Diffusion of Innovations
An effective tool for understanding the spread of the Internet in advertising
and public relations curricula is the Diffusion of Innovations theory (Rogers
1995). This theory explains the adoption of an innovation via communication
channels to members of a social system over time. Rogers (1995) defines
an innovation as "an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as
new" and can "be expressed in terms of knowledge, persuasion,
or a decision to adopt" (p. 11). As the Internet continues to diffuse
throughout society, the task of instructing students how to develop persuasive
messages using this new medium rests on academic institutions. In this study,
the innovation is the idea that the strategy and tactics of persuasive Internet
communication must be included in the curricula of academic programs teaching
advertising and public relations.
One difficulty facing the diffusion of persuasive Internet communication
for many scholars is the lack of agreement on terminology. Leckenby and
Li (2000) use the broader term interactive advertising instead of persuasive
Internet communication, and they define it as "the paid and unpaid
presentation and promotion of products, services, and ideas by an identified
sponsor through mediated means involving mutual action between consumers
and producers." This is not to be confused with interpersonal or group
communication, but is intended to reflect the far-reaching breadth of the
Internet as a medium for delivering persuasive communication from a company
to consumers via advertising, public relations, and marketing executions.
The introduction of a new course designed to teach persuasive Internet
communication, or the integration of this topic into an existing course,
by advertising and public relations programs, is simply the diffusion of
an information technology. Information technologies are changes that introduce
a tool, technique, physical equipment, or system that extends an organization’s
capabilities (Schon 1967). The diffusion of the Internet as a new persuasive
medium should result in advertising and public relations programs instructing
students in how to use this new communication tool and develop alternative
communications techniques. Chen and Bankston (1998) examined the diffusion
of computer skills in communication curricula and concluded that the diffusion
process for information technologies in higher education needs to be promoted
at both the individual and organizational level. Individually, college students
need to be educated about information technologies; and, at the organizational
level, universities must integrate information technologies into the curricula
(Chen and Bankston 1998).
Richards (2000) acknowledged the importance of adopting persuasive Internet
communication into a university advertising curriculum and called the implementation
"inescapable." Indeed, with over 182 million Internet users in
the United States and Canada (NielsenNetRatings 2002) and Internet advertising
revenue reaching $8 billion (Internet 2001), few media scholars would disagree.
However, the decision many programs will face is whether to integrate persuasive
Internet communication into existing courses or to develop unique courses
specializing in the topic (Richards 2000). The decision when and how to
adopt will of course depend on a number of factors.
Diffusion Process
The basic nature of the diffusion process is the exchange of information
about a new idea through communication channels, within a social system,
and over a period of time (Rogers 1995, p. 5). This information exchange
can occur either through mass media or interpersonal channels. The identification
and understanding of how advertising and public relations faculty communicate
information regarding new course ideas would help explain the adoption of
a new Internet course.
A social system can be individuals, informal groups, organizations, and/or
subsystems engaged in problem solving to accomplish a common goal (Rogers
1995, p. 23). Because social structures, norms, and opinion leaders can
affect the diffusion of an innovation, the social system for advertising
and public relations faculty is important in explaining the adoption rate.
For instance, the social structure of academic departments could play an
important role in the adoption of any new curriculum change. The number
of faculty members, departmental or sequence affiliation, and/or program
status could influence whether certain programs have accepted the Internet
and begun instructing students how to communicate with this new medium.
The change in characteristics of Internet users illustrates how an innovation
is adopted by members over time. While it is too early to characterize how
Internet demographics will change next, the typical adoption pattern consists
of innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards
(Rogers 1995, pp. 263-266). The classification of adopter categories for
advertising and public relations programs could explain how the Internet
is diffusing through the academic curricula and provide a better understanding
of the importance placed on the Internet by the various advertising and
public relations programs across the country.
Another element important to consider when examining the Diffusion of Innovations
theory is the decision process through which people pass. Adopters will
pass through five stages (knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation,
and confirmation) as they learn about, form attitudes toward, and then use
the innovation (Rogers 1995, p. 20). The time-ordered sequence of these
steps can be complicated when an innovation decision is made by an organization.
Information about this aspect of the diffusion process could signify whether
advertising or public relations programs are at different stages regarding
the teaching of Internet communications.
