FRAMBACH, RUDOLF THEODOOR; DR
KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT BRABANT (THE NETHERLANDS), 1993
ECONOMICS, COMMERCE-BUSINESS (0505)
Because of today's dynamic business environment, knowledge of the determinants
of new product
acceptance in the marketplace is very important to most firms. Diffusion theory
can give more insight
concerning this matter. However, diffusion research in the past has been focused
on (potential) adopters
of an innovation in explaining diffusion processes, thereby largely ignoring
the influence of the supplier.
Also, research has been biased to the investigation of diffusion processes in
consumer markets. The
objective of this study is to examine whether variables related to the supplier
of an innovation, in addition
to variables concerning the (potential) adopter, significantly influence the
adoption and diffusion process
of the innovation in the industrial market. Based on diffusion theory, innovation
management and
industrial marketing, a theoretical model of organizational innovation diffusion
is formulated. In this
respect, the innovation adoption decision is hypothesized to be influenced by
two groups of variables,
one related to the supplier of an innovation and one concerning (the perception
of) the (potential)
adopters of the innovation. The research model is empirically tested by studying
the diffusion of
electronic banking in the business-to-business market in the Netherlands. Electronic
banking is an
innovation from the financial services industry and concerns the interactive
communication link between
a bank and an organization. The empirical results show the importance of supply-side
variables in
explaining adoption behavior. In this study of the diffusion of electronic banking,
it was found that the
most important variables which influence innovation adoption behavior of organizations
are the marketing
strategy pursued by the supplier of the innovation and the characteristics of
the innovation as perceived
by the (potential) adopter.
Social
Systems Simulation Group
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