In 1983 Everett Rogers published his seminal work, the Diffusion of Innovations. This book changed the way I look at innovation, and the way I teach, and I am not alone. This book has encouraged us (teachers, diffusers of innovation) to accept the natural flow that innovation follows, and then apply it appropriately.

Rogers contends that the way groups face an innovation follows a natural curve:

Innovators (individuals looking for change) 2.5%
Early Adapters (opinion leaders who quickly embrace the change) 13.5%
Early Majority (follow E.A and embrace change) 34%
Late Majority (take more time to process the change) 34%
Laggards (extremely resistant to the change) 16%

It is also important to realize that we do not always occupy the same group, it depends on the innovation. Sometimes we may be an early adapter sometime a late majority member.

 

No innovation will be accepted unless it is deemed relevant, and moreover, there must be communication within and among the groups.

Publications

"Diffusion of Innovations" (1983), 4th Edition (1995)