Adoption Process and Complexity of Innovation in Social Networking
Karol I. PelcPaper presented at the 20th Annual International Conference on Industry, Engineering, and Management Systems,
Cocoa Beach, FL, March 23 -26, 2014
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper is to
introduce a new approach to analysis of innovation adoption that is applicable to
innovation in social networking. This approach combines measures of innovation
adoption with dimensions of technology complexity. Innovation adoption is
viewed in the context of innovation diffusion, usually measured by the rate of
adoption expressed by the number of adopters vs. time or by penetration rate
within given population. Those measures are based on statistics of
product/process/system acquisition events. However each individual adopter
needs to complete the adoption process to fully benefit of innovation. It
implies that adoption of innovation should not be viewed just as an event but
rather as a learning process. Hence the phases of that process need to be
identified and assessed in terms of dynamics of learning. Six basic phases of
adoption of innovation in social networking are proposed. On basis of
literature review and available empirical data, a new dimension called “interactivity
level” is proposed and defined. It is specific to innovations in social
networking, where the main purpose of innovation is to improve interactive communication
among actors in a network. The interactivity level reflects amount of active
knowledge and effective use of social media/technologies. Surveys of social
media users and comparative study of average interactivity levels in different
countries demonstrate application of that dimension. Complexity of innovation
being subject of adoption may be a factor influencing the adoption. It is
suggested that three dimensions of technology complexity: multiplicity,
diversity, and interconnectedness (introduced by M. Jacobs) could be applied in
analysis of the adoption process of innovation in social networking.
