In this blog post, we will examine how innovation spreads through contagion and stratification under the influence of time and space.
The spread of innovation refers to the process by which the culture, technology, and ideas of a particular region or social group are transmitted to other regions or social groups over time. This process plays a very important role in social change and development and is essential to understanding how new ideas and technologies are transmitted and accepted. For the spread of innovation to be successful, social, economic, and cultural factors must all be in harmony. In this context, it is important to understand what factors can accelerate or slow down the diffusion of innovation.
Geography views the diffusion of innovation as occurring according to spatio-temporal factors and explains the process of spatial diffusion over time in three stages: the initiation stage, the diffusion stage, and the deepening and saturation stage. During the initiation stage, innovation occurs in areas close to the source of innovation, while innovation does not occur in distant areas, resulting in large disparities in innovation adoption rates between regions. During this period, early adopters of innovation play an important role, and they are often concentrated in areas with abundant economic and educational resources. In the diffusion stage, innovation spreads from the early adopter areas to more distant areas. In this process, the benefits of innovation gradually spread to wider areas, and interaction between early adopters and subsequent adopters becomes more active. In particular, the development of information and communication technology can contribute to accelerating this diffusion.
During the deepening and saturation phases, innovation spreads throughout the entire region regardless of distance from the initial source, and differences in acceptance rates between regions gradually disappear. The spatial diffusion of innovation can be explained by contagion diffusion and hierarchical diffusion. Contagion diffusion refers to the phenomenon whereby innovation spreads more quickly when the distance between the source of innovation and potential adopters is short, due to the proximity effect.
When the distance between the source and the adopters is short, there are more opportunities for face-to-face contact, and the diffusion of innovation occurs mainly through interpersonal communication rather than through the mass media. At this stage, the initial diffusion of innovation is often facilitated by a small number of influential individuals or groups within the community. On the other hand, hierarchical diffusion occurs due to the hierarchical effect, whereby the larger the city, the more effective the diffusion of innovation. Through hierarchical diffusion, innovation spreads from larger cities to smaller ones. This diffusion process is particularly prominent in large cities with abundant economic resources and infrastructure, which function as centers of innovation. However, in reality, contagion and hierarchical diffusion may occur simultaneously. For example, innovation originating in a megacity may spread to distant large cities and, at the same time, to small and medium-sized cities surrounding the megacity.
The number of innovation adopters changes over time. In the early stages, the number of innovation adopters increases gradually, but at some point, it begins to increase rapidly and eventually reaches saturation. This is because there are differences in the timing of innovation adoption among individual adopters. In addition, this diffusion curve may vary depending on the type of innovation and the characteristics of the adopter group. For example, in the case of technological innovation, early adopters are mainly people who are interested in technology and have the ability to utilize it. On the other hand, cultural innovation has fewer technological constraints and can spread more widely through social networks. Innovation adopters are divided into four groups according to the timing of their adoption of innovation. Namely, there are a small number of innovators who accept innovation first, a majority of early adopters who accept innovation after careful consideration over a certain period of time, a majority of late adopters who accept innovation after seeing others accept it, and a small number of laggards who are reluctant to try new things and accept innovation only after a long time has passed. The interaction between these groups is an important factor in determining the speed and pattern of innovation diffusion.
