Diffusion process of innovation adoption Essay Example for Free

Diffusion process of innovation adoption Essay Analyzing corporate blog as a successful innovation in DIO theory Figure 3. Rogers Diffusion of Innovation Theory Model in Context of Corporate Blog and Bloggers’ Perception In context of the research, the theory describes both the individual and the organization’s process of knowing through adopting and accepting an innovation. Particularly in this proposal, the diffusion of innovation will evaluate the process by which corporate blog is perceived by two of our independent variables, the employees and the company which allows corporate blogging. The study will use the qualities Rogers’ stated to analyze the perception of bloggers on corporate blogging. In the study, the relative advantage of corporate blogs over media advertisements will be investigated. We will examine the bloggers’ perspective on which one is better — corporate blog or advertisements. Corporate blogs’ compatibility with existing values and practices of the employers and employees will be evaluated through examining whether they perceive corporate blogging to be helpful in achieving their goals and objectives as well as their cultural values. Simplicity and ease of use of corporate blogging will be delved upon through examining whether corporate blogging offers tools that aid bloggers to use easily. Trialability will be examined by investigating the accessibility of corporate blogging not just to the regular users but to the others as well. Observable results will be demonstrated through investigating the visibility of the results provided by corporate blogging. Perceptions of bloggers will help us determine the rate of acceptance of bloggers on corporate blogging. The researcher would also try to determine whether the existing subculture brought about by economic and cultural factors affect eh perception of employees and stakeholders when it comes to corporate blog as discussed by Rogers (1995); that in social systems there are certain limitations that hold people from accepting innovations. In this case, individuals who don’t posses computers would not be able to frequently access corporate blogs even though they try to access corporate blogspots more often. There are several reasons why this theory is chosen over others. First, there are a number of researches that report successful applications of this theory especially in information systems research. Secondly, the model is easy to integrate into our research given our time constraint. Lastly, the premises stated in the theory are significantly related to the factors we want to consider to analyze the rate of acceptance of bloggers to blogging as a kind of new innovation. Research design and methodology Methodology review. Taken into consideration the importance of using a systematic manner to conduct a research, a systematic approach will be adopted in undertaking of this project to ensure that objectives of this research are fully investigated, and data collect are well analyzed and evaluated. Therefore, a methodology, introduced by Bennett et al. (2002) will be applied at different stages of the project. This methodology is called SQUIRO, which stands for Sampling, Questionnaires, Interviews, Reading or Research and Observations. Sampling is used to choose a representative group of a certain social trend. A questionnaire was designed to collect empirical data, and although initially, it was considered that doing an interview would not be feasible due to geographic limitations, an interview with the two corporations namely Microsoft and Tongfang located near the area of the author was done by the author to gain further information. The main body of this dissertation is based on the researched and investigated outcomes from current issues. A literature review provides the academic foundations from the previous research on which the subsequent theoretical framework for the current investigation can be based on, and the hypothesis developed. Online observations of bloggers and their blogs are conducted to generate objective view of the problem domain. Survey research is one of the most important areas of measurement in applied social research. The broad area of survey research encompasses any measurement procedures that involve asking questions of respondents. A â€Å"survey† can be anything from a short paper-and-pencil feedback form to an intensive one-on-one in-depth interview (Trochim 2006, http://www. socialresearchmethods. net/kb/survey. php ). Research Design and Data Collection Detail The study used qualitative and quantitative data analysis. For the qualitative research, case studies and interviews have been carried out. Survey and questionnaire methods have also been used in gathering quantitative date. (see the table 3 for the survey form, page 15) The case research has been chosen to track and understand the history of the perception and adoption of blogging as a new innovation by the successful corporation in the business industry. The interview will also be carried out in the research process. The interview will help to find out the relationship between the employer and internal blogger, and further testify, discover and summaries the effects and benefits of the corporate blog as a new innovation. For the case study, the author will acquire a list of IT companies who have set up their own successful corporate blogs. The author will choose a corporation from all the top corporations, such as SUN, MICRSOFT, GOOGLE, LIANXIANG, TONGFANG. Through the case study, the author will determine how the companies set up their blogs and their main purpose of setting up these blogs. This will help in determining how a company as a whole perceives corporate blogging. The author will interview the top managers. The interview will cover questions about the managers’ blogging habits (if they have) and their perceptions on blogging. The managers will also be asked to identify the top 30 employees who regularly post blog entries into their corporate blogs. Once the managers identify the top 30 employees, the author will contact these employees to ask permission for an interview. The questions to be asked from the employees would be the same questions as with the managers’. The interview will help in determining which factors affect the bloggers’ perceptions on corporate blogging. However, there are associated risks with interviews as this can bring extremely variable answers, low reliability and difficult to code (Foddy, 1993). Thus, the researcher included quantitative data to bring about best results. For the quantitative data, a survey questionnaire form will be distributed to the managers and the employees interviewed. The questionnaires will consist of 30 5-point-scaled questions addressing the research questions stated previously. This will help in measuring the rate of acceptance of bloggers to corporate blogs as a kind of new innovation. This will allow us to gauge the strength of the blog media. To test the perception of our variables under study, Roger’s (1995) Diffusion of Innovation theory have been used. The survey questionnaire form is shown in Table 3. is followed by the questions asked to the managers Table 3. Survey Questionnaire Form Name (its optional to place your name): Name of Company: Sex: Address (please state brief location): Monthly Family Income (please check): ___ less than $100 ___ $100-$500 ___ $600-$ 900 ___ $1000-$3000 ___ $4000-$7000 ___ more than $7000 ___others please specify ______________ Item No. Question Agree 5 Some-what Agree 4 Don’t Care 3 Some- What Disagree 2 Dis-agree 1 1 I have full access to the internet, and I am knowledgeable about blogging. 2 I would blog, even if my corporation does not have any programs for blogging 3 I would like to learn more about blogging 4 Blogging helps promote our company’s services 5 Blogging is a better way to promote products/services than printed media, online advertisements, and other media advertisements 6 Blogging promotes our company’s culture. 7 Corporate blogging fits with our company’s strategy 8 Corporate blogging helps in achieving our company’s goals. 9 Corporate blogging is a key component to our company’s overall success. 10 Blogging is user friendly. 11 Blogging has many tools that can be used 12 The tools in corporate blogging are easy to use. 13 I can post blog entries anytime I want. 14 I can choose to start my own blog or not. 15 Corporate blogging helps in disclaiming negative reactions and publicities 16 Corporate blogging offers advantages to bloggers 17 Blogging offers immediate feedback from the readers. 18 Blogging promotes immediate feedback from customers than print, online, and other media advertisements. 19 Blogging helps in communicating with clients. 20 Our corporate blog site is accessible to the public 21 Blogging is a way to publish ideas easily. 22 Blogging is a way to provide information for readers, especially potential customers 23 Blogging provides communication with employers and employees. 24 I briefly understand legal issues in corporate blogging 25 Blogging might be a threat to my company’s privacy 26 Blogging empowers me to speak, and voice my thoughts 27 Blogging is a venue for me to interact with my co-workers, customers, and corporate executives 28 I use more of my time blogging than any other activity. 29 I blog regularly 30 I would encourage my friends to blog.