Book Review: A Comprehensive and Analytical Compendium of a Specialized Branch of Communications: Communication of Innovations, a Crosscultural Approach

A careful perusal of this volume should prove rewarding for those interested in the diffusion of innovations, either from a pragmatic or a theoretical viewpoint-and particularly for those contemplating new research in this area. For it represents a synthesis of more than 1500 studies and ties together the common threads which run through varied research traditions on this subject. Although directed in part to "social scientists with an academic interest in the microanalysis of communication and change," the book is also for "change agents whose purpose is to diffuse innovations." The latter category covers a wide spectrum, from the change agent of a public health service in an underdeveloped country to the U.S. marketing man about to launch a new product. The authors have made a good start toward conceptual standardization and toward providing linkages with more general social science theory. Their primary contribution, however, has been the synthesis of past findings, in order to prevent duplication of research effort, and in pointing out areas of needed research. While essentially an updating of the 1962 volume, Diffusion of Innovations, this edition goes considerably beyond the original in both scope and content. Communication concepts and frameworks are stressed in the analysis of the diffusion process to a far greater extent than in the earlier volume. Diffusion studies are a special type of communications research, concerned specifically with messages that are new ideas and with the focus on overt behavior change. The new emphasis on cross-cultural similarities and differences in the diffusion of innovations is a significant contribution. Included within the 1500 reports of diffusion studies analyzed are the many such studies conducted in underdeveloped countries in the l 960's. Several new topics are discussed, including collective innovation-decisions and diffusion within formal organizations. A computerized information retrieval