The diffusion of high-technology innovations to new organizational users: A network perspective

Abstract

Using a network perspective, this dissertation investigates the diffusion of high-technology innovations to organizational users. The particular innovation of interest is satellite remotely sensed data, and the diffusion phenomena occur among geospatial professionals who work in local government agencies. I utilize multiple methods in the dissertation. Essay 1 looks at the impacts of structural bases of social influences on diffusion. In Essays 2 and 3, I focus the investigation on advocates, the adopters who share their adoption experiences with their professional peers. While Essay 2 investigates the structural consequences at an individual level, Essay 3 provides an overarching framework of diffusion consequences at individual, organizational and population levels. This project makes theoretical contributions to marketing, consumer behavior and management. For marketing, I investigate the origins of imitation effects of diffusion by examining the social networks of the adopters and potential adopters. For consumer behavior, I examine the underlying logic for aspiring professionals to focus their work on spreading knowledge of innovation, and I demonstrate that innovation diffusion is a means to compete for high-status positions in the professional field. For management, I look at the reciprocal relationships between innovation diffusion and career development of adopters, and show that personnel mobility is crucial for diffusion in the organizations and population. This dissertation demonstrates how news and interpretations of innovations are filtered through consumers' networks. Since users are connected with social networks, the adoption of innovation by one individual user has ramifications among those with whom he or she is connected. Similarly, adopting organizations are interconnected through their employees' participation in various interorganizational projects and professional associations. Therefore, the adoption in one organization encourages similar processes to occur in other connected organizations. By examining the nature of contacts among adopters and potential adopters, marketers can anticipate the market trajectory and hence market growth. The knowledge generated from this dissertation should sensitize public policy makers about the countervailing nature of diffusion consequences. Adopting organizations may or may not gain in technological sophistication after adoption because their advocating employees become desirable in the field and are likely to be sought out by other organizations.