Finally, the rate or speed at which an innovation is adopted is an important
component of the diffusion of any innovation. This is generally measured
by the length of time required for a certain percentage of members to adopt
an innovation (Rogers 1995, p. 23). The majority of innovations will follow
an S-shaped curve, with very few individuals adopting in the beginning followed
by increasing numbers. This element of the diffusion process could indicate
which advertising and public relations programs are innovators. For instance,
programs at large universities may be leading the way in preparing students
for careers in Internet communication, or they could be restricted by organizational
barriers that prevent change.
Innovation Attributes
Since all innovations are not equally appealing, the user’s perceptions
of the attributes of an innovation affect its rate of adoption. According
to Rogers (1995, p. 206), from 49% to 87% of the variance in the rate of
adoption of an innovation can be explained by five innovation attributes:
relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability.
While there are other factors that can influence the rate of adoption, these
five attributes seem to have the most influence. Table 1 summarizes these
attributes and illustrates how they might be applied to the adoption of
persuasive Internet communications into academic programs.
Table 1. Diffusion of Innovations Attributes
According to Rogers (1995, Chapter 6), the extent to which attribute is
present can either encourage or inhibit the rate of adoption. Relative advantage,
often expressed in terms of economic profitability, low initial cost, decreased
discomfort, social prestige, savings in time, and/or a reward, can speed
diffusion. The more compatible an innovation is with sociocultural values,
ideas, and needs, the more likely it will be adopted. Generally, complexity
is negatively related to the adoption rate of an innovation. Trialability
of an innovation is positively related to its rate of adoption, as is observability.
Participants
A systematic sample of advertising and public relations educators was generated
from the membership directories of the American Academy of Advertising (AAA)
(n=313) and the Public Relations Division of the Association for Education
in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) (n=438). Because previous research
has indicated online surveys are effective when the topic is salient to
the audience (Sheehan and McMillan 1999) and because of the numerous benefits
of these surveys, such as increased reply speed and cost (Bachman, Elfrink,
and Vazzana 1996), an e-mail list of 751 members was generated.
Measures
A 39-item questionnaire was developed using WebSurvyor and pre-tested on
a small sample of academic professionals to insure clarity. Because the
Internet can encompass various types of communication, such as interpersonal
and mediated, a definition was provided framing the concept of persuasive
mass communication via the Internet within the domain of advertising and
public relations. Thus, survey recipients saw the following conceptual definition
of "Internet communication" in order to help them interpret the
questionnaire:
Internet communication is any paid or non-paid mass mediated function designed
to deliver persuasive communication between a company and its various target
audiences via the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web, E-mail, LISTSERVs, Usenet,
etc.).
Attitude
Single-item seven-point semantic differential and Likert-type scales were
used to identify educators’ attitudes toward the Internet. Two measures
were employed to determine their opinions regarding the effectiveness of
the Internet at delivering persuasive communication (extremely effective/extremely
ineffective), and their level of agreement (strongly agree/strongly disagree)
towards a statement indicating the effectiveness of their departments at
instructing students in persuasive Internet communication. In addition,
four measures assessed the importance (extremely important/extremely unimportant)
of various skills (writing/verbal, design/visual, research, and strategic
planning) in developing effective persuasive Internet communication.
Adoption
A variety of questions were used to evaluate whether advertising and public
relations programs have adopted Internet communication into their curricula.
Adoption was measured using dichotomous questions indicating either the
adoption (yes) or non-adoption (no) of Internet communication through integration
into existing courses or as a separate, specialized course (Tornatzky and
Klein 1982). To interpret the extent of integration into existing courses,
participants were asked to indicate the percentage of their time spent in
instruction of persuasive Internet communication (1%-20%, 21%-40%, 41%-60%,
61%-80%, 81%-99%, 100%). Similarly, the adoption rate of persuasive Internet
communication was assessed from the self-reported initial academic year
respondents began instructing students in persuasive Internet communication.
Innovation Attributes
The innovation attributes of persuasive Internet communication were assessed
through the use of an established scale designed to analyze the individual
perceptions of the qualities associated with adopting an information technology
(Moore and Benbasat 1991). Participants were asked to indicate their level
of agreement (strongly agree/strongly disagree) with 15 statements representing
each of the five common innovation attributes linked to adoption rates.
