Customer Reviews

Diffusion of Innovations, 5th Edition

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Virtually every piece of change management literature that I have read since being introduced to Diffusion of Innovation either has its foundation in this book or its thesis can be understood in terms of Everett's framework. Do not let the 1962 date of the first edition (up to fifth edition at this writing), make you question the work's currency. While it is regularly called a classic, it is in no way an antique.

One caveat. Whether you are going to respond to D of I as positively as I did will depend in part on your cognitive style. If you are comfortable reading about abstractions that grew out of research from largely non-business fields of study and are comfortable personally having to make the leap from theory to practical application, you will value this book. If on the other hand you need a clearly defined process for applying the framework and have a hard time generalizing non-business research to your own world, you probably want to look elsewhere. Though Diffusion of Innovation is more abstract and less business focused, I personally find D of I to have more practical value than works such as Daryl Conner's Managing at the Speed of Change or John Kotter's Leading Change, both of which I feel are better at creating a sensitivity to change management concepts and fueling a sense of need for "expert" consulting resources than they do providing tools and knowledge.

I have used Rogers' framework to craft change programs in corporate and consulting environments and can confirm that, if you are willing to make an investment in understanding how its concepts can be applied within your context, D of I is an invaluable resource.

Bottom line: a great framework based on sound research, well written and entertaining, and, if you can make the leap from abstraction to application, eminently practical.

This is a standard book that anyone in the social sciences should read. It's a classic. I am very disappointed, however, with the quality of the physical book: the cover is very thin and the pages are on newsprint. I'll bet that after a few years it will deteriorate so that it crumbles. It will probably discolor if left in the sun. For $35 and for such an important book, this is really a shame. The 4th ed. I got from a library is well used but in great condition. This one wouldn't be the same if given the same use. I would like to recommend buying the previous edition but this one seems to bring in quite a few newer examples and recent experimental support for the theories. Caveat emptor.

Wow. So human psychology is predictable after all, even when it comes to the way people adopt new products and ideas. It's really, truly amazing how this book not only takes the guesswork out of this process, but bases all of this on science and shows that this process is pretty much the same for any people group in any time and place. Right now I am getting ready to launch a new product and this has helped me so much in understanding what to expect and what I will need to do--not a cookie-cutter set of instructions, mind you, but a set of principles and "generalizations" (as they call them in the book) to work with and keep in mind as I build things.

The problem with this book for entrepreneurs is two-fold in that: 1) the book is written for a large audience that includes everyone from newbies to the "invisible college" that dominates this field of study in universities and the like, and 2) it's written in a semi-academic tone that may be a bit of an intense read for some. For this reason I am offering a little "tour guide" for entrepreneurs that may help them in getting through this book and getting the most out of it, along with summaries of some of the best things that I learned from this book, and some commentary and criticisms as well.


Here we go:

CHAPTER 1: Elements of diffusion.

This is a little intro to the basic anatomy of the diffusion of a product or idea into a culture. The thesis is: "Diffusion is the process by which 1) an INNOVATION 2) is COMMUNICATED through certain CHANNELS 3) over TIME 4) among members of a SOCIAL SYSTEM." (p. 11). It then takes you on a quick tour of all four of those things. It's got some great stories about innovations that failed, such as the Dvorak keyboard, which was supposed to replace the QWERTY keyboard but didn't, and why that didn't happen.

CHAPTERS 2 & 3: A history of diffusion research; Contributions and criticisms of diffusion research.

This is more for the academics, so I would just recommend reading the summaries of the chapters, and go to the individual sections if you need anything in particular. Take heart in knowing that the the author, the late Everett C. rogers, was completely NON-SNOBBY and takes on the "Invisible College" of Diffusion Research and some of their staid ways of doing things. Nothing like having a new edition of the snobs' own Bible calling them out! What a guy.

CHAPTER 4: The generation of innovations.

Things start cooking here for entrepreneurs, especially in the first part of the chapter. This chapter shows the full life cycle of an innovation, from the perception of a need to the completed and fully diffused product's consequences on society. One really important point here is that that chapter seeks to not only show the full life cycle of an innovation, but also looks at the "decisions and events occurring previous to" the introduction of the innovation (p. 136), starting with the recognizing of a problem or need.

This part may help you in thinking through how your product meets people's needs. Don't be like a bad rock band or a self-centered neo-burlesque dancer that is going out and doing whatever they are doing just to meet their own needs without thinking twice about the needs of their audience! Do you care about being on stage or being the first to do something or whatever, or do you care about meeting other people's needs?

