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characteristics such as socioeconomic status and
personality values
[53]. Another
distinguishing feature of Rogers' theory, which makes it very attractive for our study,
is that it can also be applied to individuals. As such, we find that Rogers' diffusion of
innovations theory provides the most fertile theoretical foundation for our research.
A key aspect of diffusion theories relates to the perception of innovations by poten-
tial adopters. Based on DOI, a methodology's characteristics play a crucial role in
how quickly it is accepted by potential users [9]. The more attractive the attributes of
a methodology are perceived to be, the more swiftly it is accepted by potential users.
Empirical studies related to Rogers' DOI theory have therefore focused on the identi-
fication and examination of innovations' characteristics. Rogers and Shoemaker's
[40] comprehensive list includes relative advantage (e.g., profit, productivity, and the
innovation's prestige-conferring qualities); compatibility with users skills and ways of
working; complexity of use and understanding of the innovation; trialability (i.e.
divisibility, as the ability to be tested by the potential adopter); and observability
(the degree to which others see the results of use of an innovation; also called
communicability) [53].
Extensive empirical research in the past has found that some of the elements are
more important than others. After conducting a meta-analysis of 75 articles pertaining
to innovation characteristics, Tornatzky and Klein [47] found that relative advantage,
complexity, and compatibility were the only innovation characteristics consistently
related to innovation adoption and implementation. Later, Moore and Benbasat [29]
expanded Rogers and Shoemaker's [39] list to include image (enhancement of social
image or status), result demonstrability (of tangible advantages), and voluntariness
(free will to adopt). Although extensive empirical evidence in various fields suggests
that these influences do hold [53] in the context of methodology adoption, except
relative advantage, most of them have either been neglected or have been found to be
insignificant. For example, in the study of Riemenschneider et al. [37], five theoreti-
cal models of individual intention to accept information technology tools were tested
individually using least-square regression analysis, to understand why software de-
velopers accept or resist methodologies. They came to the following conclusions:
perceived usefulness
was the only significant variable across all five models (p <
0.001),
voluntariness
was found not significant (or was not included) in three models,
compatibility
was found not significant (or was not included) in four models, and
result
demonstrability
,
complexity
,
observability
, and
image
were found to be not
significant (or were not included) across all five models. In their study, Hardgrave et
al. [23] also study software developers' intentions to use methodologies, and also find
usefulness
to significant (although comparatively weaker),
complexity
to not be sig-
nificant, and
voluntariness
and
compatibility
to be significant but weak.
Seeing the large gap in the innovation attributes proposed by DOI and those
studied in the context of methodology acceptance, we identify two areas in need of
attention: a) examining which of the wide number of innovation characteristics apply
to the methodology domain, and b) which of these different attributes are more impor-
tant to what type of individuals. While, as mentioned earlier, DOI does provide a
comprehensive list of attributes to examine the former issue (a), the latter problem (b)
is virgin territory.
Recently, consumer research has acknowledged that personality-specific traits are
of greater interest than demographic or psychographic influences, since they are “at
