Innovation and business librarians

Editor's Notes

1. Define diffusuion
2. Innovators are cosmopolitan- at home in many areas of interest. They are not necessarily influential in the adoption of new innovations. Innovators must have the financial resources to cope with the possibility that an innovation will fail; they must also have the ability to understand complex technological information and determine ways in which it can be applied. The innovator brings an idea in from another social system, and his/her role is to launch the innovation or idea into a new social system.
3. Early adopters are more integrated into social systems than innovators. The early adopter is the person you go to for advice before adopting or attempting a new idea or innovation. Their role is to adopt an innovation and then to evaluate it for their peers, thereby decreasing the uncertainty about it. Because the opinion of the early adopter is so highly valued, he or she must make well-considered decisions about which innovations to adopt. The early adopter is a role model for others in the social system.
4. Members of the early majority adopt new innovations or ideas just before the average member of society. They are the connector between innovators and those who are late to adopt. This group takes longer to decide to adopt an innovation – they seldom lead because of this.
5. The late majority approach innovations with a measure of skepticism. When they decide to adopt an innovation, it may be because it is economically necessary, or because they feel pressure from their social network. Due to scarce resources, they must be quite sure about a resource before choosing to adopt it – the innovation must receive a mostly favorable response. While they can be convinced of the usefulness of a new idea, pressure from their peers is required to motivate them to adopt it – they must see how peers use an innovation, for example. Role - ??
6. Laggards are the last to adopt new innovations. Their decision making process is focused on what has been done in the past. They associate mostly with others who have a similarly traditional orientation. Laggards possess little to no opinion leadership and can significantly slow the adoption of an innovation in an organization. Because of extremely limited resources, they must be very sure that an innovation will succeed. Many times an idea or innovation will have been superseded by a new one by the time laggards get around to adopting.
7. Define diffusuion Need different approaches to different populations Summary of survey results Socioeconomic status; personality variables; communication behavior