Question

1. Consider you are leading a group towards a change. According to the Innovation Adoption Curve, what type of responses will you find?

2. In discussing the above question, how do the authors suggest you influence the ‘Late Majority’ and ‘Laggards’?

3. Discuss the inertia of organization and how disconfirmation can aid in this conversion.

Answer 1

1).

The Innovation Adoption Curve is designed to classify people by their willingness to adopt new ideas, technologies, or trends. Developed in 1962 by E.M. Rogers, the Innovation Adoption is also known as the Diffusion of Innovation Theory, Consumer Adoption Curve, or The Rogers Adoption Curve.

The Consumer Adoption Curve is represented by a bell-curve graph, which is used to show deviations within a group. The highest point on a bell curve indicates the majority, so the early majority and late majority make up most of the population. An example of common use for bell curves is when teachers curve test grades. They will take the average of the majority test scores and alter the grading scale accordingly.

For the Innovation Adoption Curve, the bell-curve is used to explain how new ideas spread, and at what rate. The theory is most popularly used in marketing, but it’s also been applied to agriculture, public health, and criminal justice.

What Are the Adopter Categories?

The Innovation Adoption Curve has 5 categories: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. Each category features different characteristics about consumers to shed light on whether they’ll be on board with something new like a new drink flavor or a new style of car.

Innovators are the risk-takers. They are the people who are willing to try the newest app, lifestyle habit, or fashion trend. Innovators tend to think outside-the-box, and you likely won’t find them going with the flow. It’s estimated that innovators make up 2.5% of the population.

The Innovation Adoption Curve affects business owners and consumers alike. As a business owner, the Innovation Adoption Curve is important to you in two ways. First, it can help you understand which adopter categories your consumers fall into. Second, it can give insight into how your new products or technology might be accepted. It is fairly accurate in determining how consumers will react to new innovations, so take this theory into consideration before marketing new products.

Consumers can change which category they fall into depending on what the product or technology is and how they feel about it. For example, someone may be willing to try new energy-saving technology in their home, but not as willing to purchase the latest smartphone.

The bottom line is, the Innovation Adoption Curve is more relevant than you might have previously thought. The theory provides beneficial insight into people’s behaviors and preferences.