The challenge of information technology transfer and diffusion

An important area within information technology (IT)—technology transfer and diffusion—has emerged. It includes diffusion (Rogers 1983, Redwine 1984, McKenney 1995) and adoption and implementation in organizations (Kwon and Zmud 1987, Leonard-Barton 1987, Fichman 1992) of software and IT innovations. This new area has attracted the interest of both the research and the practice communities. For example, four IEEE Computer Society workshops on software engineering technology transfer have been held (Morton 1983, Przybylinski and Fowler 19872). A growing community of software process improvement network (SPIN) groups has emerged (Peterson 19953). Major consortia and government institutions such as the Software Engineering Institute and the ESPRIT program have been established to address software and IT issues, emphasizing technology transfer and diffusion. And a growing body of research and practice on the introduction of software and IT in organizations is being published (for example, Nord and Tucker 1987, Eason 1988, Pressman 1988, Bouldin 1989, Fowler 1990, Strauss and Ebenau 1994).