Adopter Categories

Adopter categories

1. ADOPTER CATEGORIES AJIT T G Department of Agricultural Extension

2. INNOVATIVENESS “The degree to which an individual or other unit of adoption is relatively earlier in adopting new ideas than other members of a system, than about any other concept in diffusion research”(Rogers,1983) Expressed short-term goal - facilitate the adoption of innovations Because increased innovativeness is the main objective of the change agents

3. Classifying Adopter Categories on the Basis of Innovativeness

4. METHOD OF ADOPTER CATEGORISATION Determining the number of adopter categories to conceptualize Deciding on the portion of the members of a system to include in each category Determining the method, statistical or otherwise, of defining the adopter categories. INNOVATIVENESS-relative

5. the characteristics that a set of categories should possess Exhaustive, or include all the units of study Mutually exclusive, or exclude from any other category a unit of study that appears in one category Derived from one classificatory principle

6. Adopter categories

7. Adopter Categories as Ideal Types Innovators: Venturesome Early Adopters: Respectable Early Majority: Deliberate Late Majority: Skeptical Laggards: Traditional

8. Innovators: Venturesome Very eager to try new ideas More cosmopolite social relationships Gate-keeping role in the flow of new ideas into a social system Prerequisites for innovators; =>Control of substantial financial resources to absorb the possible loss owing to an unprofitable innovation =>ability to understand and apply complex technical knowledge

9. Early Adopters: Respectable More integrated part of the local social system than are innovators Localites Greatest degree of opinion leadership Potential adopters look to early adopters for advice “The individual to check with“ Change agents-role model Central position in the communication structure Make judicious innovation decisions

10. Early Majority: Deliberate Adopt new ideas just before the average member of a social system Interact frequently with their peers Seldom hold leadership positions Interconnectedness in the system's networks Innovation-decision period is relatively longer "Be not the first by which the new is tried,/nor the last to lay the old aside“-Alexander pope

11. Late Majority: Skeptical Adopt new ideas just after the average member of a social system An economic necessity and the answer to increasing network pressures Do not adopt until most others in their social system have done so Pressure of peers is necessary to motivate adoption Late majority feel that it is safe to adopt

12. Laggards: Traditional Last in a social system No opinion leadership Individuals interact with others who also have relatively traditional values Laggards finally adopt an innovation, it may already have been superseded by another

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