人脈理論相關的文獻,尤以 Granovetter(1973)提出非常優雅的「弱連結 (weak tie)」一詞最為經典,他的論文發現經由弱連結介紹新工作的成功率高於 強連結,同時提出弱連結相較於強連結(strong tie)更多元,因此弱連結對宏觀世 界的效益必大於強連結。而後 Rogers(2006)也在創新的擴散中提出弱連結應 該屬於異質性連結,強連結則屬於同質性的連結,異質性不容易連結卻對擴散的 影響更大。因此本研究的動機將以弱勢的創業家為研究對象,探討弱連結擴散的 動機與擴散方法,並回答研究問題弱連結的擴散效益為何? 本研究發現弱連結的脆弱並不全然是異質性不易溝通之故,因為弱連結與強連結最大的不同是強連結靠關係遠近產生連結,弱連結則是自願性的連結居多,因此創業家的創夢才是真正點燃連結的起源,此外弱連結的橋樑特質是喜好轉介稀有性消息,產生消息經濟的效益而達到更廣泛的連結,因此研究者認為弱連結應用於創新擴散將有三點效益,第一點是弱連結因為自發性動機與可被信任的第三方而提高傳遞意願,第二點是弱連結以泛泛之交居多,他們喜好轉介稀有性消息,因此提高傳送廣度,最後發現所謂的六度分隔除了代表差異性人脈將造成平 均為六的結果外,也代表著六個人脈圈,本研究因此發現第一度的人脈差異將影 響網際網路時代的小世界接受率。 而對於創業家以弱連結來進行創新擴散,研究者認為實務上建立異質性創業 團隊將有助於進入不同特質的弱連結樞紐區,此外創業家勇於發表創夢的想法, 其心態越開放也有助於凝聚弱連結,因此創業家可以藉由社群網站或部落格等媒 體建立自行發聲的管道,將有助於幫助創業家位於樞紐中心,強化擴散的能力。 研究者在回顧文獻後也發現,弱連結在開放式網絡下的橋樑特質與效益被後來學 者忽略,同時隨著網際網路興起帶來多元的媒體與開放式人際關係,研究者認為 將更有助於觀察弱連結對創新擴散的幫助,本研究觀察 Apps 產業裡 Bonnie’s Brunch 個案後,經由八位訪談者與半年的網路社群媒體追蹤的結果,發現弱連 結的橋樑功能是資訊的聚集處,也是連結的捷徑,因此擁有對的連結的確是很重要的事,但是弱連結卻未必時常擔任善意的陌生人,因此弱連結的連結困難在於弱連結的自願性動機,因此研究者在理論貢獻部分提出弱連結的力量來源為自願性的動機,這股隱性的力量唯有受到單純動機的點燃才能爆發出來,因此創業家成功的方程式還有一項無法被操控的弱連結影響力,唯有創業家經過長期的耕耘,持續提供資訊交換,才能與弱聯結維繫關係。 / Among the personal network theory related literatures, the elegant term “weak tie” proposed by Granovetter(1973) is the most classic theory. His thesis paper finding shows that the success rate of introducing new jobs through a weak tie is higher than that of a strong tie. Hence, he believes that as the macroscopic view of the world’s weak tie is more diverse than the strong tie, the benefits produced after creating the tie are definitely greater than the strong tie. Rogers (2006) later proposed in diffusion of innovation that the weak tie is the tie of heterogeneity, while the strong tie is the tie of homogeneity. Heterogeneity does not easily produce a tie, but it has a greater impact on diffusion. Therefore, the weak tie diffusion motivation and diffusion method were explored in this study, and the research problem, i.e., the diffusion benefits of the weak tie, was answered. It was found in this study that the vulnerability of the weak tie is not entirely due to the communication difficulty of heterogeneity, because the greatest difference between the weak tie and strong tie lies in the fact that strong ties produce ties depending on the distance of a relationship, while weak ties are generally voluntary ties. Hence, entre- preneurs’ building of dreams is the actual source that triggers ties. In addition, the weak tie bridge is characterized by a preference to prefer rare news, Newsonomics, and achieve more extensive links. Thus, the researcher believes that there are three benefits when the weak tie is applied in diffusion of innovation. First, the weak tie enhances the willingness to convey messages due to its own voluntary motivation and trustworthy third party. Second, weak ties are generally formed by acquaintances. They prefer to refer rare news, thus the broader conveyance. Lastly, it was found that the so-called six degrees not only represents differential personal networks that result in the outcome of six on average, but also represents six network circles. It was therefore found in this study that the first-degree personal network will affect the small world acceptance rate in the Internet age. As for entrepreneurs, they engaged in diffusion of innovation through weak ties. The researcher believes that, in practice, the establishment of the entrepreneurial team of homogeneity is conducive to entry into weak tie hubs of different characteristics. In addition, entrepreneurs had the courage to express their ideas about building dreams, and their open-mindedness also contributed to the gathering of weak ties. Hence, it is suggested that entrepreneurs establish channels to voice themselves through communi- ty networks, BLOG, and other medias, which will help them stay in the hub and strengthen their ability to diffuse. Through literature review, the researcher found that the bridging characteristics and benefits of the weak tie in the open-type network had been neglected by subsequent researchers. At the same time, the rise of the Internet has brought about a diversity of media and open-type interpersonal relationships, which is believed to be more helpful for weak ties to contribute to diffusion of innovation. Through observations made on the entrepreneurs of Bonnie’s Brunch in the App industry, the results of interviews with 8 individuals, and long-term tracking of Internet community media, it was found that the bridge of the weak tie is a gathering place of information and it is also a shortcut of ties. Therefore, having the right links is indeed important. However, the weak tie is not always willing to serve as the stranger that displays goodwill. The difficulty in linking weak ties therefore lies in the voluntary motivation of the weak tie. In the researcher’s theoretical contributions, it was mentioned that the source of the weak tie force is the voluntary motivation, and this implicit force can only explode after igniting pure mo- tive. Therefore, the successful equation still possesses the influence of the weak tie that cannot be manipulated. Only through long-term cultivation of entrepreneurs and con- tinuous provision of information exchanges to maintain the relationships with weak ties.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed June 30, 2007). Includes bibliographical references (p. 202-216).

