HIGHTOWER, ROSS THOMAS, JR.; PHD

                         GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY, 1991

                         BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, GENERAL (0310); BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, MANAGEMENT (0454)
 

                         Everett Rogers (1983) proposed a model of the individual innovation-decision process. This model was
                         based on over 3000 publications in the innovation diffusion literature. The purpose of this dissertation is
                         to investigate whether Rogers' model is valid in organizational setting. Four major components of the
                         model are tested: (1) Are there distinct stages in the decision process and do they follow the correct
                         sequence? (2) Do potential adopters use communication channels in a manner consistent with the
                         model? (3) Do potential adopters use information sources in a manner consistent with the model? (4) Do
                         potential adopters evaluate the innovation on Rogers' five innovation attributes? Data were collected by
                         interview and questionnaire from faculty members in the College of Business and College of Law at
                         Georgia State University. The activities that occurred in the design process for each subject were
                         identified during the interview. The importance of communication channels and information sources at
                         different stages in the decision process were collected by questionnaire. The subjects' perceptions of
                         the innovation were measured by questionnaire. The activities were classified by judges based on
                         Rogers' description of the model stages. The analysis suggests the stages of the model are necessary
                         and sufficient to describe the subjects' decision processes. Also, the stages occurred in the order
                         suggested by Rogers. The relative importance of communication channels was found to be in the
                         direction that the model suggests but the results were not statistically significant. Partial support was
                         found for the model's description of the use of information sources. The five innovation attributes
                         suggested by Rogers were identified by factor analysis. One of these, relative advantage, was found to
                         discriminate between adopters and non-adopters.

Social Systems Simulation Group P.O. Box 6904 San Diego, CA  92166-0904 Roland Werner, Principal Phone/FAX  (619) 660-1603