Technology cluster innovations: Impacts of adding a technology to an existing cluster.

摘要

Most studies of the diffusion and adoption of innovation study single innovations, without regard to the possible impact of the diffusion and adoption of related innovations. It may be more proper to consider the diffusion of clusters of related innovations.; This study investigates the adoption of a technology cluster innovation, which Rogers (1995) defines as a group of distinct technologies that are viewed by adopters as a single technology. Technology clusters have been investigated and supported in studies in a number of fields, including information technology. This research examines the cluster concept using an information technology cluster, FTP (file transfer protocol).; This study investigates two areas (a) whether the addition of a new technology to an existing cluster influences potential adopters' perceptions of the characteristics of the innovation, and (b) whether potential adopters' perceptions of the characteristics of the FTP cluster affect their adoption intentions.; A controlled experiment was conducted to investigate the two research areas. Subjects were randomly assigned to a treatment or control group. The treatment consisted of the addition of a graphical user interface (GUI) technology to the FTP cluster. After subjects performed a number of tasks using FTP data were collected in three areas (a) subjects' perceptions of five characteristics of the FTP cluster (relative advantage, complexity, observability, compatibility, and trialability), (b) subjects' intentions to adopt the FTP cluster, and (c) characteristics of the subjects.; Multivariate analysis of covariance indicates that the addition of the GUI technology to the FTP cluster affects perceptions of the cluster's characteristics. In particular, their are significant impacts on perceptions of relative advantage, complexity, observability and compatibility, but not on perceptions of trialability.; Regression analysis shows that perceptions of the characteristics of the FTP cluster are related to adoption intentions. According to the data collected, perceptions of the characteristics of the FTP cluster can account for 63.4% of the variability in adoption intentions. In the regression equation, terms related to perceived relative advantage and observability were significantly related to adoption intentions. Terms related to perceived complexity, compatibility and trialability were not significantly related to adoption intentions.