CHAPTER 5: The Innovation-decision process.

We're getting hotter! This explains how an individual decides to adopt (or reject) a new innovation. It's a five stage process, consisting of: 1) Knowledge of the innovation, 2) Persuasion (i.e. forming a favorable or unfavorable attitude toward it), 3) A Decision (to accept or reject), 4) Implementation of the innovation, and 5) Confirmation (i.e. seeking reinforcement of the decision from others). Between 3 and 5 (the Decision and the Confirmation), the individual may decide to stop using the innovation; this is called "Discontinuance". Or, they may reject initially and then adopt later when they have different information.

One interesting thing that you will read about in this chapter is about re-invention, which happens at the Implementation stage (Stage 4). A lot of people actually adapt or alter innovations to suit their own needs, and the book suggests that this is OK and that it shouldn't be frowned upon. It even suggests that the more that people can reinvent an innovation to suit their needs, the more likely that the innovation will succeed in being accepted. Another concept that this chapter introduces is the difference between mass media versus interpersonal channels. Actually the media is the initial way that innovations get noticed, and over time, the media influence drops and interpersonal channels take over.

CHAPTER 6: Attributes of innovations.

Here we get a look at the characteristics of innovations that "make it" in the marketplace. The five things that successful innovations have in common are: 1) Relative Advantage (i.e. the perception that the new item or idea is better than an existing, established one), 2) Compatibility (it fits in with the existing way of doing things), 3) Complexity (the amount of complexity is not too much for the user to handle), 4) Trialability (they can try the item out without much consequence if they decide to back out), and 5) Observability (they can gauge the idea's positive effects for themselves). All of these attributes must be perceived THROUGH THE EYES OF THE ADOPTER, not the person offering the innovation (that's a big mistake that's made a lot).

It is important that an innovation (or group of innovations) be named properly. The book says, "Words are the thought units" that structure people's perceptions, and "The Word symbols for a new idea [must have] the desired meaning for the intended audience" (p. 251). It's surprising how many times this important aspect is overlooked.

CHAPTER 7: Innovativeness and adapter categories.

This is the heart of the book; all of the book up to this point funnels into this one chapter. Here we see the innovation "bell curve" for the acceptance of a new idea, and the five categories of adopters: 1) innovators, 2) early adopters, 3) early majority, 4) late majority, and 5) laggards. We get a look at what all of these groups are like, and, most importantly, get a really good look at the characteristics of early adopters versus those of later adopters.

The one thing that this section in particular points out is that it's the very early adopters, not the innovators, who have the most effect on others adopting an innovation. The reason why is that the innovators are usually perceived as too far outside of the existing social system and therefore not good role models.

A good way to think of this is via the sitcom "Seinfeld". Kramer was the innovator, always trying kooky ideas that may or may not work. Seinfeld was the early adopter; he was liked and looked up to in his social system. If he tried something Kramer did, and it worked, then other people would look at Seinfeld and do it too.

CHAPTER 8: Diffusion networks.

THIS CHAPTER IS REALLY, REALLY ESSENTIAL. Another name for the Seinfelds of the world (as denoted above) is "opinion leaders". They are the people looked up to in a social system for info on new ideas. If they do it, others are willing to try it as well. This chapter opens up the secrets of opinion leaders and the way that they work, and demonstrates that the way to REALLY get an innovation to take off is to locate and work with these opinion leaders. This requires focused, deliberate networking, so brush up on those networking skills so that you can make those connections.

CHAPTER 9: The change agent.

Here the book starts to wind down and we get into what could possibly be some superfluous information for entrepreneurs. The info about change agents seems to be written more for non-profit organizations that are seeking cause-related change. Although if you have a street team or do some type of decentralized marketing, this might be good info for making disciples for your new product or idea.

CHAPTER 10: Innovation in organizations.

If you are looking to sell your product or idea to businesses or other types of organizations instead of to individuals, you will want to read this; if only individuals are your clients, skip it. You will need networking skills here too because the info about opinion leaders becomes especially pertinent in organizations; there you will be looking for people who champion your product and convince the rest of the organization to buy in.

CHAPTER 11: Consequences of innovations.

