Based on the innovativeness i.e. how early or how late the adopter are Rogers (1971) classified the farmers in to five categories viz.,
Innovators (Venturesome)
Early adopters (Respectable)
Early majority (Deliberate)
Late majority (Skeptical)
Laggards (Traditional)
All individuals in a social system do not adopt an innovation at the same time. Rather, they adopt in an ordered time sequence, and they may be classified into adopter categories on the basis of when they first begin using a new idea. In technology transfer programme, it is of great practical utility for the extension workers to identify the individuals who are likely to adopt innovations early and who may lag behind.
The adoption of an innovation over time follows a normal, bell-shaped curve when plotted over time on frequency basis. If the cumulative number of adopters is plotted, it results in an S-shaped curve. The S-shaped curve rises slowly at first when there are few adopters in a time period, accelerate to a maximum when about half of the individuals in the system have adopted and then increases at a gradually slower rate as the few remaining individuals finally adopt.
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