Remote communication and technology diffusion

The rise of virtual collocation in distributed organizations may lead to new patterns of technology adoption. Whereas previous studies of technology diffusion (e.g. Rogers, 1995) point to the role of mass media and interpersonal communication in adoption, we find that collaborating partners who rarely see one another are important contributors to the diffusion of virtual collocation technologies. We studied a large distributed organization to discover how and why a data conferencing technology was disseminated rapidly in a relatively short time. We interpret our results to show that the technology has spread on an on-demand basis rather than through formal channels that the company had established. We connect this growth in usage with Rogers' theories about the diffusion of innovations and the social networks in place at this organization.