Bharat S.

Sontakki
(bharatss@naarm.ernet.in)
 Outline
 Introduction
 Concepts:
 Technology, Innovation, Diffusion and Adoption
 Other important terminologies:
 Re-invention, Over adoption, Rate of adoption /
diffusion
 Technology attributes
 Consequences of technology adoption
 Implications for researchers
 FAQs – FFT?
 Technology adoption - Extent?
 Why all technologies are not adopted?
 Why all the farmers do not adopt technologies?
 Why technologies are not adopted at the same time by
all the farmers?
 How technologies are adopted by the farming
community? or How a technology diffuses in a farming
community?
 Which factors influence technology adoption &
diffusion?
Technology Development & Transfer Continuum
The Iowa Hybrid Corn Study (Ryan and Gross, 1943)

What was this study all about?

 It studied how hybrid corn technology diffused

 Documented stages in technology adoption process

 Reported time lag in technology diffusion

The Iowa Hybrid Corn Study (Ryan and Gross, 1943)

What is so special about this study?

 First documented evidence on how
technology diffuses
 Reported thought provoking
findings.
 It set a trend for adoption &
diffusion research.
In the history of research management, it is the first
instance that agricultural science provided initiative to
other areas such as medicine, consumer research,
education, industrial and management research.
 What is technology?
In the context of agriculture, technology can be defined
as any research finding or information which has some
practical utility for the users, and which has been tested
as feasible, proved monetarily profitable, socially
acceptable and environmentally friendly under users'
conditions.

 Software
 Hardware
 Human-ware
 What is innovation?
Any idea, knowledge, practice, product, process, etc.
which is perceived as new by the users and having
some utility in improving livelihood.

Innovation is a process of generating, accessing and

putting knowledge into use
– Wide range of actors
– Nature of interactions and relationships
– Institutions (habits and practices that determine
interactions)
– Policies and the facilitating environment
 Concept & Importance of Technology Diffusion

What is Diffusion?
 It is the process by which innovations spread among
the members of a social system over a period of time
through certain communication channels.

 It is a special type of communication.

 It is a kind of social change whereby alterations occur

in the structure and functions of a social system.
Concept & Importance of Technology Diffusion

Elements in Diffusion Process

 Innovation (Technology)
 Communication through certain channels
 Over a period of time
 Members of a social system
 Concept & Importance of Technology Diffusion

What is Adoption?

 It is a decision to make full use of technology as the

best course of action.
 It is the process through which an individual (or other
decision making unit) passes from first knowledge of a
technology to forming an attitude towards the
technology, to a decision to adopt or reject, to
implementation of the technology and to confirmation of
the decision.
 A.k.a the technology-decision process / innovation
decision process.
 Steps in Technology Adoption Process

Awareness

Interest

Evaluation

Trial Passive

Adoption Rejection
Active

Discontinuance

Replacement Disenchantment Forced

 Related terminologies

Technology-decision period

 Time taken to make decision on technology use.

 Time elapsing from awareness-knowledge of a technology

to decision for an individual is measured in days, months
and years.

 The period is, thus, a gestation period during which a new

idea ferments in an individual's mind.
 Related terminologies

Re-invention
 It is the degree to which a technology is
changed or modified by a user in the process of
its adoption and implementation.

 Re-invention is beneficial to adopters.

 It encourages customization of the technology

to fit it more appropriately to local conditions.
 Related terminologies

Re-invention
It occurs because of the following reasons:
 complexity of the technology.
 adopter's lack of detailed knowledge about the
technology.
 it is a general concept / tool with many possible
applications.
 tendency of local pride (pseudo re-invention).
 technology advocate influences the clients to modify it.
 Related terminologies

Over-adoption
It is the adoption of a technology by an individual when
experts feel that he or she should reject.

It occurs because of the following reasons:

 Insufficient knowledge about new technologies

(of similar nature) on the part of the adopter.

 Inability to predict the consequences.

 Status-conferring aspect of the technology.

