Factors affecting rate of diffusion and consumer adoption

Adoption is an individual’s decision to become a regular

user of a product and is followed by the consumer-

loyalty process.

Stages in the adoption process

AwarenessInterestEvaluationTrialAdoption

Factors influencing the adoption process

readiness to try new products and personal influence

characteristics of the innovation

organisation’s readiness to adopt innovations

Diffusion and adoption

Readiness to try new products and personal

influencePerson’s level of innovativeness is the degree to which an individual is relatively earlier in adopting new ideas than the other members of his social system.Five adopter groups:

• Innovators (technology enthusiasts)• Early adopters (opinion leaders)• Early majority (deliberate pragmatists)• Late majority (skeptical conservatives)• Laggards (tradition-bound)

Personal influence

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Characteristics of the innovation

Five characteristics influence an innovation’s rate of adoption:Relative advantageComparabilityComplexityDivisibilityCommunicability

Organisation’s readiness to adopt

innovators• Variables in the organisation’s environment :

Community progressivenessCommunity income

• Variables in organisation:SizeProfitsPressure to change

• Variables in the administrators:• Education level

AgeSophistication

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