Unfortunately, this is the worst-researched part of the book, which they admit to initially. Read this section with a grain of salt because if you don't, then you may end up walking away paranoid about rocking the boat and end up not introducing an innovation that may help alleviate someone else's misery. This part of the book seems to value stable, equally-distributed misery over the unstable growing pains of progress, and obsesses over the divide that an innovation could create between those who have it and those who don't. The horror stories that they tell, such as an Australian aboriginal tribe's decline upon receiving the technology of the steel axe (over the traditional stone axe), demonstrate that a new technology and the new freedom that comes with it also bring a new responsibility with it, which the recipients of the new technology may or may not be ready for. They admit under their breath that innovations actually help enrich everyone's lives (p. 457: "[T]he earlier adopters get richer, and the later adopters' ECONOMIC GAIN [emphasis added] is comparably less"), blatantly contradicting themselves when they say, "usually new ideas make the rich richer and the poor poorer" (p. 444) a few pages earlier. Also, they ignore that it may be the habits of late adopters, such as their tendency toward dogmatism and fatalism, that actually put them on the short end of the stick. This brings into the equation the importance of packaging a responsible mindset into one's new innovation and thinking ahead. It would be wise to eliminate as many foreseeable bad consequences from the innovation as possible; these bad consequences could sift the innovation out during its diffusion process if you are not careful. Avoid paranoia about upsetting the bowl of marbles just because someone else can't get their own marbles together, and do the very best you can.


Hope this helps, and bon voyage in reading this overall very helpful and fascinating book!

In 1850, a German educator named Friedrich Froebel labored to implement his idea of a child's garden, a place where small children were removed from parental influences, to instill a joy of learning through playful activities. Within two decades, his idea had spread throughout Western Europe and the United States. Within a generation, nearly every child on the planet was attending or had attended some form of school with a funny German sounding name... Kindergarten. Was it just a great idea that hit at the exact right moment in time? Is it possible to recreate a lightening strike or must we wait for nature to take her course? As an agricultural extension agent for several large Midwestern universities, Everett Rogers had a front row seat to one of the most effective organized diffusion efforts in the history of mankind. American agricultural extension offices taught rural farmers about the best available technology and coordinated the efforts of researchers, seed companies and heavy equipment manufacturers. Nearly unanimous adoption of agricultural technology and best practices resulted in American agriculture increasing its productivity by 335% from 1950 to 1970. In his book, Diffusion of Innovations, Rogers examines the science of working to implement new ideas and technologies.

The book is not a how-to guide, but rather an unbiased view of innovations. By examining the unintended consequences of innovations, Rogers cautions leaders to exercise prudence when pushing others to change. Leaders who do not understand the history and culture of the people they are seeking to change, even though well-intended, can instead cause irreparable damage. While his own efforts in agricultural extension were a massive success, he examines unintended consequences such as the loss of the family farm, over production of food and loss of bio-diversity that were not considered when farmers were being pushed to adopt a new way of doing business.
For education leaders who wish to affect change within their organization and broadly throughout their state, nation and world, Rogers' book will provide reference points and terminology to describe critical factors they will encounter when trying to get their new idea adopted. Perhaps the book's opening quote from Machiavelli's The Prince (1513) serves as a warning. "There is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than the creation of a new order of things... Whenever his enemies have the ability to attack the innovator, they do so with the passion of partisans, while the others defend him sluggishly, so that the innovator and his party alike are vulnerable." The natural reaction of many people is to fear change and leaders who consistently advocate for change may become outliers, unable to influence the group.

The book uses well-written narratives to explore diffusion case studies making the material easy for the reader to understand. The stories are engaging and interspersed throughout the book, surrounded by Rogers' discussion of terminology that at times can bog the reader down a bit. Unlike many popular business titles like Collins' Good to Great, Rogers resists the temptation to use inductive reasoning to prove his points. By examining failed innovation implementations, the book points out that sometimes leaders do everything in their power and still do not get the desired result. Studying successful innovation adoptions as well as unsuccessful diffusions demonstrates the complexity of the subject. For example, Rogers' examines great ideas that failed to catch on such as the Dvorak keyboard, which is far superior to the QWERTY keyboard. New typists learn much faster on the Dvorak keyboard and achieve faster and more accurate typing skills. The QWERTY keyboard was developed to accommodate mechanical typewriters whose designers didn't want typists hitting the keys too quickly lest they jam the machine. Obviously we no longer have this problem... but the QWERTY keyboard remains the English language default keyboard.

