Modeling the adoption rates of manufacturing technology innovations by small US manufacturers: a longitudinal investigation

This study provides conclusive evidence to support the view that small plants are slower than larger plants to adopt manufacturing innovations. This empirical study based on over 1000 US manufacturing plants engaged in producing discrete products, studies the adoption of manufacturing technologies in small plants relative to large plants between 1993 and 1997.Under the assumption that small manufacturers are disadvantaged, several federal and state programs have been created to assist small manufacturers in acquiring and adopting manufacturing innovations. Through quantification of technology adoption in small manufacturing firms, this study’s findings reveal which manufacturing innovations are in greater need of governmental assistance programs. While small plants are making progress over time in catching up with larger plants in computerized technology use, they are not making similar progress in adopting manufacturing technology innovations in soft technologies. Several propositions for future research and recommendations for public policy are offered.     

An empirical investigation of the management practices and the development of electronic commerce in Mauritius

Electronic Commerce (EC) is expected to change dramatically the way that organisations operate. Businesses invest in Information Technology and prepare their infrastructure so that they can support EC applications. The potential of EC however, is not confined to individual companies but extends to whole nations. Governments are considered as a key stakeholder in the successful development of EC and their commitment and support must be ensured. This paper reports on a survey of 33 IS and business managers in Mauritius and discusses the management practices, applications, problems and technological situation with respect to EC development in this country. This Indian Ocean island state aims at developing and maintaining its competitive advantage through EC, thus becoming a centre in its region. The findings of this paper are useful for both researchers and practitioners as they provide an insight to critical EC management issues, which concern both individual organisations and policy makers. Furthermore the results of this study can be used as a vehicle for EC development evaluation at an organisational as well as at a national level.     

Inter- and intra-firm diffusion of technology: The example of E-commerce: An analysis based on Swiss firm-level data

The paper aims at a joint analysis of inter-and intra-firm diffusion of technology, taking as an example E-selling and E-purchasing. The analysis is based on an encompassing model of diffusion, drawn from the literature, which is extended by considering technology-specific obstacles and benefits of adoption. As hypothesised, we find, first, that the determinants of inter- and intra-firm diffusion differ in case of both types of E-commerce; secondly, that the drivers of the diffusion of E-selling and E-purchasing are not the same, and, finally, that uncertainties and adjustment costs, mostly neglected in previous work, are important factors in explaining technology diffusion.     

设施蔬菜信息技术采纳行为与推广扩散机制分析

基于农业技术采纳意愿和行为理论,界定设施蔬菜信息技术概念及分类,从农户角度系统分析了设施蔬菜信息技术采纳行为;从生产者、政府、研究单位和技术角度探索我国设施蔬菜信息技术推广扩散机制,探寻设施蔬菜信息技术推广应用的最佳推广扩散路径,并提出设施蔬菜信息技术发展的对策建议。     

Sources of differences in the pattern of adoption of organizational and managerial innovations from early to late 1990s, in the UK

This paper explores empirically how the pattern of adoption of an organizational and managerial innovation changes as diffusion occurs. In particular, the paper investigates whether and how differences over time in the patterns of use of organisational innovation are related to changes in the characteristics of the innovation in terms of its functionality and relative complementarity with other innovations, as well as to changes in the needs and capabilities of firms. For this purpose, firm level data from the British Workplace Industrial Relations Survey, in 1990 and 1998, are used.     

The role of pre-innovation platform activity for diffusion success: Evidence from consumer innovations on a 3D printing platform

Digital platforms are becoming increasingly important for household sector innovators that seek support for the innovation process and that want to make innovations available to large audiences. Innovation development and diffusion is especially challenging for first-time innovators as they cannot build on experiences from prior innovations. We argue that first-time innovators can increase the diffusion success of their innovations by engaging in pre-innovation platform activities. We use the context of the 3D printing platform Thingiverse to show that a consumer's pre-innovation platform activity increases innovation diffusion success and that frequency, quality and relatedness of a consumer's pre-innovation platform activity promotes this effect. We find support that innovation quality, the use of recombinant innovations, and innovation documentation are three mechanisms through which pre-innovation platform activities translate into higher diffusion success of consumers’ first innovation.     

The mobility of economists and the diffusion of policy ideas: The influence of economics on national policies

Economic policies are innovations that have important effects on countries and their social welfare. Far from being simply technical in nature, such policies are often ideological innovations. This paper examines three economic policy innovations (privatization, central bank independence, and pension reform) and shows how the diffusion of these policies depended not only upon the mobility of American-trained Ph.D. economists to adopting countries, but also the state of agreement among economists on the value of these policy innovations. By estimating hazard models for adoption times, the effects of mobility and policy agreement are shown to explain the adoption patterns. The implications of this analysis are to treat the creation and diffusion of economic policies as innovations that are subject to trial and error revision as well as to the changing consensus within an academic community.     

