Article Review: Reflections and Critique

The article explores the diffusion of innovation in a social system. The author used the spread of agricultural innovations to highlight how different groups of people adopt various ideas over-time. The aspects outlined in the article are valid and, therefore, reflect the adoption of innovative ideas in contemporary societies. However, the study has flaws in that the author does not link the spread of innovations to the success of the outcome. In this case, Rogers(4) used an S-shaped curve to illustrate how innovators, adopters, and laggards implement an idea. This aspect implies that the study primarily focused on time rather than incorporating the productivity that is associated with innovations. In present-day societies, for instance, the measure of innovative ideas is based on the efficiency in solving problems and improving the quality of life. The study, therefore, should have considered the success that is attributed to the innovators, adopters,and the laggards.

However, Rogers does not acknowledge the fact that an innovative idea improves over-time as different groups of people implement it. Also, the original idea conceived by the innovators may take a substantial period for the adopters and laggards to apply it.However, the assumptions by the early diffusion scholars could have negatively impacted on the validity of their findings. For instance, the past researchers assumed that the research team ought to focus on the male heads of the households in their interviews. The assumption is based on the reasoning that such people are responsible for making innovative decisions in agriculture.

The generalizations of the characteristics that are associated with the adopter categories in the study reflect the background of the present daily life. For instance, the author assumed that the early adopters and innovators are literate than the other groups of adopters and laggards.Conventionally, such people have a higher degree of social mobility, occupational prestige, and income that facilitate the financing of an innovative idea.

Work Cited

Rogers, Everett M. “Innovations and Adopter Categories.”Diffusion of Farm Innovations in a Columbian Village in the Andes. 2010 1-15. Simon and Schuster, 2010.

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