Local Context and Innovation Diffusion in a Well-Connected World

Abstract

Current models of spatial diffusion largely overlook the role that local context plays in shaping diffusion patterns, emphasizing instead the importance of information flow and innovation delivery systems. Yet as time-space convergence continues and the world becomes increasingly well-connected, the ability of information movement to shape patterns of innovation adoption weakens. Conversely, the importance of local conditions increases. The adoption pattern of an innovation that is widely known and widely available at the very time it is diffusing is likely to be shaped by place-to-place differences in receptiveness to the innovation, rather than by the differential availability of information. Innovations that are adapted to local conditions will be well- received and likely adopted; those not adapted will be rejected. This expectation is confirmed by the examples of residential air conditioning and home food freezers, both innovations whose functions and technology were well known before they began their diffusion. Variations in local factors affecting receptiveness provide a better explanation of their diffusion than does position in a communications network. If diffusion theory is to maintain its explanatory power in the face of continued time-space convergence, it must recognize the importance of adaptation processes in innovation diffusion and place greater emphasis on the role that local context plays in shaping innovation acceptance.