Opening the black box: The adoption of innovations in the voluntary sector—The case of Indonesian civil society organisations

Despite the considerable attention paid to research into the adoption of technological innovations in the public and private sectors, little attention has been paid to such research in organisations within the voluntary or third sector. As a result, many things remain unknown: the patterns of uptake and adoption in the voluntary sector; the process of the transformation, both within the organisations and in the implementation of the innovation; and the implications of such uptake. This paper attempts to address these problems by focusing on civil society organisations (CSOs) as a subset of groups within the voluntary sector. At a theoretical level, this research is concerned with the diffusion of innovation and its effects on the practice of social movements in general, and of CSOs in particular. Using the experiences of CSOs in Indonesia, as a latecomer economy, these concerns are explored through the analysis of two related empirical issues: (i) the links between innovation and organisational performance and (ii) the construction of innovation diffusion and impacts in organisations that define those links.     

质量管理实践与企业绩效关系模型研究——扩展知识路径的研究视角

以战略管理理论中竞争优势来源的经典观点为依据,提出并分析了质量管理可以通过知识转移这一中间变量对企业绩效实施影响的逻辑路径,由此构建了质量管理与企业绩效关系的全模型。通过实证研究得出:质量管理实践对于知识转移具有显著影响作用以及传统路径和知识路径之间交互作用并不显著等主要结论。研究的主要意义:从内在逻辑解释了质量管理能够与创新活动相协调的理论依据,发展并完善质量管理与企业绩效关系模型,知识路径的存在为质量管理与知识管理两大实践体系的相互整合提供理论基础,也成为企业开展质量管理活动重要的决策依据。     

采用Norton模型对产品更新换代扩散趋势的研究——以中国互联网用户上网方式的更新换代为例

本文在Bass模型的基础上,详细介绍了产品更新换代扩散的Norton模型,并例举了通信产业的产品更新换代扩散的实例,中国互联网上网方式的更新换代的发展。模型参数的估算是影响模型准确性的一个重要方面,论文总结了前人的成果,采用遗传算法作为Norton模型的参数估计方法,并对中国互联网的上网方式,如拨号上网、ISDN(综合业务数字网)上网、宽带上网的扩散进行实证研究,模型得出另人满意的结果,并将结果与Bass模型进行了比较和讨论,得出结论,采用Norton模型研究产品更新换代扩散是一种更好的选择。最后,论文对中国移动通信网络发展提出展望。     

An integrated framework for RFID adoption and diffusion with a stage-scale-scope cubicle model: A case of Indonesia

This study presents a comprehensive framework to identify dynamic radio frequency identification (RFID) adoption and diffusion from three different perspectives: stages of adoption, levels of analysis, and domain of issues. The main concern of this study is stages of adoption, which covers three phases in respect of the maturity of the RFID project and the sophistication of business applications and RFID technology. The level of analysis involves different units of analysis beyond the organization level, including the industry- and country-level, which is lacking in the current literature. To understand dimensions of RFID issues, a strategy, technology, organization, people and environment (STOPE) based approach was applied. An extensive review of prior literature was conducted to find various RFID success factors and the Delphi method was applied to find positions of these factors within the framework. Based on the Delphi, some factors belong to early stage of adoption, and some others persist in the later stages of adoption. At the country level, factors such as RFID national policy, R&D policy and income per capita were accepted by most experts at the preliminary and intermediate stage; strategy and environment were accepted as important domains. To find practical implications of the framework, a case study of Indonesia was conducted at each level of analysis. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was applied to identify most important factors and important domains of issues with respect to the factors from the Delphi results. At country level, RFID policy, vision of leadership and RFID potential market are the most important factors; strategy and environment are the most important domains.     

农地确权对农机社会化服务的影响——来自黄淮海农区的经验证据

农机社会化服务是实现小农户和现代农业发展有机衔接的重要支撑。本文采用工具变量法对黄淮海农区6省20县（市、区）807户农户调查数据进行实证分析,以粮食作物为例,从服务规模与服务选择（农机社会化服务面积占农机作业面积的比例）两个维度分析农地确权对农机社会化服务的影响。研究发现：①农地确权能够提升农机社会化服务规模,农户在农地确权后接受农机社会化服务的总面积得到显著提升;②农地确权未能对农机社会化服务选择产生显著影响,农户在农地确权后并未对农机社会化服务表现出显著的选择转换偏向。造成这一结果的原因是规模异质性的存在,“增量”作用显著偏向于种植规模较大的农户。根据上述研究结果,本文提出如下政策建议：现阶段应继续完善农地确权工作,加快推进农村集体产权制度改革;健全面向小农户的农业社会化服务体系,加大服务小农户的政策支持力度;完善土地流转相关法规和实施细则,推动农业社会化服务体系与土地流转体系协同联动,促进小农户农地利用效率提升路径多元化。本文不仅弥补了已有研究存在的不足,对于拓宽农地确权政策效应视野以及完善农机社会化服务体系也具有一定意义。     

