DOI: 10.5176/2251-2039_IE16.2
Authors: Ben S. Liu and T. Steven Chang
Abstract: This study intends to empirically test the complex relationships between structural network characteristics and innovation as well as between structural network characteristics and imitation to examine both the “innovation” and ‘imitation” potentials of individual actors in a social network context by using the combination of secondary and primary data from high-tech industries. The findings of this study could be used to strengthen the theoretical grounds of the social network applied in the diffusion of innovations by either supporting the hypotheses as depicted in the DiffuNET model or challenging the theoretical reasoning where the hypotheses are falsified. Further more, the results may reveal important marketing and managerial implications of the impact of word-of-mouth communications in a network on diffusion of product innovations. For examples, the findings of this study could help the companies in the Innovation Industry improve their innovation productivity using the proposed effects in a variety of network and product settings (e.g., consumer products in a network of individuals and industrial products in a network of organizations). The tested effects of network properties on the performance (including successful rate, innovativeness, and other grand indicators) of these firms will also help the public policy maker formulate effective public policy to address the needs in the industry innovation as well as practical managerial implications for the firms to improve their performance since their inception.
Keywords: Innovation, Diffusion, Network structure, Imitation, New product development
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