The Rate of Technological Diffusion Among Locality Groups

Abstract

The rate of diffusion for single innovations has been found to vary among communities and other types of sociogeographic areas, but whether an area manifestes a characteristic rate of diffusion, and, if so, to what factors it may be related, has not been systematically investigated. Data obtained in personal interviews with farm operators in twelve Kentucky localities in 1950, 1955, and 1960 provide insight into these questions. It is found that the relative pace of diffusion among localities for each of five recommended farm practices is quite similar, indicating the existence of an underlying rate of diffusion for each locality. A measure of relative locality diffusion rate is foud to be most closely related to the median educational level of farmers, median level of contact with communication media, and an index for localities of the integration of communication structures. The locality mediam scale of farming and measures of attitudes toward scientific farming, family visiting, and social participation are less closely related to average diffusion rate.