Innovation: A Practice in Search of a Theory, or so What Does All This Research Mean, Anyway?

Abstract

Understanding the process of innovation adoption is of obvious importance to both researchers and practitioners in a lime when city governments are under increasing fiscal pressure. Unfortunately, previous research results in this area have been seen to be highly unstable, and several research design faults have been identified as contributing to the lack of uniform findings. This article incorporates several suggested design improvements and examines the adoption of two budgetary innovations in 45 American cities. The results again display a lack of uniformity, and a suggestion is made that the search for a general theory of innovation may prove to be a fruitless enterprise.