What is Evolutionary Diffusion Theory

Improved understanding of issues affecting uptake of innovative technology is important for the further development of e-business and its integration into mainstream business activities. An explanatory theory that can provide a more effective instrument for determining acceptance levels should therefore be of interest to IS practitioners and researchers alike. The authors aimed to establish whether evolutionary diffusion theory (EDT) could offer such an instrument, developing a set of axioms derived from the EDT literature and applying these to an in-depth review of two e-business implementations: a G2B document delivery system introduced by the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS) across a number of industry sectors; and an enterprise-wide system implementation in a local government instrumentality. The authors found EDT offered remarkable explanatory depth, applicable not only to analysing uptake of complex, multi-user technologies in organisational settings but to any e-business investigation requiring a system-wide perspective.