消费者知识对高新技术标准产品创新扩散影响研究——以蓝光DVD播放器为例

 以变得蓝光DVD播放器为例,分析了消费者知识（包括产品知识和使用经验）对高新技术产品创新扩散的影响,以及消费者创新性和产品兼容性的调节作用。采用两个组间实验设计,结果表明：消费者的产品知识对创新扩散影响不显著,使用经验影响显著;当消费者创新性高时,产品知识的影响变得显著,使用经验影响增加;当产品兼容性高时使用经验影响显著增加,产品知识的影响则不显著。因此在高新技术产品创新扩散中使用经验比产品知识重要,消费者创新性和产品兼容性对产品知识和使用经验的调节作用不同。企业应根据这些特点制定相应营销策略,以提高高新技术产品创新扩散的速度。     

知识扩散场的建立与实证分析

本文引入了物理学中势能、势差、能量转换的概念,建立知识扩散场。提出了一种用于描述吸收体在知识扩散过程中知识发展状态的经济模型,用它阐明知识扩散的条件、过程,及在扩散的不同阶段各个影响因素的作用机理。最后进行了实证检验。     

An empirical investigation of mobile banking adoption: The effect of innovation attributes and knowledge-based trust

Rapid advances in mobile technologies and devices have made mobile banking increasingly important in mobile commerce and financial services. Using innovation diffusion theory and knowledge-based trust literature, this study develops a research model to examine the effect of innovation attributes (perceived relative advantage, ease of use and compatibility) and knowledge-based trust (perceived competence, benevolence and integrity) on attitude and behavioral intention about adopting (or continuing to use) mobile banking across potential and repeat customers. Based on a survey of 368 participants (177 for potential customers and 191 for repeat customers), this study uses a structural equation modeling approach to investigate the research model. The results indicate that perceived relative advantage, ease of use, compatibility, competence and integrity significantly influence attitude, which in turn lead to behavioral intention to adopt (or continue-to-use) mobile banking. Additionally, by using multi-group analysis with t-statistics, the results found that the antecedents of attitude toward mobile banking differ between potential and repeat customers. The implications for research and practice and future research directions are discussed.     

The French defence industry in the knowledge management era: A historical overview and evidence from empirical data

In the defence industry the recent development of a ‘market for technology’, the creation of new European high-technology companies as well as transformations in government agencies have driven firms to reposition their technological and organizational skills. Our objective is to show that the transformations that have occurred in the past 10 years have not only redefined skills and the organization of production, but also have given a more strategic place to knowledge management (KM) practices. We provide a contextual and historical overview based on qualitative interviews, in order to better understand the relation between KM and innovative behaviour in this industry. We build an original industrial and technological database comprising various samples that provides quantitative information concerning KM and innovative practices. The results of the statistical analysis reveal the specificity of firms in this industry. Taking account of the size of these firms and their technological intensity, we show that the behaviour of defence industry firms in terms of KM practices, differs from that of other firms. This is evident from their technological performance, and innovation and patenting intensity. This structural tendency is explained as an innovative behaviour in the French national innovation system rather than merely a ‘trend’.     

Implementing an IT service information management framework: The case of COTEMAR

It is evident that organizations are demanding more efficient information management technologies in order to offer high quality services for both internal and external clients. Firms pursue the implementation of processes aligned to their strategic and operational objectives and, to achieve these goals, they usually introduce various frameworks and approaches to information technology service management, such as Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) or Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (COBIT). However, once incorporated, it is essential to have mechanisms that guarantee performance efficiency. One of such mechanism is the Service Management Office (SMO). The case analysis presented here describes the lessons learned from its implementation in COTEMAR. The results provide useful insights for firms interested in integrating SMO within IT service management practices.     

The citizen-led information practices of ICT4D in rural communities of China: A mixed-method study

Information and communication technology is regarded as a critical means of addressing rural problems of information deficiency, ineffective communication and emotional disconnection. Most studies on information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) can be categorized as a top-down development approach and are often theoretical research or case studies conducted using qualitative methods. In this study, we discuss a new phenomenon of citizen-led information practices in rural areas driven by the rural community and its citizens. By employing a mixed-method approach combining case studies and social network analysis (SNA), we explore how ICT4D can be achieved through citizen-led information practices. This study makes theoretical contributions to the study of ICT4D and information practices as well as the mixed-method approach, which deepen our understanding of the citizen-led information practices of ICT4D. This study also provides practical suggestions to the governments, enterprises, social organizations and rural communities in ICT4D practices and ICT function design.     

基于创新扩散模型的互联网发展影响因素研究——以35个国家为例

从创新扩散的视角,利用35个国家的互联网数据研究了影响互联网扩散速度的影响因素。研究结果显示:上网价格、人口密度及电信设施发展程度会对扩散速度产生显著影响,但城市化水平对互联网扩散速度的影响并不显著。