Conclusion
While scientific study of this topic is possible, in some respects it may be easier to study how a musician creates a hit song. However, I recommend this book to those aspiring to become leaders in the field of education. Whether the change is external or from within the organization, today's education leaders face a great deal of change and their ability to successfully manage, control and in some cases resist change will determine their success. As Rogers points out in the book, leading change does not necessarily make one popular. Froebel, the inventor of Kindergarten was labeled a socialist and revolutionary by the German government and was banned from his home country.

As a physician who has had the pleasure to experience life-changing innovations in his medical career, the chance to read Dr Rogers book on Innovation has been a real delight. Technology has changed so much around us in the last half of the 20th century that we can scarcely describe what life was like before "the innovation".

To my friends who happen to be innovators, early adaptors, beta testers and entrepreneurs, I recommend the book to provide the scientific disicpline with its glossary, case reports, primary scientific citations and organization of innovation theory that ones needs if one is in an "innovation" field and wishes to communicate professionally.

To the casual reader who is fascinated by the world around him/her and wishes to explore innovation scientifically, then this should be considered the "primer".

This is a definitive reference on Diffusion Theory, focusing on defining and clarifying concepts of diffusion. This is a classic reference still a mainstay for understanding market concepts of diffusion of ideas and change. This will be helpful from a communication point of view. The concepts presented here will apply to any arena involving the development and dissemination of new ideas, as well as products or methods.

Rogers presents a history of Diffusion Theory and summary of the current concept's principles, it seems to serve mainly as a comprehensive introduction to the discipline. Presents a detailed theory, with excellent and numerous examples of Diffusion, illustrating the various principles presented.

Rogers focuses on the dynamics of Diffusion as a process. There is not much here on synthesis and trends. Rogers focuses on the dynamics of Diffusion itself. The principles developed by Rogers here, however, will enable even a new initiate to Communication or Marketing to better understand the factors involved in analyzing target audiences and developing communication and marketing approaches appropriate to the situation.

This should be a shelf reference for anyone involved in crossing cultural or economic boundaries, as well as introducing new ideas or facilitating cultural change, whether economic or otherwise.

There are several well written books on innovation but this is one of the most excellent piece of work on diffusion of innovation. Though if we look at history, research on the diffusion of innovations model began with the Bryce and Gross' (1943) investigation of the diffusion of hybrid seed corn among Iowa farmers. They explained how it came to attention and which of two channels (i.e., mass communication and interpersonal communication with peers) led farmers to adopt the new innovation.

But Rogers has further discussed the five characteristics of a technology acceptance - 1) relative advantage, the extent to which it offers improvements over available tools, 2) compatibility, its consistency with social practices and norms among its users, 3) complexity, its ease of use or learning, 4) trialability, the opportunity to try an innovation before committing to use it, 5) observability, the extent to which the technology's gains are clear to see.

At its core, Diffusion of Innovation is a book about social change, given Rogers' definition of social change being a sequential process of invention and diffusion. "Diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system" (Rogers, 2003, p. 11). Rogers scientifically studies innovation in terms of innovation-development and innovation-decision.

Innovation-development is the process by which an innovation begins with a perceived need. The solution to the need is then researched, developed, and commercialized. Once in product form, the innovation diffuses and is adopted, with the final stage of the process being the consequences of adoption or rejection of a particular innovation. Rogers is careful to note that not all innovations follow the sequence exactly nor necessarily complete all the steps in the process. Nevertheless, diffusion research studies over time generally acknowledge innovation-development in these terms.

Beyond the development of an innovation lies the sociology of who adopts the innovation and possible explanations for their choice. The innovation-decision is defined as the process in which an individual moves from knowledge of an innovation, being persuaded in favor of accepting or rejecting the innovation, the adoption decision, implementing that decision and finally coming to a resolute stance on whether or not the adoption decision was correct and thereby enduring. Perhaps Rogers is most recognized for his conceptual device categorizing adopters on the basis of their innovativeness. Rogers measures innovativeness along a normal frequency distribution and divides adopters into five categories: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. After a thorough review of diffusion research, Rogers is able to make generalizations throughout his book concerning the personality traits, socioeconomic status, and access to mass communication typical of each adopter category. With a proper understanding of the rate of adoption for the distinct categories, a variety of strategies can be employed to aide in the diffusion of a particular innovation.

