Information technology diffusion: building positive barriers

This paper demonstrates how to build positive barriers to the diffusion of an information technology innovation. Positive barriers are desirable elements that disable the diffusion of an innovation to an undesired set of potential adopters. System developers are motivated in many ways to construct such positive barriers, for example, by security and privacy of proprietary innovations. This paper draws on the broad research that has illuminated the enabling factors in the diffusion of information technology, and shows how selected examples of these factors can also be applied in usefully constructing barriers against diffusion.