To best understand the Diffusion of Innovations
theory, it is necessary to know the meaning of the keywords in the term.
First of all, Diffusion basically means ‘the act of
spreading something over a large area over a period of time’ whereas Innovation
is ‘an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or a
group of society’
The term Diffusion of Innovations therefore means
the process of by which a new idea, product or practice is communicated through
certain channels over time among the members of a social system.
This theory was propounded by Everett M. Rogers in
1995.
According to Rogers (1995), there are four main
elements in the diffusion of new ideas or products which are:
The Innovation: This concerns itself with why
certain innovations spread more quickly than other. Rogers argued that the characteristics which
determine an innovation’s rate of adoption are – its Relative advantage,
Compatibility, Complexity, Trialability and Observability to those within the
social system.
Communication Channels: Communication is the process
by which participants create and share information with one another to reach a
mutual understanding. A communication channel is the means or medium by which
messages get from one individual to another. Mass Media channels such as TV,
Radio, Newspapers and so on are more effective in creating knowledge of
innovations whereas interpersonal channels like face-to-face, telephone,
instant messaging and so on are more
effective in forming and changing attitudes toward a new idea and thus in influencing the decision
to adopt or reject a new idea.
Time: It is involved in the innovation-decision
process, which is the mental process through which an individual or other
decision making unit passes from first knowledge of an innovation to forming an
attitude toward the innovation to a decision to adopt or reject, to
implementation of the new idea, and to confirmation of this decision. An
individual seeks information at various stages in the innovation-decision
process in order to decrease uncertainty about an innovation’s expected
consequences.
Time has also got to do with the degree to which a
unit of adoption is relatively earlier in adopting new ideas than other members
of a social system on the basis of their innovativeness.
Another way time in involved in diffusion is the
rate of adoption which is the relative speed with which an innovation is
adopted by members of a social system.
The Social System:
This is the fourth main element in the diffusion of new ideas and it is
a set of interrelated units that are engaged in a joint problem-solving to
accomplish a common goal. The members of a social system may be individuals,
informal groups, organizations, and/or subsystems. The social system
constitutes a boundary within which an innovation diffuses.
Diffusion of innovation has helped in so many ways
and many societies have undoubtedly acquired most of their cultural ideas by
diffusion. For example, writing, the use of numerals, mathematics and many
others went through the process of diffusion of innovation.
To end with, it is clear that the assumption by
Everett Rogers is valid. As society evolved, this theory has been developed and
expanded. As a result, three main theories
concerning the mechanisms for this have been
proposed: trickle-down theory, two-step flow theory and multistage interaction theory.
