BROWNLEE, DON ROBERT; PHD
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, 1982
SPEECH COMMUNICATION (0459)
The diffusion of ideas among members of a social system is effected by the communication
structure of
that system. This dissertation identifies specific characteristics of communication
structure and tests their
impact on the rate of diffusion of an innovation. The system chosen for this
research is composed of the
supreme courts of the 48 contiguous American states. The communication structure
of this system is
generated by mapping a random sample of the citations among these courts during
the period from 1935
to 1977. Six hypotheses were constructed to test the effect of system integration,
interaction, and
homophily on the rate of diffusion of blood alcohol tests, a judicial innovation.
Support was found for the
hypotheses that posited a negative relationship between interaction and the
time required for adoption
of the innovation. Likewise, the hypotheses that suggested a positive relationship
between integration
and adoption time were supported by the analysis. No support was provided for
the Hypothesis that
projected a negative relationship between homophily and the speed of adoption.
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