Technology Adoption and Diffusion

Trust, power and transaction costs in B2B exchanges — A socio-economic approach

by Raluca Bunduchi

Intraorganisational power and the adoption of interorganisational IT innovations: the inside story of Covisint

by Raluca Bunduchi

Process innovation costs in supply networks: A synthesis

by Raluca Bunduchi

Mapping the benefits and costs associated with process innovation: The case of RFID adoption

by Raluca Bunduchi

History and Habit in the Mobilisation of ICT Resources

by Angela Coco

Papathanassis, A. & Brejla, P. (2012). Travel agency extranet acceptance: The role of content, usability and appearance, Journal of Information Technology & Tourism. 13(2): 105-117

by Alexis Papathanassis

Travel agencies remain the most popular distribution channel for cruises and a major determinant of passengers'... more Travel agencies remain the most popular distribution channel for cruises and a major determinant of passengers' postvacation evaluation. Our starting point is that cruise operators' extranets can contribute to their relationship with travel agencies, while improving the evaluation of cruise services. Within e-tourism research, the B2B dimension and the utilization of extranets is underrepresented, especially within the cruise domain. Consequently, this article seeks to contribute to a better understanding of travel agents' requirements on cruise/tour operators' extranets. A Web-based survey of 260 German, Austrian, and Swiss travel agents, selling cruise holidays, was conducted in order to examine the role and significance of content, usability, and appearance for the acceptance of tourism extranets. The results of the survey revealed that question items related to the content dimension were more significant that the items associated with usability and appearance. Following a discussion of the findings, further research and practical implications are outlined

Factors affecting RFId adoption in a vertical supply chain: the case of the silk industry in Italy

by Pigni Federico

co-authored with Cristina Quetti and Alessandro Clerici, forthcoming in Production Planning & Control, 2012

Radio Frequency Identification (RFId) adoption process is receiving a lot of attention in literature; studies... more Radio Frequency Identification (RFId) adoption process is receiving a lot of attention in literature; studies assessing its potentials in supply chains (SCs) are now well documented. Despite this rising interest, the diffusion pattern of RFId systems in the vertical SCs has been only scarcely addressed and theoretical contributions explaining dynamics and drivers are still missing. This study shows that the diffusion of innovation theory can be effectively used to explore these questions in a vertical SC. However, three major considerations emerged: (1) the factors influencing, facilitating or inhibiting the adoption process change over time and during the adoption process; (2) facilitators such as business associations play an important role in the SCs composed of small and medium enterprises; and (3) the position of adopters within the SC greatly influences the diffusion process.

Traceability in the Textile and Clothing Industry: Issues and Implications for RFId Adoption

by Pigni Federico

Co-authored with Servane Crave, Aurelio Ravarini
Paper presented to the 2007 Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems - MCIS 2007

The strong competition from emerging economies suffered by Italian's textile and clothing industry has been promoting... more The strong competition from emerging economies suffered by Italian's textile and clothing industry has been promoting traceability initiatives as possible sources of brand distinction and competitive advantage. "Traccia" is one of these initiatives, where the coordinated efforts of local governments, certifications laboratories, a industry association, a university and companies aimed at the diffusion of a methodology for traceability that allows companies to add, to their products, informative labels reporting items' whole history. This paper analyzes the perspective emergence of the use of an RFId system for traceability from three different inter-related viewpoints: the firm level, the industry level and the external environment level. RFId adoption is then discussed on the base of the reciprocal influence a firm could have over the technology, its capabilities and the interorganizational environment. The study shows that the adoption of RFId systems is still dismissed despite the strong evidence of potential benefits and the sponsoring role of local authorities and industry associations.
Challenges are posed not only from structural factors (i.e., size, IT competences and commitment) but also from the issues related to the creation of an interoperable infrastructure, the development of the traceability nodes of coordination and the involvement of focal players as initiators and adopters of the system.

