Phases of the Adoption of Innovation in Organizations: Effects of Environment,Organization and Top Managers1

Multidimensional empirical examinations of the adoption of innovations in organizations, and the influence of factors within each dimension on the phases of adoption, are scarce. This study examines the effects of environmental, organizational and top managers' characteristics on the initiation, adoption decision and implementation of innovation. Using a sample of approximately 1200 public organizations in the United States, we found that while each dimension accounts for unique variance in the adoption of innovation, organizational characteristics and top managers' attitudes toward innovation have a stronger influence than environmental and top managers' demographic characteristics. We also found no difference in the direction of effects of any antecedent, but did find differences in the significance of effects of several antecedents, on the phases of innovation adoption. We discuss the implications of these findings and suggest ideas for future research.     

Corporate philanthropic selection using data envelopment analysis

This paper presents a case study involving quantitative models for the selection of corporate philanthropic projects. The four analytic techniques used by this company for ranking and selecting philanthropic projects are all based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Instead of relaying only on one traditional DEA model, the four approaches employed in this study enable the decision maker to identify the most deserving school.     

Simultaneous confidence bands for nonlinear regression models

The maximization and minimization procedure for constructing confidence bands about general regression models is explained. Then, using an existing confidence region about the parameters of a nonlinear regression model and the maximization and minimization procedure, a generally conservative simultaneous confidence band is constructed about the model. Two examples are given, and some problems with the procedure are discussed     

An Integration of Research Findings of Effects of Firm Size and Market Competition on Product and Process Innovations

Product and process innovations have been studied as distinct phenomena whose introduction is influenced differently by firm and market conditions. This study reviews and quantitatively integrates the findings of the empirical studies of the associations of firm size and market competition with product and process innovations. The accumulation of research results and subgroup analyses of construct measurement do not provide evidence of substantial differences in the strength of the influence of size or competition on the two innovation types. Implications of the results for future research on innovation types as distinct or integrative phenomena are discussed.     

Influence of Environmental Factors and Prior Changes on the Organizational Adoption of Changes in Products and in Technological and Administrative Processes

This research studies how organizational adoption of three different types of change – change in products, in technological processes and in administrative processes – is influenced by environmental factors such as industry regulation and market concentration and by the prior adoption of different types of change. We tested our hypotheses in the service sector, examining a sample of bank holding companies in the USA for the period 1975–1995. We found that (1) environmental factors influence rates of change in products, in technological processes and in administrative processes differently; (2) changes in products are followed by changes in both technological and administrative processes; and (3) the three types of change exhibit momentum, as firms are more likely to implement changes similar to those they have recently undertaken. We discuss the implications of our findings for the theory and management of change in organizations.