Determination of Adopter Categories by Using Innovation Diffusion Models

Using the analytical logic underlying the classical adopter categorization ap-proach proposed by Rogers, the authors suggest that adopter categories for a product innovation can also be developed by using other well-established iffusion models such as the Bass model. With data on 11 consumer durable products, they compare adopter categories generated by the classical approach and the Bass dif-fusion model, respectively. An application examining the diffusion of personal com-puters is documented to illustrate the usefulness of the adopter categorization based on the Bass diffusion model in studying differences among adopter categories. Determination of Adopter Categories by Using Innovation Diffusion Models All potential adopters of a new product do not adopt the new product at the same time. Consequently, on the basis of the degree to which an individual is relatively earlier in adopting the new product, adopters can be clas-sified into adopter categories (Rogers 1983). Develop-