Spencer, Buhalis and Moital (2012) Hierarchical model of technology adoption for small owner-managed travel firms: An organizational decision-making and leadership perspective, Tourism Management, 2012

by Professor Dimitrios Buhalis

small travel firms technology adoption

Andrew J. Spencer, Dimitrios Buhalis, Miguel Moital, 2012

A hierarchical model of technology adoption for... more Andrew J. Spencer, Dimitrios Buhalis, Miguel Moital, 2012

A hierarchical model of technology adoption for small owner-managed travel firms: An organizational decision-making and leadership perspective, Tourism Management, 2012




a School of Tourism, Dorset House, Talbot Campus, Bournemouth University, UK
b Department of Management Studies, University of the West Indies, Mona


This article assesses the diffusion of innovation theory and the technology acceptance model, and explores the factors influencing the decision to engage in technology adoption in small owner-managed travel firms. This is done through the use of the overarching theory of organisational decision-making to identify concepts and constructs which relate to the decision to adopt. The work aims to identify the genesis of adoption decisions in particular where owners are themselves the managers and provide leadership for the organization. After the distillation of factors it was found that due to simple hierarchical structures and decision-making processes which were further exacerbated by immediate self interest, leadership was the most significant driver. This article goes further to identify leadership typologies at each level of technology adoption in firms.

Extension of the Study on the Diffusion of Innovation in the Internal Market

by Fabio Manca

A hierarchical model of technology adoption for small owner-managed travel

by Dr. Miguel Moital

Spencer, A, Buhalis, D and Moital, M. (2012) A Hierarchical Model of Technology Adoption for Small Owner-Managed Travel Firms: An Organizational Decision-Making and Leadership Perspective, Tourism Management, forthcoming [ABS rating: 4]

This article assesses the diffusion of innovation theory and the technology acceptance model, and explores the factors... more This article assesses the diffusion of innovation theory and the technology acceptance model, and explores the factors influencing the decision to engage in technology adoption in small owner-managed travel firms. This is done through the use of the overarching theory of organisational decision-making to identify concepts and constructs which relate to the decision to adopt. The work aims to identify the genesis of adoption decisions in particular where owners are themselves the managers and provide leadership for the organization. After the distillation of factors it was found that due to simple hierarchical structures and decision-making processes which were further exacerbated by immediate selfinterest, leadership was the most significant driver. This article goes further to identify leadership typologies at each level of technology adoption in firms.

Technology catch-up and the role of institutions

by Fabio Manca

Published in Journal of Macroeconomics

The aim of the paper is to investigate the effect of differences in institutional quality on the process of technology... more The aim of the paper is to investigate the effect of differences in institutional quality on the process of technology catch-up across countries. Empirical evidence shows that countries endowed with better institutions present higher TFP growth rates and faster rates of technology adoption and, as a result, are the ones that are more rapidly closing the gap with the frontier. Conversely, countries lacking a minimum institutional level diverge in the long-run and do not to catch up. Some institutions, however, play an ambiguous role in the creation and adoption of technology. We find that the tightening of Property Rights reduces the ability of followers to freely imitate technology thus slowing down their catch-up rate. This negative effect is stronger the farther away the countries are from the frontier. Other institutional categories such as openness to trade, instead, benefit both leaders and followers.

Measuring the adoption of innovation. A typology of EU countries based on the Innovation Survey

by Fabio Manca

Published in ". Innovation- The European Journal Of Social Science Research, vol 25 (3).

Based on the Community Innovation Survey, this paper suggests new indicators of innovation adoption. The magnitude of... more Based on the Community Innovation Survey, this paper suggests new indicators of innovation adoption. The magnitude of innovation adoption is assessed for 22 EU countries and different industries. The most striking feature is the correlation between the innovation activities and the adoption rate. Countries with strong R&D and human resources and high innovation output exhibit the highest adoption rates. This supports the idea that innovation adoption requires an absorption capability. In addition, the specificities of each country regarding the prevailing types of innovation and adoption (product or process, cooperation-based adoption or internal adoption) allow us to draw up a typology of the EU countries, for which a specific geographical pattern is observed.

Are there spatial spillovers in the adoption of clean technology? The case of organic dairy farming

by Brian E Robinson

Land Economics (2011), with David J Lewis and Brad Barham

This paper examines spatial spillovers associated with the adoption of organic dairy farming. We hypothesize that... more This paper examines spatial spillovers associated with the adoption of organic dairy farming. We hypothesize that neighboring farmers can help to reduce the uncertainty of organic conversion by lowering the fixed costs of learning about the organic system. A spatially explicit 10-year panel dataset of more than 1,900 dairy farms in southwestern Wisconsin is used as input into a reduced-form econometric model of the decision to convert to organic production. Using an identification strategy that exploits the panel aspect of the micro dataset, we find evidence that the presence of neighboring organic dairy farms affects the conversion decision.