Ces dernière années l' « innovation » est au cœur de la stratégie de l'entreprise, elle est également attiré l'attention des chercheurs. En sciences de Gestion, les chercheurs étudient non seulement sur les innovations technologiques, mais aussi les innovations organisationnelles et managériales. Cette thèse étudie ces trois types d'innovation dans le cadre d'un projet innovant de la Supply Chain. Elle s'intéresse au processus de la diffusion d'innovation au sein de la Supply Chain, ainsi que l'appropriation par les acteurs des principaux éléments de ce processus. L'objectif est de vérifier les étapes de diffusion d'un projet innovant et d'analyser l'appropriation par les acteurs au niveau de la direction, de la division et de l'opérationnel d'un grand groupe industriel. Après avoir effectué l'examen des revues de littérature sur les théories d'innovation, de Supply Chain Management ainsi sur le Management du projet, un modèle conceptuel est établi. Par la suite, une recherche exploratoire qualitative est menée au sein du Groupe Schneider Electrics. Les données ont été collectées grâce à trois moyens : les entretiens individuels, l'observation et la participation au terrain et les documents internes de l'entreprise. Les données obtenues sont analysées par le technique de codage sur la base de grille thématique. Les résultats confirment que les innovations dans le Supply Chain Management incluent l'innovation organisationnelle et l'innovation managériale mais pourraient aussi contribuer à l'innovation technologique. Un projet innovant se diffuse en 5 étapes : i) Identification des problèmes, ii) Mise en relation problèmes / projet innovant, iii) Lancement du projet, iv) Déroulement du projet et v) Clôture du projet. Les analyses montrent également les acteurs s'approprient plus ou moins ; et différemment les principaux éléments de ce processus : la valeur du projet, les actions d'accompagnements, les outils spécifiques au projet ; etc. Dans cette thèse, le modèle de la diffusion d'un projet innovant est validé, les contributions et les perspectives sont ainsi proposées à la fin. / Recently, "innovation" has become the core strategy of the enterprises; it also attracted attentions by researchers. In Management Science, The research of innovation is not only confined to technological innovations but also including organizational and managerial innovation. This thesis examines three types of innovations within a framework of a supply chain, which includes innovation project, the process of diffusion of innovation concerning the supply chain, and the ownership of the actors on the main elements in the process. The research objective of this thesis is to verify the steps of diffusion to an innovative project and analyze the absorbing level of the actors within an innovation project, with the actors including the top management level, the division level and operation level in a big industrial group. A conceptual model has been established on the basis of literature review on the theories of innovation, supply chain management and project management. Subsequently, an exploratory qualitative study is conducted in Schneider Electric. The data was collected through three approaches: individual interviews, field survey and internal documentations. Then, the quantitative content analysis including the coding technique is used to deal with the data obtained. The results provide that the supply chain management innovations is not only including organizational innovation and managerial innovation, but may also contribute to technological innovation. The diffusion of an innovative project involves five steps: i) Identification of problems, ii) Matching problems / innovative project, iii) Launching of the project, iv) Execution of the project, and v) Closing of the project. The analysis also shows different absorbing level from the actors on the mains elements of this process. In this thesis, the model of diffusion of innovation project has been validated; the contributions and perspectives have been thus proposed.

