Diffusion of Innovations, 5th Edition

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. 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.

What, did I just say that? Yes, I can actually say this is a great textbook! It was required for my class, but I would totally recommend this as a good read for anyone. It has a lot of very interesting information about the successes and failures of innovation and gives the reasons for why each occur. The book came as described and excellent used condition. Great price!

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.

A classic text book to understand how ideas and new products are adopted by society. Applies to start up businesses that offer a new solution, policy makers who want to change behaviors, and those who just want to understand why new ideas/solutions are either adopted or rejected. - It offers an invaluable view into how new ideas are received. A significant book that is well worth your time.

The diffusion of innovation ist ein Meisterwerk und Klassiker. Ursprünglich aus den 1960er Jahren wurde es immer wieder aktualisiert, aber die grundlegenden Theorie zur Diffusion von Ideen und Innovation sind immer noch höchst aktuell. Im Buch geht es um Fragen wie: Warum brauchen selbst objektiv, sehr gute Innovationen sehr lange, um sich überhaupt durchzusetzen? Was behindert Innovationen? Was fördert sie? Welchen Prozess geht jedes Individuum durch, bis es sich auf neues einlässt? Wie wichtig ist die Gruppe, in der das Individuum sozialisiert ist? Welche Rolle spielt welche Kommunikationsform bei der Verbreitung von Ideen? Wie kann man Innovationen "ansteckender" machen, so dass sie sich viral verbreiten? Rogers hat die Grundlage für die Sozialpsychologie im Bereich "Neues annehmen" geschrieben. Und das ohne viel Fachbegriffe, sondern einfach gut verständlich. Lt. Wikipedia ist es das zweitmeist zitierte Werk im Bereich der Sozialwissenschaften. Leider ist es im deutschsprachigen Raum viel zu wenig bekannt, insbesondere bei Startups, Betriebswirten und Werbern. Jeder kennt Teile des Buches, wie die Diffusionskurve mit Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, aber leider nicht das ganze Werk. Sehr schade. Das Buch müsste eine Pflichtliteratur für alle Entwicklungshelfer, Innovationsmanager, Marketing Manger, Unternehmensgründer und Führungskräfte werden. Das Buch ist für alle, die sich damit beschäftigen, wie sie Neues bei Menschen verankern können, wie Verhaltensänderungen herbeigeführt werden können. Da gibt es nur eins zu sagen: Kaufen und Lesen!

an academic book that presents how diffusions of innovation facilitate change. Full of examples and is an invaluable book for those studying innovation at PhD. Appropriate for health professionals as well as those in business. A very thought provoking book

El paoel en que se imprime es corriente; la portada igual demasiado delgado el papel.

It is a good book. Although I bought an old one, it is in good condition

This is an excellent and well-written book that I am using as an IT practitioner and as a doctoral student working on my thesis. It is a valuable part of my library.