ISOJ 2005

1. Diffusion Theory in an Internet Environment:Diffusion Theory in an Internet Environment:
Testing Four Key ComponentsTesting Four Key Components
byby
J. Sonia HuangJ. Sonia Huang
School of JournalismSchool of Journalism
University of Texas at AustinUniversity of Texas at Austin

2. Everett M. Rogers
1931-2004
Dear Sonia:
More innovative individuals
ought to have greater
exposure to newspapers
and other news. Your study
sounds very interesting.
Cordially,
Ev Rogers
Tuesday, March 02, 2004 2:50 PM

3. Diffusion Theory in the Internet EnvironmentDiffusion Theory in the Internet Environment
• Hard to define a social system
“The Internet might be changing the role of spatial
distance in who talks to whom about a new idea.”
• Internet communication as both
mass and interpersonal communication
“The Internet allows people to reach many people in a
one to many process, but e-mail messages are like
interpersonal communication.”
•~ Everett M. Rogers, 2003~

4. Four Key Components in Diffusion TheoryFour Key Components in Diffusion Theory
• Adopter CategoriesAdopter Categories::
innovators, early adopters, early majority,innovators, early adopters, early majority,
late majority, and laggardslate majority, and laggards
• Mass Communication Channels:Mass Communication Channels:
newspapers, network news, local news,newspapers, network news, local news,
cable news, and online newscable news, and online news
• Cosmopolitan Experience:Cosmopolitan Experience:
access non-US sources, communicate withaccess non-US sources, communicate with
people outside of US, and travel to manypeople outside of US, and travel to many
countriescountries
• Gender:Gender:
Is the Internet gendered?Is the Internet gendered?

5. Adopter CategoriesAdopter Categories
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Rogers' Categories 2.5% 13.5% 34% 34% 16%
College Adopters 3% 17% 31% 41% 9%
Innovators
Early
Adopters
Early
Majority
Late
Majority
Laggards

6. Hypotheses & Research QuestionHypotheses & Research Question
H1: Earlier adopters of Internet news are more
likely than later adopters to be regular users of
all news channels.
H2: Earlier adopters are more cosmopolitan than
later adopters.
H3: Male are more likely than females to be earlier
adopters of Internet news.
RQ: What is the relationship among gender,
Internet news adoption, and Internet news
reading?

7. MethodologyMethodology
• Web-based survey: 842 college students
• Questionnaire: 56 questions on public affairs,
media use, life styles, and demographics
• Date: November 4th
~ 10th
, 2003
• Random Sampling
• Sampling error: ±3.4%
• Response rate: 8%

8. Are earlier adopters read more onlineAre earlier adopters read more online
news?news?
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Innovators Early
Adopters
Early
Majority
Late
Majority
Laggards
Regular Internet News Readers

9. Are earlier adopters get more news in differentAre earlier adopters get more news in different
channels?channels?
Innovators Early
Adopters
Early
Majority
Late
Majority
Laggards
(%) (%) (%) (%) (%)
Online News 67 84 77 65 43 .22
(p<.001)
Cable News 71 50 38 29 20 .22
(p<.001)
Local News 28 26 19 16 13 .09
(p<.05)
Newspapers 44 66 58 53 55 0.07
Network
News
11 22 15 14 17 0.04
Kendall’s
tau-c

10. Are earlier adopters cosmopolitan?Are earlier adopters cosmopolitan?
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Innovators Early
Adopters
Early
Majority
Late
Majority
Laggards
Cosmopolitan Experience

11. Are earlier adopters men or women?Are earlier adopters men or women?
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Innovators Early
Adopters
Early
Majority
Late
Majority
Laggards
Males Females

12. Internet News
Adoption
Internet News
Reading
Gender
Gender as an antecedent variable
P<.001 P<.001
P<.001

13. ResultsResults
• College innovators and early adopters of Internet
news were cosmopolitan males who read online
news and watched cable and local TV news on a
regular basis.
• Gender was not only a strong predictor of how
long students adopted Internet news but also an
antecedent variable to the relationship between
Internet news adoption and Internet news reading.

14. ContributionsContributions
• Matched Rogers’ adopter categories with college
students’ Internet news adoption.
• Constructed a scale to measure
“cosmopoliteness” and found earlier adopters
were more cosmopolitan.
• Digital Divide in New Forms:
Experience Divide
Information/Source Divide
Gender Divide (conditioned by experience)