Procedure
The survey was posted online with a unique URL. While respondents were
not required to identify themselves or their institutions in the questionnaire,
a secure server was used restricting the access and protecting the privacy
of each participant. An introductory e-mail was sent in order to notify
sample members of their selection, introduce the purpose of the study, and
emphasize the importance of the results. Three days following the initial
contact, a formal e-mail letter was sent requesting participation; it provided
the URL of the survey and an explanation of the study. As an incentive to
increase participation (Kaye and Johnson 1999), upon completion of the questionnaire,
participants received an automated URL enabling them to view the cumulative
frequency data. Finally, a third e-mail was sent one week after the second
mailing to serve as a reminder and again encourage participation. The first
e-mail containing the URL produced 223 responses, followed by an additional
30 one week later. Thus, a total of 253 completed questionnaires were collected,
resulting in a response rate of 34% (253 out of 751).
The majority of respondents were between the ages of 35 and 54 (M = 47.52)
and had taught an average of fourteen years. Eighty-four held the academic
rank of professor (33.2%), 70 associate professor (27.7%), and 63 assistant
professor (24.9%), with all teaching relevant mass communication courses
ranging from campaign management (51%) and research (45.1%), to writing
(45.1%) and creative strategy (19.4%). The reported college enrollment was
fairly evenly distributed across various sizes, except that there were about
twice as many respondents at colleges of 30,000 or more students (22.5%)
than at colleges of 5,000 or less (9.9%). Nearly 80% of the respondents
were from publicly-funded institutions. The most common category for number
of undergraduate majors was between 101 and 300 (31.6%).
The fact that advertising and public relations industries are interdisciplinary
fields results in a variety of academic disciplines teaching these subjects.
The majority of respondents were from traditional mass communication departments,
such as communication (27.7%), journalism (22.1%), and advertising (11.9%).
However, there were also respondents from marketing (20.9%) and other fields
holding membership in the AAA and PR Division of AEJMC and teaching advertising
and public relations. While the purpose of the study was to explore the
impact of the Internet on advertising and public relations disciplines,
all analysis will incorporate the additional areas reported by respondents
given they also teach mass communication subjects. For a complete profile
of the sample characteristics see the appendix.
Research question number one focused on investigating the attitudes held
by educators towards persuasive Internet communication. The results reveal
that 71% (179) of the respondents believe the Internet is at least somewhat
effective at delivering persuasive communication with only 3.6% (9) characterizing
the medium as extremely ineffective. In contrast, when asked about the effectiveness
of their department at instructing students in persuasive Internet communication,
only 55% (141) report it is at least somewhat effective, with 30% (75) indicating
that it is at a minimum somewhat ineffective (see Table 2). As a whole,
the educators sampled tended to agree that writing (M = 6.38, SD = .98),
design (M = 6.24, SD = 1.01), research (M = 6.20, SD = 1.05) and strategic
planning (M = 6.21, SD = 1.06) are equally important skills needed to develop
effective persuasive Internet communication (see Table 3).
Table 2. Perceptions of Internet Effectiveness at Delivering
Persuasive Communication
Table 3. Perceptions of the Skills Required to Develop
Effective Internet Communication
Research question number two explored whether advertising
and public relations programs have adopted the Internet into their curricula.
The results demonstrate 79.5% (195 out of 245) of the respondents currently
cover persuasive Internet communication in their existing courses. However,
this coverage is rather limited, with 80.5% reporting that they devote between
1 and 20% of their course time to persuasive Internet communication (see
Table 4). This integration adoption began in 1993 with eighteen respondents
and gradually increased until 1999 when the number of new adopters declined
(see Table 5).
Table 4. Percent of Course Time Dedicated for Instruction in Internet
Communication
Table 5. Integration of Persuasive Internet Communication
into Existing Course(s)
Surprisingly, 63.6% of the respondents report their program currently provides
one or more unique courses specializing in persuasive Internet communication.
