Transcript PPT
Diffusion Theory in an Internet Environment: Testing Four Key Components by J. Sonia Huang School of Journalism University of Texas at Austin Dear Sonia: More innovative individuals ought to have greater exposure to newspapers and other news. Your study sounds very interesting. Everett M. Rogers 1931-2004 Cordially, Ev Rogers Tuesday, March 02, 2004 2:50 PM Diffusion Theory in the Internet Environment • Hard to define a social system “The Internet might be changing the role of spatial distance in who talks to whom about a new idea.” • Internet communication as both mass and interpersonal communication “The Internet allows people to reach many people in a one to many process, but e-mail messages are like interpersonal communication.” •~ Everett M. Rogers, 2003~ Four Key Components in Diffusion Theory • Adopter Categories: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards • Mass Communication Channels: newspapers, network news, local news, cable news, and online news • Cosmopolitan Experience: access non-US sources, communicate with people outside of US, and travel to many countries • Gender: Is the Internet gendered? Adopter Categories 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Rogers' Categories College Adopters Innovators Early Adopters Early Majority Late Majority Laggards 2.5% 13.5% 34% 34% 16% 3% 17% 31% 41% 9% Hypotheses & Research Question H1: Earlier adopters of Internet news are more likely than later adopters to be regular users of all news channels. H2: Earlier adopters are more cosmopolitan than later adopters. H3: Male are more likely than females to be earlier adopters of Internet news. RQ: What is the relationship among gender, Internet news adoption, and Internet news reading? Methodology • Web-based survey: 842 college students • Questionnaire: 56 questions on public affairs, media use, life styles, and demographics • Date: November 4th ~ 10th, 2003 • Random Sampling • Sampling error: ±3.4% • Response rate: 8% Are earlier adopters read more online news? 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Innovators Early Adopters Early Majority Late Majority Regular Internet News Readers Laggards Are earlier adopters get more news in different channels? Innovators (%) Online News 67 Cable News 71 Local News 28 Newspapers 44 Network 11 News Early Early Late Laggards Kendall’s Adopters Majority Majority tau-c (%) (%) (%) (%) 84 77 65 43 .22 (p<.001) 50 38 29 20 .22 (p<.001) 26 19 16 13 .09 (p<.05) 66 58 53 55 0.07 22 15 14 17 0.04 Are earlier adopters cosmopolitan? 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Innovators Early Adopters Early Majority Late Majority Cosmopolitan Experience Laggards Are earlier adopters men or women? 50% 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Innovators Early Adopters Early Majority Males Late Majority Females Laggards Gender as an antecedent variable Gender P<.001 Internet News Adoption P<.001 P<.001 Internet News Reading Results • College innovators and early adopters of Internet news were cosmopolitan males who read online news and watched cable and local TV news on a regular basis. • Gender was not only a strong predictor of how long students adopted Internet news but also an antecedent variable to the relationship between Internet news adoption and Internet news reading. Contributions • Matched Rogers’ adopter categories with college students’ Internet news adoption. • Constructed a scale to measure “cosmopoliteness” and found earlier adopters were more cosmopolitan. • Digital Divide in New Forms: Experience Divide Information/Source Divide Gender Divide (conditioned by experience)