Diffusion Theory

This paper draws upon innovation diffusion theory and more recent conceptualizations of IT adoption behavior to examine systematic differences among Rogers ’ adopter categories. We extend Rogers ’ theory by characterizing adopter categories based on personality, belief, and attitudinal variables recently found to be salient in IT adoption behaviors. Theoretical predictions were empirically tested via a field study of 326 potential users of an IT innovation, which included early adopters as well as non-adopters in the sample. Results provide strong support for the research hypotheses. Theoretical and practical implications that follow are discussed