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Abstract
In this article, we analyse the comparative strengths of institutional factors associated with the decision of public organizations to adopt innovative programs. An institutional framework composed of regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive factors is developed for the purposes of analysis. The focus is on the decision of township libraries in Taiwan to adopt Bookstart. The data were collected from a primary survey of head librarians in Taichung County in 2011. The results show that the respondents’ perceptions of the institutional factors do not vary with their demographic characteristics. However, three factors had comparable effects on the decision to adopt the programme, and a descriptive analysis shows that professional values and norms received the highest scores. This may indicate that the respondents value Bookstart as a worthy cause because it assists preschool children and their parents. This article serves as a reminder that the characteristics of innovative policies are important when they are being diffused. The successful diffusion of a cultural policy such as Bookstart that conforms to mainstream values may critically depend on normative institutional factors.
Notes
1. Of the 23 public libraries, only 7 were in the original city before the official merger of Taichung City and Taichung County in 2010.