests that most people make their adoption decision on the basis of the augmented
product. Innovators and early adopters make their adoption decision on the product.
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, Decisions about adopting complex innovations (especially innovations whose adoption
involves groups, teams and organizations) are influenced to a large extent by contextual
judgement – most crucially, on whether the innovation is of any advantage or use to a
particular individual in a particular circumstance.
Wejnert: Whether an innovation is considered for adoption by an individual actor is strongly
determined by compatibility between characteristics of an innovation and the needs of an
actor.
Personality traits are by definition highly resistant to change, perceptions and motivation can
often be influenced by external factors. Early work on adopter categories are influence to a
large extent by situational factors. Perceptions, motivation, values, goals, particular skills and
learning style may all be crucial to the individual adoption decision. There is no evidence that
characteristics determine the rate of adoption.
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