However, the adoption of a specialized course into existing curricula has
occurred more slowly than instruction in existing courses. For example,
only six respondents indicated their program offered a unique course in
persuasive Internet communication in 1993, yet by 1997 the rate of increase
had equaled integration adoption (see Table 6). In fact, both the integration
and unique course adoption of persuasive Internet communication has followed
closely the adoption curve outlined by Rogers (1995) (see Figure 1).
Research question number three was designed to explore the relationship
between the perceived innovation attributes and adoption of persuasive Internet
communication in advertising and public relations curricula. Relative advantage,
compatibility, complexity, observability, and trialability were measured
using established innovation attribute scales for information technologies.
Table 7 presents the standardized Cronbach alpha coefficients with all exceeding
the generally accepted minimum of .70 (Hair et al. 1998, p. 118). As the
correlation matrix presented in Table 8 illustrates, there is no significant
multicollinearity among the variables since none of the squared correlations
exceed the .80 threshold (Hair et al. 1998, p 189).
Table 6. Unique Course Offered in Persuasive Internet
Communication
Table 7. Innovation Attribute Scale Reliability
Table 8. Correlation Matrix of Innovation Attributes
Associated with Adoption of Persuasive Internet Communication
Figure 1: Integrated and Unique Adoption Curves for Persuasive
Internet Communication
 |
Multivariate discriminant analysis was used to assess the difference between
adopters and nonadopters of persuasive Internet communication because the
dependent variable is nominal and the independent variables interval (Hair
et al. 1998, p. 244). The simultaneous estimation method was utilized in
deriving the discriminant function because the five innovation attributes
have been identified as explaining the largest amount of variance according
to the Diffusion of Innovations theory (Rogers 1995). The results of the
discriminant analysis indicate the overall model for integration (Wilks’
lambda of .89, 2 = 27.89, df = 5, p < .01) and unique course adoption
(Wilks’ lambda of .93, 2 = 17.00, df = 5, p < .01) of persuasive Internet
communication are significant. In addition, the discriminant function for
adoption of integration into an existing course correctly classified 79%
(hit ratio = 64%) and adoption of a unique course correctly classified 64%,
(hit ratio = 53%). The discriminant loadings reflect the amount of variance
shared by the innovation attributes and demonstrate the contribution of
each variable to the discriminant function (see Table 9). Generally, discriminant
loadings greater than or equal to .30 are considered significant (Hair et
al. 1998, p. 294).
Table 9. Discriminant Analysis for Adoption of Internet
Communication
In view of the discriminant analysis results, multiple regression was used
to expand the understanding of the relationship between the innovation attributes
and adoption rate of persuasive Internet communication in advertising and
public relations curricula. The analysis indicates that perceived compatibility
and trialability are the only significant predictors associated with the
rate of adoption when integrating persuasive Internet communication into
existing courses. In contrast, observability and trialability significantly
predicted the rate of adoption for unique courses specializing in persuasive
Internet communication (see Table 10).
Table 10. Significant Determinants of Adoption Rate for
Persuasive Internet Communication
Finally, research question number four sought to examine whether educators
perceive the adoption of Internet communication across disciplines differently.
The results indicate that advertising (M = 5.04, SD = 1.29), t (121) = 3.20
p. < .01, and public relations educators (M = 4.69, SD = 1.34), t (135)
= 2.00 p. < .05, perceive the Internet to be significantly more effective
as a mass medium for delivering persuasive communication than marketing
educators (M = 4.17, SD = 1.73). However, there were no significant differences
for advertising (M = 4.42, SD = 1.73), public relations (M = 4.49, SD =
1.66) and marketing educators (M = 4.51, SD = 1.46) across perceived program
effectiveness at teaching persuasive Internet communication.
In terms of adoption, there was a significant effect between the integration
of persuasive Internet communication into existing courses and academic
discipline, 2 (3) = 10.93 p < .01. For instance, 91.3% of the respondents
who primarily teach advertising have adopted and integrated persuasive Internet
communication into their existing curricula compared to only 77.1% of public
relations, and 79.2% of marketing (see Table 11). Despite this finding,
Figure 2 illustrates the similar pattern of adoption of Internet communication
for advertising, public relations, and marketing.
Table 11. Adoption of Internet Communication into Existing
Course(s)
While 65.2% of advertising programs have adopted a unique Internet communication
course compared to only 57.5% of the public relations programs, no overall
significant effect was detected , 2 (3) = 2.52 p > .05 (see Table 12).
