Farmer’s Innovation and Adopter Categories: Inhibitors and Characteristics

Abstract

In a social system, individuals do not all adopt an innovation at the same time. Instead, it is a gradual process in which some people are more likely to adopt the innovation before others. The adoption of innovations is influenced by many factors. Innovation is essential for progress, but it faces many challenges. Researchers have discovered that early adopters of an innovation have different characteristics compared to those who adopt it later. Therefore, when promoting an innovation to a target population, it is important to understand the inhibitors that impede progress and the characteristics of the target population that may help or hinder the adoption of the innovation. Adopter categories are an efficient way to classify members of the system based on their innovativeness. These categories make it easier to describe the members of the system. In this study, we discuss a standard method for categorizing adopters and the characteristics of different adopter categories.