Related terminologies Rate of adoption
 Relative speed with which a technology is adopted in a
social system.
 Length of time required for a certain percentage of
members of a system to adopt an innovation.
 It is generally measured as the number of individuals who
adopt a technology in a specific period.
Adopter Categories
Innovators 02.5%
Early adopters 13.5%
Early majority 34.0%
Late majority 34.0%
Laggards 16.0%
 Rate of adoption is influenced by
 Perceived attributes of innovation
 Types of technology-decision
 Communication channel (mass media and/or
interpersonal)
 Nature of the social system & members’
characteristics
 Extent of change agents' promotion efforts

Perceived attributes explain about 49 to 87 per cent of

variation in the rate of adoption.
 Related terminologies
Attributes of Technology

 These are characteristics of a technology which

describe it.

 Character of technology is itself an important

determinant of its rate of adoption and diffusion.

 It is the users’ perception of the attributes of

technologies, not the attributes as classified by
scientists, that affect their rate of adoption.
 Related terminologies
Attributes of Technology

 Relative advantage: degree to which a technology is

perceived as better than the technology it supersedes.
It is often expressed in terms of economic profitability
of the technology.

 Compatibility: It is the degree to which a technology is

perceived as consistent with the existing values, past
experiences and needs of potential adopters.

 Complexity: It is the degree to which a technology is

perceived as relatively difficult to understand and use.
 Related terminologies

Attributes of technology

 Trialability: It is the degree to which a technology may

be experimented with, on a limited basis as perceived
by the users.

 Observability: It is the degree to which results of a

technology are visible as perceived by users.

 Predictability: It is the degree to which a technology is

perceived as predictable in terms of the
consequences.
 Related terminologies

Consequences of technology adoption

Typology

1. Desirable v/s undesirable

2. Positive v/s negative

3. Anticipated v/s unanticipated

 Related terminologies
Technology-decisions: Typology

 Optional technology-decisions

 Collective technology-decisions

 Authority technology-decisions

 Although made more rapidly, authority decisions are often

circumvented during their implementation.
 Optional decisions are made more rapidly than collective
decisions.
Factors influencing adoption of technologies

 Personal factors

 Situational / demographic factors

 Socio-economic factors

 Psychological factors

 Perceived technology attributes

 Factors influencing adoption of technologies

Factor Number of % of
studies studies
Education 275 74
Literacy 38 63
Higher social status 402 68
Larger size units 227 67
Commercial economic orientation 28 71
Favourable attitude to credit 25 76
Favourable attitude to change 57 75
Favourable attitude to education 31 81
Social participation 149 73
Cosmopoliteness 174 76
Change agent contact 156 87
Mass media exposure 116 69
Exposure to interpersonal channels 60 77
Active information seeking 14 86
Knowledge of innovations 55 76
Opinion leadership 55 76
 Implications
 Technologies are to be developed for diffusion.
 The attributes of technology have a bearing on rate of adoption.
 The strategy should be to develop technology which will have
maximum positive perception on the five attributes.
 Complexity of technology should be eliminated as it has negative
effect on the rate of adoption.

 Technology re-invention is unavoidable. Hence it is

necessary to study on the experiment stations
 the economics of reinvented technologies and
 the various consequences of technologies.
 Implications
 The technology should be tested for feasibility to
specific regions and only then it should be released for
diffusion.
 A technology is discontinued when a better technology
is available.
 a second thought should be given when developing similar
type of technology to solve the same problems so as to avoid
replacement discontinuance.
 New technology should be properly tested (OFTs, MLTs, FLDs,
etc.) and compared with already existing technology before it
is released for a specific region to avoid disenchantment
discontinuance.
 Implications

Over-adoption occurs due to lack of knowledge of

consequences.

 Hence consequence of technology should be found

out before it is recommended for adoption.

Rate of adoption is positively influenced by optional

technology decision.

 Attempts should be made to develop technology

which will be optional technology-decision type.