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Innovators And Early Adopters In The Diffusion Of Innovations: A Literature Review

Author

Listed:
  • OZGUR DEDEHAYIR

    (Queensland University of Technology, 2 George Street, 4000 Brisbane, Australia)

  • ROLAND J. ORTT

    (Delft University of Technology, Jaffalaan 5, 2628 BX Delft, The Netherlands)

  • CARLA RIVEROLA

    (La Salle — Universitat Ramon Llull, Sant Joan la Salle 42, Barcelona 08022, Spain)

  • FRANCESC MIRALLES

    (La Salle — Universitat Ramon Llull, Sant Joan la Salle 42, Barcelona 08022, Spain)

Abstract

Despite accounting for a very small percentage of the population that adopts an innovation, the ‘innovators’ and ‘early adopters’ — representing the two earliest groups of individuals to acquire the new product or service — play a crucial role in the dissemination of the innovation to larger market segments. The objective of this paper is to understand the characteristics of these individuals that positively influence their decisions to adopt innovations. We argue that awareness of these traits will enable firms to attain speedier uptake of their offerings while aiding policymakers achieve quicker and wider proliferation of new technologies intended for societal benefit. We undertake a review of the literature studying the diffusion of innovations and show future directions that this framework should take to analyse the adoption lifecycle.

Suggested Citation

  • Ozgur Dedehayir & Roland J. Ortt & Carla Riverola & Francesc Miralles, 2017. "Innovators And Early Adopters In The Diffusion Of Innovations: A Literature Review," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 21(08), pages 1-27, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:ijimxx:v:21:y:2017:i:08:n:s1363919617400102
    DOI: 10.1142/S1363919617400102
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    Cited by:

    1. Palm, A., 2020. "Early adopters and their motives: Differences between earlier and later adopters of residential solar photovoltaics," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    2. Vrain, E. & Wilson, C. & Kerr, L. & Wilson, M., 2022. "Social influence in the adoption of digital consumer innovations for climate change," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    3. Orkun Saka & Barry Eichengreen & Cevat Giray Aksoy, 2022. "Epidemic Exposure, Financial Technology, and the Digital Divide," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 54(7), pages 1913-1940, October.
    4. Palm, Alvar, 2022. "Innovation systems for technology diffusion: An analytical framework and two case studies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    5. Sun, Bing & Yang, Xueting & Zhong, Shen & Tian, Shengnan & Liang, Tian, 2024. "How do technology convergence and expansibility affect information technology diffusion? Evidence from the internet of things technology in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    6. Masuyama, Ryo, 2023. "Endogenous privacy and heterogeneous price sensitivity," MPRA Paper 117316, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Du, Zhushan & Feng, Hongli & Arbuckle, J. Gordon, 2024. "Beyond cross-sectional, one-time adoption measures of conservation practices: Understanding temporal adoption patterns using farm-level panel data," 2024 Annual Meeting, July 28-30, New Orleans, LA 344010, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    8. Zapata-Moya, Angel R. & Freese, Jeremy & Bracke, Piet, 2023. "Mechanism substitution in preventive innovations: Dissecting the reproduction of health inequalities in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 337(C).
    9. repec:zbw:bofitp:2021_013 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Dillon, Emma J. & Moran, Brian, 2022. "Smartphone farming in Ireland," 96th Annual Conference, April 4-6, 2022, K U Leuven, Belgium 321160, Agricultural Economics Society - AES.
    11. Orkun Saka & Barry Eichengreen & Cevat Giray Aksoy, 2021. "Epidemic Exposure, Fintech Adoption, and the Digital Divide," NBER Working Papers 29006, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Marius Michels & Wilm Fecke & Jan‐Henning Feil & Oliver Musshoff & Frederike Lülfs‐Baden & Saskia Krone, 2020. "“Anytime, anyplace, anywhere”—A sample selection model of mobile internet adoption in german agriculture," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(2), pages 192-207, April.
    13. Barbara L. van Veen & J. Roland Ortt, 2024. "Simplification errors in predictive models," Futures & Foresight Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 6(3), September.
    14. Christina-Ioanna Papadopoulou & Fotios Chatzitheodoridis & Efstratios Loizou & Piotr Jurga, 2024. "Operational taxonomy of farmers' towards circular bioeconomy in regional level," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 1-27, June.
    15. Orkun Saka & Barry Eichengreen & Cevat Giray Aksoy, 2022. "Epidemic Exposure, Financial Technology, and the Digital Divide," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 54(7), pages 1913-1940, October.
    16. Jack Adams & Ozgur Dedehayir & Peter O’Connor & Tomi Nokelainen, 2019. "Who Are The Adopters Of Retro-Technology?," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(08), pages 1-18, December.

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