DOI: 10.5176/2251-2039_IE15.18
Authors: Joanna Markiewicz
Abstract: The article sets out to examine the role of support organizations in diffusion of innovation among SMEs. To find out how they contribute to promote innovations, holistic approach linking institutional theory with management and economics was employed in this study. The concept of opinion leaders and change agents proposed by Rogers was used to identify interrelations between the process of institutionalisation and diffusion of innovation. Theoretical considerations are followed by empirical part. Semi-structured interviews were conducted among support organizations operating in the Western Pomeranian Region in Poland. The findings were explored basing on thematic analysis. The time after the transformation from a communism to a free market economy in Poland, which took place 26 years ago, was used as a background for the study. The context of economic and social change is essential to understand why support organizations were treated by SMEs as one of the most reliable sources of information (and consequently the sources of innovation which shaped opinions in diffusion of innovations) when there was little specialization in market sectors. When companies became specialized, support organizations started to be treated more as selectors of information and change agents for innovations.
Keywords: change agents; diffusion of innovation; institutional change; opinion leaders; support organizations; transformation.
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