INNOVATION IN VIRTUAL WORLDS: SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND DIFFUSION

This research-in-progress paper investigates the impact of social structures in virtual worlds (VWs) on the diffusion of innovations within them. Research has illustrated that innovation diffusion takes place within virtual worlds. VWs facilitate the emergence of purposeful communities which support the (often real-world) activities of their members including the development and adoption of innovations. Thus, VWs alter the social structures in which their users are embedded and the manner in which they communicate, both of which are thought to influence the diffusion of technical innovations amongst individuals. Though technical innovation is at the heart of Information Systems (IS) research, empirical research investigating innovation in the networked age is in its infancy. Thus, this paper presents a framework of propositions in relation to the impact of social structures on the diffusion of innovations within VWs and proposes the use of social network analysis to investigate these propositions

Adopting global virtual engineering teams in AEC Projects: a qualitative meta-analysis of innovation diffusion studies

Purpose - This study aims to present an integrated conceptual model in order to highlight the major aspects of diffusion of innovations in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) context. To this end, a critical review of literature is conducted, accompaniedbysynthesising the findings of previous studies. The driving force behind this study is stemmed from the fragmentation of literature on innovation diffusion, and paucity of research on diffusion of Global Virtual Engineering Teams (GVETs) as the platform formany technological innovations in relevant literature. Thus, the present study is intended to facilitate filling the gap in GVETs literature. That is, the proposed model will offer a foundation for academia for grounding studies on any innovation including GVETs in the literature on innovation diffusion in the AEC context. Design/methodology/approach - This paper draws upon the qualitative meta-analysis approach encompassing a critical review of the relevant literature. To this end, the review builds upon studies found within 15 prestigious journals in AEC. The domain of this review was confined to areas described as "innovation", "innovation diffusion" and "innovation adoption", along with keywords used within a broad review of recently published GVETs literature. The rigour of review is augmented by incorporating 35 authoritative works from other disciplines published in 21 well-known journals in the manufacturing, business and management fields. Moreover, the study deploys the peer-debriefing approach through conducting unstructured interviews with five Australian scholars to verify a model presenting an aggregated summary of previous studies. Findings - The key findings of the study include the following items: Synthesising the fragmented studies on innovation diffusion in the AEC context. In doing so, a model capturing the major aspects affecting diffusion of an innovation in AEC projects is presented; providing a foundation to address the drawbacks of previous studies within the sphere of GVETs, based on the developed model. Research limitations/implications - The developed model was only enhanced using a small sample size of academics, as such not empirically validated. Originality/value - As possibly, the first literature review of innovation in the AEC context, this paper contributes to the sphere by sensitising the AEC body of knowledge on innovation diffusion as a concise conceptual model, albeit verified through the peer-debriefing approach. This study will also further establish the research field in AEC on GVETs along with other methods reliant on virtual working such as building information modelling (BIM) through providing an expanded foundation for future inquiries and creation of knowledge

Virtual Reality for Public Speaking Rehearsals: Student and Faculty Perceptions

Speeches and speech rehearsals are an important part of many basic communication courses. However, instructors are developing new ways for students to rehearse their speeches every day; one way may be for students to use virtual reality. Although virtual reality is somewhat of a new innovation, it is effective in various settings, including higher education, and more specifically, the speech classroom. However, this efficacy may not matter if students and instructors are unwilling to adopt it into the classroom. Diffusion of innovation theory, developed by Rogers (2003), focuses on how an innovation is diffused and adopted. Using two of the five attributes of an innovation (i.e., relative advantage and complexity), this thesis examines student and instructor perceptions of virtual reality. Results from the study showed that students and instructors perceived that complexity (i.e., ease of use) was significantly related to attitudes towards VR adoption. Results also showed that relative advantage was significantly related to VR adoption attitudes for students and instructors. Lastly, students and instructors had significantly different perceptions of ease of use but did not have significantly different perceptions of relative advantage

An Ideal-Type through Innovation Diffusion: Recording the Construction History of Football Stadiums in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS)

Dr. John Bale (1984) argued sport scholars need to examine whether innovation diffusion occurred in sport. Rogers (1962, 2003) argued innovation diffusion process involves the following: 1) an innovation; 2) an available communication system(s); and occurs 3) over time; and 4) among members of a social system (p. 11). This project also adds geography as suggested by Bale (1984) and Hagerstrand (1952, 1953) to the study of innovation diffusion. The purpose of the current project is to examine whether innovation diffusion exists within the strong social system of college football. The study involves the collection of data on college football from 1869 to 2014 to examine whether the concept of diffusion of innovation theory can be found in Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The investigation concludes that five stages exist concerning the development of the college football stadium. Stage One starts with the development of college football from its humble beginnings as temporary facilities until the development of Harvard Stadium, the first reinforced concrete and steel venue. Stage Two is the golden age of college football stadium construction as the innovation of reinforced concrete and steel diffused to universities around the United States. Stage Three acknowledges the innovations occurring during the Great Depression and how both federal and state governments invested in stadiums as part of public works projects. Stage Four examines technology innovations such as television, artificial turf, modern scoreboards, and luxury areas and their respective impacts on the stadium. The final stage, Stage Five, examines the additions of luxury spaces to almost every venue along with the development of the modern video board. This project finds innovation diffusion occurs throughout time within Division I FBS. The project also concludes that due to improved communications technology and easing of the travel challenges, traditional geography as discussed by Bale (1984) influenced innovation diffusion in the earlier stages (i.e., Stages One through Three) while virtual geography influences innovation diffusion in later stages (i.e., Stage Four and Five). The project also finds that renovation was more common than new construction and that rehabilitation occurs more than any other types of renovation

