Diffusion And Adoption Of Information Technology

It. is well known that t.he introduction of a new technology in one organization not always produces the intended benefits (Levine, 1994). In many cases, either the receivers do not reach the intended level of use or simply the technology is rejected because it does not match with the expectations (true or false) and the accepted psychological effort to use it. The case of formal methods is a paradigmatic example of continual failures. The published cases with problems or failures only constitute the visible part of a large iceberg of adoption cases. It. is difficult to get companies to openly express the problems they had; however, from the experience of the author, failure cases are very common and they include any type of company. Many reasons to explain the failures (and in some cases the successes) could be postulated; however, the experiences are not structured enough and it is difficult to extract from them useful guidelines for avoiding future problems. Generally speaking, there is a trend to find the root of the problems in the technol ogy itself and in its adequacy with the preexistent technological context. Technocratic technology transfer models describe the problems in terms of these aspects. Although it is true that those factors limit the probability of success, there is another source of explanations linked to the individuals and working teams and how they perceive the technology.

E-Strategies for Technological Diffusion and Adoption: National ICT Approaches for Socioeconomic Development provides comprehensive coverage and definitions of the most important issues, concepts, trends, and technologies related to the adoption, diffusion, and adaptation of national electronic strategies for ICTs in socioeconomic development.

Software systems that used to be relatively autonomous entities such as e.g. accounting systems, order-entry systems etc. are now interlinked in large networks comprising extensive information infrastructures. What earlier used to be stand-alone proprietary systems are now for the most part replaced by more or less standardized interdependent systems that form large networks of production and use. Organizations have to make decisions about what office suite to purchase? The easiest option is to continuously upgrade the existing office suite to the latest version, but the battle between WordPerfect and Microsoft Word demonstrated that the choice is not obvious. What instant messenger network to join for global communication? Preferably the one most colleagues and friends use; AOL Instant Messenger, Microsoft Messenger, and ICQ represent three satisfactory, but disjunctive alternatives. Similarly organizations abandon their portfolio of homegrown IT systems and replace them with a single Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. Several ERP alternatives exist on the market, but which is the right one for you? The argumentation and rationale behind these considerations are obviously related to the technological and social networks we are embedded in, but it is not always easy to specify how. Networked Information Technologies: Diffusion and Adoption offers contributions from academics and practitioners who study networked information systems from a diffusion and adoption point of view. Themes related to the conceptualisation of diffusion and adoption of networked information systems are discussed along with studies of the diffusion of networked information systems in public sector institutions and private businesses. This volume contains the edited proceedings of the IFIP Conference on The Diffusion and Adoption of Networked Information Technologies, which was sponsored by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) Working Group 8.6 and held in Copenhagen, Denmark in October 2003.

Technology Diffusion and Adoption: Global Complexity, Global Innovation discusses the emerging topics of information technology and the IT based solutions in global and multi-cultural environments. This comprehensive collection addresses the aspects of innovation diffusion in the field of business computing technologies and is essential for researchers, practitioners, academicians and educators all over the world.

It. is well known that t.he introduction of a new technology in one organization not always produces the intended benefits (Levine, 1994). In many cases, either the receivers do not reach the intended level of use or simply the technology is rejected because it does not match with the expectations (true or false) and the accepted psychological effort to use it. The case of formal methods is a paradigmatic example of continual failures. The published cases with problems or failures only constitute the visible part of a large iceberg of adoption cases. It. is difficult to get companies to openly express the problems they had; however, from the experience of the author, failure cases are very common and they include any type of company. Many reasons to explain the failures (and in some cases the successes) could be postulated; however, the experiences are not structured enough and it is difficult to extract from them useful guidelines for avoiding future problems. Generally speaking, there is a trend to find the root of the problems in the technol ogy itself and in its adequacy with the preexistent technological context. Technocratic technology transfer models describe the problems in terms of these aspects. Although it is true that those factors limit the probability of success, there is another source of explanations linked to the individuals and working teams and how they perceive the technology.

World Bank Discussion Paper No. 281.This study examines the best practices of eight OECD countries--Canada, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States--in designing national policies and programs to accelerate the effective use of information technology in support of industrial competitiveness. New technologies in computing, communications, and multimedia are changing the competitive advantage of industries, services, and entire economies. Enterprises must therefore increase their technological development and education through government assistance.The emerging experience is rich and diverse. The study draws on the tacit knowledge of the designers and implementors of national policies and programs to establish key rules-of-thumb for future programs. The authors outline broad directions for adapting these practices to the conditions of developing countries.

This book considers the problems that developing countries face when importing technology from abroad. The major issues - technical, economic, political - are analysed in the case of one particular country: Korea. The book describes the negotiations with the foreign companies that controlled the desired technology, the building of the plants, the training of engineers and managers to replace expatriots, the improvements of processes and products and the maintenance of efficient and profitable production. In their research the authors were given access to information usually kept confidential - government memoranda and minutes, company contacts and records, costs and prices. The book also considers how typical of the developing countries Korea is, and the authors make certain policy recommendations for the future.