A21. Rice,
R.E.
& Manross, G. (1987). The relationship of job category to the
adoption
of an organizational communication technology. In M. McLaughlin (Ed.), Communication
yearbook, 10, 727-742. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. (A
Top
paper at the International Communication Association conference, 1986.)
Instead of a one-to-one relationship between the
technology and a
particular
organizational unit, the one-to-one relationship is between the tools
and
an organizational role. Researchers are finding that the
traditional
process models of diffusion and implementation of computer-mediated
communication
technologies are occasionally inadequate for explaining why some
innovations
are adopted by the intended user community and others are a rejected.
Thus,
the search for a comprehensive adoption model continues.
The findings of a recent study by Manross and Rice (1986)
involving the inroductin of an "intelligent" telephone system at the
West Coast offices of a Fortune 500 firm were not yet another examples
of limitations in the traditionional model of diffusion. Results of the
prior study showed that techinical and political factors were more
powerful explanations of different levels of adoption than were
traditional measures of attributes of the innovation
and organizational innovativeness. Further, both the level of adoption
and
the perceived benefits of the innovation differed according to job
category-whether
a potential user is a manger, technician, or administrator. This
chapter
looks more closely at the influence of job category on perceived and
level
of adoption of the intelligent telephone system.
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