DIFFUSION OF INNOVATION THEORY

Diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system. Diffusion is a special type of communication concerned with the spread of messages that are perceived as new ideas.

An innovation, simply put, is “an idea perceived as new by the individual.”
An innovation is an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption. The characteristics of an innovation, as perceived by the members of a social system, determine its rate of adoption.
The four main elements in the diffusion of new ideas are:
(1) The innovation
(2) Communication channels
(3) Time
(4) The social system (context)

For the innovation to be widely accepted by a section of people, it should have some main qualities which include;
Relative advantage, compactibility, complexity, observability, triality.

COMMUNICATION:
Communication is the process by which participants create and share information with one another in order to reach a mutual understanding.

A communication channel is the means by which messages get from one individual to another. Mass media channels are more effective in creating knowledge of innovations, whereas interpersonal channels 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.

Most individuals evaluate an innovation, not on the basis of scientific research by experts, but through the subjective evaluations of near-peers who have adopted the innovation.

Time:
The time dimension is involved in diffusion in three ways. First, time is involved in the innovation-decision process.

The innovation decision process 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
Confirm 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.

The social system
The fourth main element in the diffusion of new ideas is the social system. A social system is defined as a set of interrelated units that are engaged in joint problem-solving to accomplish a common goal.

The members or units of a social system may be individuals, informal groups,organizations, and/or subsystems. The social system constitutes a boundary within which an innovation diffuses. How the system's social structure affects diffusion has been studied. A second area of research involved how norms affect diffusion.

Norms are the established behavior patterns for the members of a social system. A third area of research has had to do with opinion leadership, the degree to which an individual is able to influence informally other individuals' attitudes or over behavior in a desired way with relative frequency.

A change agent is an individual who attempts to influence clients' innovation-decisions in a direction that is deemed desirable by a change agency.





http://www.indiana.edu/~t581qual/Assignments/Diffusion_of_Innovations/pdf/

wikipedia