BRIEF NOTES ON DIFFUSION OF INNOVATIONS THEORY BY E. M. ROGERS.

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.