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Professor Laura Schmidt

Health Care Systems EPI 247: Week 7 PART 2: HOW SYSTEMS CHANGE Diffusion of Innovation: Spontaneous Intentional Change. Professor Laura Schmidt. Defining Diffusion. Diffusion is the process by which… …an innovation …is communicated through certain channels … over time

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Professor Laura Schmidt

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  1. Health Care Systems EPI 247: Week 7PART 2: HOW SYSTEMS CHANGEDiffusion of Innovation:Spontaneous Intentional Change Professor Laura Schmidt

  2. Defining Diffusion Diffusion is the process by which… …an innovation …is communicated through certain channels …over time …among members of a social system.

  3. Stages of Diffusion • Adoption • Learning about the innovation • Weighing compatibility and relative advantage • Timing of decision to adopt • Implementation • Introducing the innovation to org members • Addressing barriers to implementation (or not) • Routinizing the innovation for sustainability

  4. The Innovation • An idea, practice or object that seems “new” • Technology clusters may be adopted more rapidly than isolated innovations • Innovations both increase and decrease uncertainty

  5. Learning about Innovations • It’s a specific form of communication • Communication channels are social and interorganizational networks (e.g., members of the org’s environment) • Block modeling and sociograms are standard methods

  6. Deciding to Adopt • To adopt, it must be viewed as: • Compatible with existing values past experiences • To provide a relative advantage in terms of efficiency, prestige, convenience, satisfaction • Not too complex for adopters to understand • To have potential for triability or experimentation • To be observable, or visible to others in network

  7. The Diffusion Process • Commonly follows an “S-shaped” curve but slopes will vary and network characteristics will influence the curve • Critical mass (exponential growth at about 15-20% adoption within the network) • Once critical mass is reached, the innovation will diffuse “on its own” due to sunk costs and positive feedback loops

  8. Different Types of Adopters • Change agents—tend to have a personal investment in the innovation • Early adopters—tend to learn from distal network members, adopt for technical reasons, have org slack • Late adopters—tend to learn from proximal network members and adopt for social/institutional reasons

  9. Implementation Processes • “Re-invention” is common and innovations that are easily reinvented diffuse faster • Barriers to implementation: structure, culture, power/governance, relations with environment (usual suspects) • Decoupling is common among late adopters

  10. Implementation Success • Influenced by the innovation itself • Influenced by communication networks • Influenced by the structure of the system

  11. Key Questions for Research • How and why do orgs decide to adopt? • How do early and late adopters differ? • How can we speed up natural diffusion? • Why can’t we adopt and implement something known to be effective? • Why can’t we de-adopt something known to be ineffective? • How do we routinize the innovation? • Why are suboptimal technologies adopted and sustained, sometimes for centuries?

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