Crafting Open Research Advocacy Messages Using Diffusion of Innovation Theory

Abstract

Drawing parallels between the Open Research (OR) movement and traditional for-profit business strategies provides useful insight to those who are championing OR practices. Adopters of OR practices are akin to a customer base, and the common focus is to expand.

Roger’s Diffusion of Innovation curve provides a market segmentation according to the number of consumers/adopters. Rogers provides descriptors of these ideal types (2003, 282-285). Cross-tabulating the ideal types with the initial constructs in the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (Venkatesh, et al. 2023), provides inspiration to craft targeted messages for different types of adopters, which will hopefully lead to behavioural intention and ultimately undertaking an OR practice. These initial constructs are performance expectancy (what kind of expectation the adopter will have of the practice), effort expectancy (how much effort the adopter is willing to put into making a new practice work for them) and social influence (how they are likely to be influenced by others).