TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION
Presented by:
Mutua D. Munyao
What is it?
 Adoption of technology refers to the actual
acquisition and eventual utilization of a
technological product.
What it isn't
 Technology is not simply adopted by
acquisition of a technological product and no
actual usage is put into it.
 E.g. purchasing a mobile phone and not
utilising all its available technological
capabilities such as PIM, Internet, E-mail etc.
Factors influencing Technology
Adoption
The adoption of technology is greatly
influenced by a number of factors dependent
on the technology to be adopted.
A new medical product would be adopted in a
different manner to a telecommunication
product for instance.
Factors influencing Technology
Adoption
The following factors influence the adoption of technology
 Use and user: the decision of the individual to make use of
a certain functionality or ICT service for a certain action at a
certain moment.
 The process of adoption: The decision of the individual to
adopt and make use of a new technology or service, from
the moment he or she perceives a need through the
decision to acquire the technology or service to the actual
use whenever the occasion to use it is there.
 The process of diffusion: The process by which a
technological innovation moves within society from the
first adopters to the last adopter groups.
Factors influencing Technology
Adoption
 There are two types of diffusion effects:
 Innovation:
trial of product caused by
advertising and promotions
 Imitation:
trial of product caused by
word-of-mouth recommendations and
reputation
Factors influencing Technology
Adoption
 These three ways of looking at the acceptance phenomenon are
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complementary and interact on different levels of aggregation:
1. The micro individual level, looking at use in a specific
situation.
2. The personal level, in which use is integrated into a general
arsenal of practices that form a part of the daily activities of the
person through which needs are met and taken care of.
3. The level of the social unit of which the individual is a
member, which provides patterns of behaviour, norms and
obligations.
4. Society as a whole as the superstructure in which all
individual life is embedded and which provides the context of
general abilities and constraints.
The Technology Adoption Life
Cycle
Geoff Moore, in his books Crossing the Chasm
(1991) and Inside the Tornado (1995), draws on
marketing theory and high-tech experience
to describe the elements of the product life
cycle for technology innovations. His work
examines how communities respond to
discontinuous innovations - or any new
products or services that require the end user
in the marketplace to dramatically change
their past behavior
The Technology Adoption Life
Cycle
The basis of the technology adoption life cycle is
similar to the basis for diffusion models:
different groups of potential customers react
differently to innovations, and adoption
proceeds from most enthusiastic to most
conservative. Communities respond to
discontinuous innovation - when confronted with
the opportunity to switch to a new infrastructure
paradigm, customers self-segregate along an
axis of risk-aversion. Moore separates
customers into five categories, along which the
cycle of new technology adoption proceeds:
The Technology Adoption Life
Cycle
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Innovators - technology enthusiasts who are fundamentally committed
to new technology on the grounds that sooner or later it will improve
their lives.
Early Adopters - visionaries and entrepreneurs in business and
government who want to use the innovation to make a break with the
past and start an entirely new future
Early Majority - pragmatists who make up the bulk of all technology
infrastructure purchases; their purchasing behavior is based on
evolution rather than revolution, and they buy only when there is a
proven track record of useful productivity improvement.
Later Majority - conservatives who are very price sensitive and
pessimistic about the added value of the product; they buy only when
technology has been simplified and commoditized.
Laggards - skeptics who are not really potential customers; goal is not
to sell to them, but sell around their constant criticism.
The Technology Adoption Life
Cycle
The customer segments correspond to zones in the figure below.
Main Street
3
The
Tornado
Early Market
1
2
The
Chasm
4
5
End of Life
The Technology Adoption Life
Cycle
 In addition, there is a sixth zone that Moore calls
the "chasm," separating adoption by the early
market customers (1,2) from adoption by the
early majority (3). Moore describes the chasm as
follows:
 Whenever truly innovative high-tech products are first
brought to market, they will initially enjoy a warm
welcome in an early market made up of technology
enthusiasts and visionaries but then will fall into a
chasm, during which sales will falter and often
plummet.
The Technology Adoption Life
Cycle
 Moore (1995, p.25) characterizes the zones as follows:
 The Early Market
A time of great excitement when customers are technology
enthusiasts and visionaries looking to be first to get on board
with the new paradigm. Visionaries are willing to work through
bugs and put in effort themselves to make the solution work. The
product sells itself.
 The Chasm
A time of great despair, when the early market's interest wanes
but the mainstream market is still not comfortable with the
immaturity of the solutions available. The only safe way to cross
the chasm is to put all your eggs in one basket - target a single
beachhead of pragmatist customers in a mainstream market
segment and accelerate the formation of 100 percent of their
whole product.
The Technology Adoption Life
Cycle

The Bowling Alley
A period of niche-based adoption in advance of the general
marketplace, driven by compelling customer needs and the willingness
of vendors to craft niche-specific whole products. A whole product is the
minimum set of products and services necessary to ensure that the
target customer will achieve his or her compelling reason to buy.
Pragmatists want a whole product, with the necessary user
infrastructure and customer support. At this stage, companies should
resist the temptation to try to provide a general purpose whole product
and simplify the whole product challenge. To get customers on board,
service content is high, ROI to end user must be high, and partnerships
with other companies may be called for. Success in the niche can then
be leveraged elsewhere. The two keys to targeting the right niche
customers here are (1) the segment has a compelling reason to buy, and
(2) the segment is not currently well served by any competitor.
The Technology Adoption Life
Cycle
 The Tornado
An ugly and frenzied period of mass-market
adoption, when the general marketplace (early
majority customers) switches over to the new
infrastructure paradigm. It's a herd mentality. Keys
to success in this period are to ignore customer
needs and product modifications and just ship, riding
the wave. Market share is critical at this stage to
lock out competitors, and partners should be
eliminated. Companies entering the tornado should
expand distribution channels, attack the
competition, and price to maximize market share.
The Technology Adoption Life
Cycle
 Main Street
A period of aftermarket development, when the base
infrastructure has been deployed and the goal is now to
flesh out the potential. Another reversal of strategy is
needed back to niche-based marketing. Before the product
becomes obsolete, there is an opportunity to settle into a
profitable period of differentiating the commoditized
whole product with extensions focusing on the end user.
 End of Life
Which comes too soon in high-tech. Companies should find
caretakers that can take over a fully commoditized product
with low profit margin.
The macro perspective
To be able to compare societies as a whole as
regards the adoption of Technology it is
necessary to take into account a number of
macro variables that form the general
context in which the use of technology is
stimulated or discouraged. These include:
The macro perspective
 1.
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National and regional economical factors that influence net
income and income differences, the market structure and the
distribution of goods and also the available infrastructure.
2. The educational system that influences the availability of the
necessary knowledge within the population and the occupational
structure.
3. The political climate that is responsible for laws and
regulations and policy towards ICT.
4. The cultural climate which shapes the norms and values
regulating individual and collective behaviour and the
importance of certain social networks.
5. Geography and, physical climate that influence the nearness
of others and mobility patterns, enabling or hampering both
face-to-face contacts between network members and certain
types of activities.
6. The general demographic structure (density of population,
age structure, ethnic diversity).
The macro perspective
Macro factors play a dual role in the adoption
and diffusion of technology. Firstly the macro
development is the integrated sum of
developments and decisions that take place
on the three other levels. Macro factors
explain general statistics such as diffusion
rates and are important when one wants to
compare countries, regions, etc.
The End