Factors affecting adoption of instructional innovations: An example from medical education

This study sets forth an eight-variable causal model describing the spread of instructional innovations among individual faculty members. The model is tested by examining the diffusion of a particular innovation—self-instructional materials—among the faculty of sixteen medical schools, with data provided by faculty survey. The causal model as initially posited is found not to fit the data well; modifications of the model are found to conform more closely. The primary measure accounting for observed variance in faculty innovation behavior is frequency of communication with colleagues about the instructional process.