An Exploratory Role Analysis Of Opinion Leaders, Adopters, And Communicative Adopters With A Dynamically Continuous Innovation

This research suggests that the best prospects in terms of marketing efforts are the communicative adopters, which is consistent with Venkatraman's (1989) Communicative adopter segment, which can be called "Change Agents."

Abstract

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Since Venkatraman’s (1989) research on communicative adopters, little attention has been directed toward this segment of consumers who are often very important actors in the adoption process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>This research is designed to examine whether Venkatraman's (1989) communicative adopter concept is applicable to dynamically continuous innovations, in this case, Graphic User Interface (GUI) computer software. The communicative adopter group was found to be significantly different than all other groups on all constructs except homophily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Consistent with Venkatraman's (1989) research, the communicative adopter segment can be called "Change Agents."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Each of the three segments, opinion leaders, adopters, and communicative adopters, is important to marketers of new GUI computer software, but this research suggests that the best prospects in terms of marketing efforts are the communicative adopters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The results extend research in this area and provide support for theory development.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Issues with respect to managerial implications, such as market segmentation strategies, are also discussed.</span></span></p>