Similarly, there were no significant perceived differences among the innovation
attributes associated with adoption (see Table 13). However, across time
advertising and public relations programs have almost followed a cyclical
adoption of specialized courses. In contrast, marketing respondents have
reported a consistent increase of unique courses adopted in persuasive Internet
communication (see Figure 3).
Figure 2: Adoption of Persuasive Internet Communication
into Existing Course(s)
Table 12. Adoption of a Unique Specialized Course on
Internet Communication
Table 13. Mean Scores for Innovation Attribute Across
Academic Discipline
Figure 3: Adoption of a Unique Course in Persuasive Internet
Communication
The findings of this study clearly indicate that educators’ perceptions
of the Internet as an effective mass medium at delivering persuasive communication
are generally favorable. As a result, advertising and public relations educators,
among the reporting sample, have adopted persuasive Internet communication
into their curricula. However, there appears to remain some skepticism regarding
how well advertising and public relations programs are instructing students
in persuasive Internet communication.
Nevertheless, two levels of adoption were identified with the fastest and
most prevalent simply representing an integration of instruction into existing
courses. While the percent of time dedicated to instructing persuasive Internet
communication remains low, this is understandable given instruction time
is more than likely divided among all mass media. Furthermore, the confirmation
that the majority of advertising and public relations programs in this sample
have adopted a unique course specializing in persuasive Internet communication
also signifies the adoption of this information technology into the curricula.
Therefore, some educators believe the Internet warrants independent instruction
in developing effective techniques outside traditional mass media.
While the debate over which disciplines are best suited for preparing students
to develop effective persuasive Internet communication continues, advertising
programs are significantly more likely to provide instruction in persuasive
Internet communication based on this sample. owever, the findings also indicate
that advertising and public relations educators value many of the same skills
required for producing effective persuasive Internet communication as with
traditional advertising and public relations skills, such as verbal, visual,
investigative, and strategic planning. This illustrates the apparent compatibility
with incorporating persuasive Internet communication into existing advertising
and public relations curricula.
The confirmation of the relationship between adoption and some of the innovation
attributes provides modest support for the existing Diffusion of Innovations
theory. For integration into existing courses, compatibility and trialability
were the only two attributes to significantly predict the rate at which
adoption occurs. This suggests integration of persuasive Internet communication
is more likely to result when educators perceive the innovation as consistent
with established mass media instruction and are able to adequately experiment
with implementation. While trialability was found to be a significant predictor
for adoption rate of a unique specialized course, observability was also
identified as a moderate predictor. Thus, when the perceived benefits are
visible and provide an added value, adoption of a unique Internet communication
will occur faster.
Theoretically, this study supports the existing model of diffusion of innovation
and provides implications for advertising and public relations educators
to consider. For instance, the results emphasize the importance of the some
of the established innovation attributes in diffusion research, yet suggest
additional variables should be explored when predicting the rate of adoption.
Future research can extend this study by identifying additional determinants
associated with the adoption of persuasive Internet communication in advertising
and public relations curricula.
Inherent within any study are limitations that affect the overall validity
and reliability of the results. With regard to this study, some care should
be taken when interpreting the research findings. The first concern involves
error resulting from the sampling method. When a purposive sample is utilized,
the research results may not be generalizable. Taking this into consideration
combined with the use of an on-line survey suggests the need for caution.
A second concern involves the possibility of measurement error. Because
a survey was used, several assumptions were made regarding the terminology
of the questionnaire. For instance, a conceptual definition of Internet
communication was used as a reference for persuasive paid and non-paid forms
of mass communication via the Internet, but there is no guarantee that respondents
interpreted the questions correctly. A third concern includes the large
number of respondents indicating they primarily teach marketing or communication
courses (31.6%). As previously stated, the advertising and public relations
fields are considered multi-disciplinary with a wide range of mass communication
disciplines instructing principles of both. While the AAA and PR Division
of AEJMC represent appropriate sampling frames for advertising and public
relations educators, additional organizations could be more appropriate
for marketing and communication educators. Despite these limitations, the
study was successful in advancing the understanding of the diffusion of
persuasive Internet communication throughout advertising and public relations
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