The farthest needs the best. Human capital composition and development specific economic growth.

by Fabio Manca

In this study we provide robust and compelling evidence of the larger effect of tertiary education on the growth of... more In this study we provide robust and compelling evidence of the larger effect of tertiary education on the growth of less developed countries and of the relatively smaller impact on the growth of developed ones. This argues for the accumulation of high skills especially in technologically under-developed countries and, contrary to the common wisdom, independently of the fact that these economies might be initially producing low(er)-technology goods or performing technology imitation. Our results are robust to the different measures used to proxy for human capital and to
the adjustment for cross-country differences in the quality of education. Country-speci…c insitutional quality, as well as other various indicators such as the legal origin, the religious fractionalization and openness to trade have been used to control for the robustness of the results. They are also shown to speed up technology convergence con…rming previous empirical literature. Our estimates tackle endogeneity by applying a variety of techniques such as IV (both panel and cross-section) and two-step efficient system GMM.

The Role of the EU Internal Market in the Adoption of Innovation

by Fabio Manca

This paper aims at analysing the impact of the regulation of the European Union (EU) internal market (IM) in the... more This paper aims at analysing the impact of the regulation of the European Union (EU) internal market (IM) in the adoption of innovation. After constructing an indicator of innovation adoption based on the information provided by the Community Innovation Survey, in the first stage, we define the impact of some major IM regulations on cooperation, competition and trade across EU countries. The results of this first stage show how different IM regulations are important determinants of these three macroeconomic variables that we consider afterwards having an impact on innovation adoption. Hence, in the second stage we address whether innovation adoption rates significantly depend on the degree of cooperation, trade and competition as well as some control variables such as national legal structures and IPR regulations. Estimations have been computed using an econometric model whose dependent variable is total innovation adoption as well as its possible disaggregation into sub-categories. Results show that cooperation and its main IM determinants positively impact innovation adoption, leaving trade and competition as apparently minor channels of innovation adoption (and especially depending on the type of innovation adoption under examination).

The Viability of Cattle Ranching Intensification in Brazil as a Strategy to Spare Land and Mitigate Greenhouse Gas Emissions

by Avery Cohn

Co-authors Maria Bowman, David Zliberman & Kate O'Neill . Published as a CCAFS working paper

Recent research and policy on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Brazil suggests that the least-cost,... more Recent research and policy on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Brazil suggests that the least-cost, largest-scale mitigation option is for cattle ranchers to produce more on the land they already use. The rationale is that cattle ranching intensification programs (CRIPs) can speed yield-increasing technology adoption that delivers GHG benefits by sparing land to prevent deforestation and allow the production of more biofuels and other agricultural products. We draw on a literature review to assess the merits and viability of CRIPs in Brazil. Support for CRIPs is based on a series of premises: intensive cattle ranching technologies are already in commercial use; accelerating adoption is straightforward; increasing intensive ranching can reduce cattle product prices; reducing cattle product prices can reduce pasture area; reducing extensive cattle ranching in Brazil can deliver GHG benefits; CRIPs will deliver environmental & social benefits; and that the GHG benefits from CRIPs will exceed implementation costs. We argue for CRIPs trials as part of a broader effort to reduce several key data and science gaps crucial for assessing the impacts of CRIPs.

Adoption and Sophistication of Clinical Information Systems in Greek Public Hospitals: Results from a National Web-based Survey

by Spyros Kitsiou

E-learning and elder people: Barriers and benefits

by Maxim Bakaev

IEEE Region 8 International Conference on Computational Technologies in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, 2008. SIBIRCON 2008. p. 110-113
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=4602586

In a transition to information society, a development of new methods of education, including e-learning, is... more In a transition to information society, a development of new methods of education, including e-learning, is emphasized, and equal access of all groups of society to information technologies is advocated. The number of elder people is growing rapidly all over the world, and for many countries they have been identified as a social group making only marginal use of IT. A survey was undertaken with 110 elder Russian computer literacy training students to identify their reasons for computers and Internet non-use or limited use as well as their desired activities online. The results suggest that, in correspondence to findings in other countries, senior users need support and social encouragement to overcome stereotypes of computers’ complexity and inappropriate-ness. Formal computer literacy training courses were found to significantly increase computer (from 38 to 81%) and Internet (from 21 to 62%) usage for elder people.

การสำรวจระบบสารสนเทศในโรงพยาบาลไทย (Thai Hospitals' Adoption of Information Technology Survey: THAIS) [Poster]

by Nawanan Theera-Ampornpunt

Poster presented at: National Health Informatics: Moving-Toward System Reform. Thai Medical Informatics 2009; 2009 Nov 18-20; Bangkok, Thailand