Diffusion of Innovations seeks to explain how innovations are takenup in a population. An innovation is an idea, behaviour, or objectthat is perceived as new by its audience.
Diffusion of Innovations offers three valuable insights into theprocess of social change:
- What qualities make an innovation spread successfully.
- The importance of peer-peer conversations and peer networks.
- Understanding the needs of different user segments.
These insights have been tested in more than 6000 research studiesand field tests, so they are amongst the most reliable in the social sciences.
What qualities make innovations spread?
Diffusion of Innovations takes a radically different approach to mostother theories of change. Instead of focusing on persuadingindividuals to change, it sees change as being primarily about theevolution or “reinvention” of products and behaviours so theybecome better fits for the needs of individuals and groups. In Diffusion of Innovations it is not people who change, but theinnovations themselves.
Why do certain innovations spread more quickly than others? Andwhy do others fail? Diffusion scholars recognise five qualities thatdetermine the success of an innovation.
Reinvention is a key principle in Diffusion of Innovations. The success of an innovation depends on how well it evolves to meet the needs of more and more demanding and risk-averse individuals in a population (the history of the mobile phone is a perfectexample). A good way to achieve this is to make users into partners in a continuous process of redevelopment.
Computer games companies, pharmaceutical corporations and rural research institutes are examples of organisations that seek to make users active partners in improving innovations by supporting user communities or by applying participative action research techniques.
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