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TopIntroduction
This paper will discuss, in the literature review, the process model and theory of Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) which will explain how, why, and at what rate a new idea of technology spreads in an organization. In addition, a comparison between DOI and the Relationship Marketing (RM) theory is made to illustrate how a commitment from both the vendor and the organization occurs during the technological process.
This study examines and presents the RM theory for the third-party change agent appointed to manage the Request for Information (RFI) and Request for Proposal (RFP) stages, who desires to use innovation within a structured procurement process, providing both an explanation and leverage to an organization that is undertaking a technological innovation process.
The discussion of the commercialization, innovation, and the feedback-assessments procurement processes of the DOI utilizes a single-case study of a very large public-sector university that procured and implemented an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. The study revealed that the innovation process model (i.e., the Diffusion of Innovations, and its parallel processes of diffusion, feedback-assessments and relationship-commitment) was inadequate to explain the distrusts, disputes, and disagreements which arose during this time. The paper concludes that the harmony or the conflict among the parties represents either an opportunity or a threat, and is co-dependent upon how each party perceives the other’s premise. Moreover, either premise is irrelevant if one side or the other refuses to foster the relationship.
Research Questions
To clarify the intertwining construct, several questions surfaced. Among them were:
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How do relationships facilitate the diffusion of innovations?
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How do exchange partners interact and establish their relationships?
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Who initiates the activities?
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How and under what circumstances are they initiated?
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What were the dimensions of the innovation?
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How did the initiation phase start?
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What (or who) triggered the innovation?
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How did the exploration phase begin?
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Who were the key participants?
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What were the key barriers? What were their implications, especially to the executive sponsor?
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What factors affected the perception and the process?
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Did the process make sense? Why? Why not?
The anecdotal evidence (presented in the fourth section) answers these questions and leads to a type of knowledge called justified true beliefs. After further analysis and interpretation, they can be used to form reasoned arguments and to explain the research problem.