Abstract

Everett Rogers (1995), in his renowned book, The Diffusion of Innovations, established a framework that helps us understand the complex process by which new ideas and practices are adopted by individuals and organizations. Simply stated, an innovation presents people with alternative ways of doing things and solving problems. Individuals and organizations must then decide whether to adopt these alternatives and change their practice or reject the innovations in favor of more "tried and true" approaches. Rogers asserts that the "diffusion of innovations is essentially a social process in which subjectively perceived information about a new idea is communicated" (p. xvii). The meaning of an innovation, he explains, "is gradually worked out through a process of social construction" (p. xvii). Under favorable conditions, a "critical mass" of users will eventually adopt the innovation and it becomes an accepted practice. In the absence of supportive conditions, however, many innovations fail to take hold and are abandoned for more established approaches.

Citation

Strudler, N. & Niederhauser, D.S. (2001). T E C H N O LO G Y DI F F U S I O N. In J. Price, D. Willis, N. Davis & J. Willis (Eds.), Proceedings of SITE 2001--Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 2647-2648). Norfolk, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved December 10, 2019 from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/17387/.