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innovation, it will continue to spread in a self-sustaining process. Messages disseminated
through personal interaction will achieve a greater level of understanding than if the same
messages are passed through media channels only. The interpersonal interaction
component is deemed to be essential to convergence or shared meaning of the message
(Littlejohn, 1996).
Amendola and Gafford (1988) compared the process of innovation with the
diffusion of innovation as the extent and the speed at which the economy proceeds to
adopt a new invention. The concern is on how the economy adjusts to or ‘diffuses’ the
new technology. This adjustment or diffusion can be instantaneous or gradual.
Amendola and Gaffard (1988) noted that a ‘new’, expanded interpretation of the
process of innovation has emerged. Less emphasis is on the actual absorption of a given
technology, and more importance is placed on the actual process through which a new
technology is developed step by step. To a great extent, the snowball effect is visible in
the diffusion of the Internet; and by reaching its critical mass point, it allows the Web to
take off at a considerable accelerating rate (Chen & Crowston, 2001).
According to Rogers (1983), innovators or the “venturesome” are people who are
eager in launching the new idea in the social system by importing the innovation from
outside of the system's boundaries. Thus, the innovator plays a gatekeeper role in the
flow of new ideas into a social system. As for early adopters, they are a more integrated
part of the local social system than are innovators.
Innovators and the early adopters of a technology are important to the diffusion of
any innovation (Rogers, 1995). These individuals/organizations/countries are among the
first to try out an innovation. They have a high degree of innovativeness which is the
Convention