Principles and Techniques of Veterinary and AH Extension

INTRODUCTION 

• Diffusion of Innovations is a theory of how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread through cultures.
• The concept was first studied by the French sociologist Gabriel Tarde (1890) and by German and Austrian anthropologists such as FriedrichRatzel or Leo Frobenius.
• The publication of a study of Ryan and Gross on the diffusion of hybrid corn in Iowa was the first sustainably visible contribution in a broader interest in innovations.
• Diffusion of Innovations is defined as "the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system" (Rogers,)