While the chapters detailing innovation-development and innovation-decision comprise a comprehensive theoretical construct, the chapters describing diffusion networks and change agents are intensely practical. Contained within these chapters are concepts such as opinion leadership, "the degree to which an individual is able informally to influence other individuals' attitudes or overt behavior in a desired way" (p. 300). Opinion leaders are gatekeepers to social networks. Rogers explains that opinion leadership is the cause for the exponential growth of the innovation curve, as opinion leaders are often the first to spread the message of an innovation to their followers, commonly the early adopters. The business implication of this reality means that in order to spread the word concerning a product or message, the highest leverage first step is to motivate the opinion leaders. The discussion of diffusion networks also illuminates the characteristics of successful dissemination, including the utilitarian differences between heterophily and homophily within networks and the communication structure of interpersonal networks.

Change agents are those people working on behalf of change agencies to bring about a desired change. For readers who sought out this source to discover ways they can implement change, they are seeking to be change agents. Therefore, this chapter is perhaps the most practical chapter in the book. A proper explanation of the underlying realities facing change agents and their targeted audiences provided in this chapter serves as the missing companion in other business books concerning change initiatives such as Leading Change (Kotter, 1996) which heavily favors the day-to-day interactions between agents and their audiences.

Diffusion of Innovation is a comprehensive synthesis of diffusion research and theory. The depth of the research allows Rogers to describe innovation from a variety of viewpoints including adopters, change agents, opinion leaders, and organizations. In one sense, the depth of research is a definite strength of the work. In another sense, however, the breadth of topics and explanation could be overwhelming to the non-academic reader. In the pursuit of comprehensiveness, Rogers investigates tangents in the vein of thoroughness that academia appreciates but that the average reader would consider unnecessary. For example, Rogers devotes two pages to the "inauthentic professionalization of aides" (p. 386-387), and devotes an entire chapter to the history of diffusion research with an additional chapter on the criticisms of diffusion research. Therefore the reader is more than 135 pages into the book before they encounter a probable subject of interest: how innovations develop.

While late-majority and laggard adopters are discussed in comparison to their more innovative counterparts, Rogers does not devote enough time to the reasons for change-resistant networks and the possible hesitancy or fears present in change-resistant people. However, Rogers does dwell on the subject long enough to make an important observation regarding the innovativeness/needs paradox. Given the frequency with which change agencies follow a segmentation strategy based on least resistance, the individuals most needing the benefits of an innovation also tend to be the last to adopt an innovation. Those who are most adoptive--because of the resources, skills, and exposure needed for adoption--generally need the benefits of the innovation the least. The result of the paradox is a widening of the socioeconomic standards gap between the two groups, lending to a reinforcing systems loop, and a continuation of the paradoxical cycle. Rogers correctly points out that if change agencies were to adopt a segmentation strategy of greatest resistance, the reinforcing systems loop would not continue. However, such a strategy is theoretically correct but practically difficult, and Rogers neglects to illuminate why change agencies commonly choose a least-resistance strategy.

Diffusion of Innovation is first and foremost a textbook on diffusion. Though written from an academic perspective, the conceptual framework presented by Rogers since the first edition of this book in 1962 has helped this work to remain a required shelf reference for sociologists, marketers, and change agents for five decades. Despite the exhaustive research foundation of the book, Diffusion of Innovation is still a practical help to leaders concerned with driving change. Business leaders are commonly exposed to the concept of the innovation curve and the adopter categories apart from the context of Rogers' work. In this way, Rogers has added terms to the common business vernacular, and it would behoove leaders to read Diffusion of Innovation to discover the breadth of knowledge accompanying terms so frequently mentioned in boardrooms and team meetings.

This gets a high rating because it's a pretty classic book, and so far, I have yet to see the ideas covered in other books. Adoption theory is a surprisingly useful tool for understanding your customers and adoption cycles, and based on my personal experiences, I believe it is an accurate reflection of real-world phenomena. However, that said, I believe the book is long-winded, and can be frustrating because it seems to be targeted towards different audiences: a textbook for students of adoption theory, a message to diffusion researchers, and a primer for businesses, nonprofits and individuals interested in adoption theory. As I was reading as an interested individual, I found many parts of the book not relevant, constantly clicking "next page" on my Kindle. This applied particularly to the entire chapter dedicated to weaknesses in diffusion research. If I were to rewrite this for designers and product people, I might consider what all these insights mean for our designing and how one would apply them to the way we market and design products.

Very insightful. A must read for a variety of academic disciplines. I don't know that I've been in a professor's office at my university and not seen this book on the shelf!