Policy Issues of e-Commerce Technology Diffusion in Southeast Nigeria: The Case of Small Scale Agribusiness

The benefits brought about by the emergence of e-commerce, e-business and other Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) applications have not been fully explored in the developing economies of the world. The less developed economies are still struggling to catch up with ICT application as opposed to its heavy deployment in the developed economies. Empirical evidence suggests that ICTs and other related technologies are increasingly emerging in the communities of the developing economies such as Nigeria. Rural actors engaged in the Agricultural industries (Agribusiness) feel that the implementation of ICTs can influence the development of new business processes and the way existing processes are organised. In the Southeast of Nigeria, which is a typical example of a less developed community, the impact of e-business technologies has yet to be determined. This paper identifies two classical traditional agribusiness supply chains and hence reports on the impact of e-commerce technology diffusion along the equilibrium of the supply chains, focusing on the elimination of intermediary actors from the chain. It provides an assessment of the Governments’ policies and strategies on e-commerce adoption for the sustainability of small-scale agricultural businesses. The paper examines the politics surrounding ICT implementations by actors engaged in the agribusiness sector. This research has motivated The South East State Government, in collaboration with the Federal Government, to give closer attention to their earlier policy of making Nigeria an ICT-enabled country

Attitude Confidence and User Resistance for Purchasing Wearable Devices on VR: VR Headset Perspective

The Virtual Reality (VR) has been issued by IT business of the 21st century. There has been a quick diffusion of smart devices and applying various industrial sites. However, there is a lack of innovation resistance studies of influencing new technology’s adoption & diffusion including VR. The research questions follow. First, do attitude confidence and innovativeness resistance affect consumer intention to use? Next, what factors affect among brand, contents and the above variable like attitude confidence? Finally, are there different factors as functional characteristics in VR? This study collected data from respondents who have prior experiences taking VR headset in Korea. The result of this study explained that user innovation resistance (-) and attitude confidence (+) directly-opposed influence consumer intention to use VR headset. Especially, seeing that attitude confidence is highly strong effect to the Use intention. Thus, high-belied of attitude improve behavior intention in the innovative product

The role of the user and the society in new product development

Within the knowledge-based economy several institutions are involved in product innovation processes. Literature study has shown that the most researched and cited are the industry-universitygovernment relations, presented in the Triple Helix model of institutional relations within new product development (NPD). Based on a case study of the Academic Virtual Enterprise, we have put the sole input of these institutions in NPD into question. We have tested and supported the claim that the user and the society are equal partners in the product innovation process. We have put forward the Fourfold Helix model that features a new formation of institutional relations where special focus is placed on the involvement of the user and the society in NPD

Studying Paths of Participation in Viral Diffusion Process

Authors propose a conceptual model of participation in viral diffusion process composed of four stages: awareness, infection, engagement and action. To verify the model it has been applied and studied in the virtual social chat environment settings. The study investigates the behavioral paths of actions that reflect the stages of participation in the diffusion and presents shortcuts, that lead to the final action, i.e. the attendance in a virtual event. The results show that the participation in each stage of the process increases the probability of reaching the final action. Nevertheless, the majority of users involved in the virtual event did not go through each stage of the process but followed the shortcuts. That suggests that the viral diffusion process is not necessarily a linear sequence of human actions but rather a dynamic system.Comment: In proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Social Informatics, SocInfo 201

A Case Study on Membership Growth of a Teacher Professional Community Using the Diffusion Model

This is an exploratory case study to analyze the membership growth of a virtual community named SCTNet by using diffusion model. SCTNet (http://sctnet.edu.tw) is designed to facilitate profession communications among teachers of elementary schools and junior high schools in Taiwan. The diffusion model provides the insight of influential factors for the membership growth on the web site. According to the empirical results, the word-of-mouth has stronger effect than the mass-media advertising. In addition, the diffusion process is slower than those of general innovations or durable goods. The authors propose two possible reasons, one is that teachers belong to different homophilous groups and lack of heterophilous communications, and the other is that the isolation is a general problem surrounding the teachers. Besides, the virtual community is attributed as an interactive media; the more members gather, the more benefits can be generated such as professional advices and emotional supports among members. There should be a so-called “critical mass” in the diffusion curve for such interactive innovation. After the turning point, the membership grows explosively. However, the empirical data of this study does not appear such circumstance. Thus, several aspects that require further researched are suggested in the end of this paper