The Diffusion of Innovations (Everett Rogers)

The Diffusion of Innovations, developed by Everett Rogers, explains how new ideas, products, or technologies spread through a society or group over time. It describes the process of adoption—how early adopters influence others, leading to widespread acceptance. The model identifies categories of adopters (innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards) and emphasizes factors like communication channels and social influence that affect how quickly an innovation is embraced. Essentially, it helps us understand why some innovations catch on quickly while others take longer or fail to spread.