Editing Diffusion of innovations (section)

== Failed diffusion ==

Failed diffusion does not mean that the technology was adopted by no one. Rather, failed diffusion often refers to diffusion that does not reach or approach 100% adoption due to its own weaknesses, competition from other innovations, or simply a lack of awareness. From a social networks perspective, a failed diffusion might be widely adopted within certain clusters but fail to make an impact on more distantly related people. Networks that are over-connected might suffer from a rigidity that prevents the changes an innovation might bring, as well.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gibbons|first1=D|title=Network Structure and Innovation Ambiguity Effects on Diffusion in Dynamic Organizational Fields|journal=The Academy of Management Journal|date=2004|volume=47|issue=6|pages=938–951|jstor=20159633|url=https://calhoun.nps.edu/bitstream/10945/46065/1/Gibbons_Network_2004.pdf|type=Submitted manuscript|hdl=10945/46065}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Choi|first1=H|last2=Kim|first2=S-H|last3=Lee|first3=J|title=Role of Network Structure and Network Effects in Diffusion of Innovations|journal=Industrial Marketing Management|date=2010|volume=39|issue=1|pages=170–177|doi=10.1016/j.indmarman.2008.08.006|s2cid=61392977}}</ref>
Sometimes, some innovations also fail as a result of lack of local involvement and community participation.

For example, Rogers discussed a situation in Peru involving the implementation of boiling drinking water to improve health and wellness levels in the village of Los Molinos. The residents had no knowledge of the link between sanitation and illness. The campaign worked with the villagers to try to teach them to boil water, burn their garbage, install latrines and report cases of illness to local health agencies. In Los Molinos, a stigma was linked to boiled water as something that only the "unwell" consumed, and thus, the idea of healthy residents boiling water prior to consumption was frowned upon. The two-year educational campaign was considered to be largely unsuccessful. This failure exemplified the importance of the roles of the communication channels that are involved in such a campaign for social change. An examination of diffusion in [[El Salvador]] determined that there can be more than one social network at play as innovations are communicated. One network carries information and the other carries influence. While people might hear of an innovation's uses, in Rogers' Los Molinos sanitation case, a network of influence and status prevented adoption.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1016/0049-089X(73)90015-X| title = The differential impact of social integration on participation in the diffusion of innovations| journal = Social Science Research| volume = 2| issue = 2| pages = 125–144| year = 1973| last1 = Burt | first1 = R. S. }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Rogers|first1=E|title=Diffusion of Innovations|date=1995|publisher=Free Press|location=New York}}</ref>