Social media platforms have become important over the last decade for nonprofit organizations to communicate with stakeholders, engage with community, and connect with donors. Despite the significance, there is a wide gap in the research on social media adoption and use among community-based nonprofits. To fill this gap, this dissertation examines the diffusion of two popular social media platforms (Facebook and Twitter) among community-based nonprofit organizations affiliated with the United Way of America in Florida. The United Way is the largest federated organization of nonprofits and its primary focus is on education, income, and health. Two questions guide this study: (i) What are the principal determinants of the adoption and use of social media in nonprofit organizations? and (ii) How do nonprofits use social media? The conceptual framework for the analysis comprises of three dimensions: technological, environmental, and organizational. These dimensions respectively draw upon three theories: diffusion of innovation theory, resource dependence theory, and institutional theory. As such, the hypothesis is that the adoption and use of social media is influenced by technological, environmental, and internal institutional factors. For the first question, I conducted a survey of nonprofits affiliated with United Way chapters in Florida, and then analyzed the results using multivariate regression analysis. For the second question, I scraped the Facebook pages of United Way chapters and conducted a content analysis of the posts. I also interviewed key officials in these organizations. The regression analysis shows that technological indicators were significant for the adoption of social media, but were not so for social media use. The findings suggest that factors affecting the adoption and use of social media are distinctive. The content analysis shows that nonprofits predominantly use social media to organize and promote events and to collaborate with other organizations. The events and collaboration enhance the organizations’ legitimacy and help with fundraising for targeted purposes. The study’s policy implication is that nonprofits should engage social media specialists to enhance adoption and train the leaders about benefits of social media use. A federated organization like United Way could adopt best practices in encouraging the use of social media.

This thesis deals with the concept of place and its transformation in the context of transatlantic transformations that still till nowadays stood aside the interests of the professional community. Representative place in the thesis is an example of the american bar, where the institution symbolized the newly established cultural elements gradually penetrated into the whole society and to this extent it could be viewed as a passenger concept venue. The main pillar of the thesis is to take into account sociocultural, economic, demographic and political aspects of bar environment as a peculiar manifestation of transatlantic communication. The key question to the concept of place is therefore whether the European continent was in the interwar period under a wave of Americanization, which in various locations showed a totally unique way that reflected the rising standard of living, while within the United States shaped this culture again by different way. On the other side, we meet with the complicated situation in the form of "dry" America and "thirsty" of Europe, or whether it was just an extraordinary manifestation of transatlantic relations and interaction, which would have thus secondarily been demonstrated modifications to the original concept in a European environment. The thesis is designed on...

This thesis analyses how a payment system affects the diffusion of renewable electricity in rural Uganda. A case study is used provided by a start-up company named Pamoja Cleantech. This company is about to sell electricity, which is generated by biomass-based gasification, to a low-income community. Several households are already connected to the established mini-grid while the majority is still not served. A chasm has been identified between the users in the rural village. The reason for this gap between adopters is the high connection fee and a lack of transparent communication. Therefore, diffusion theory has been used to analyse the impact of several payment-related solutions that could close this chasm. First of all, a set of critical factors have been identified concerning general electricity adoption in the case. Those are reliability, trust, transparent communication and satisfying the needs of the local people. Additionally, it has been shown that a payment system, tariffs, and investment costs must satisfy specific requirements in order to be effective, efficient, and positively affect the rate of adoption. These are requirements such as dealing with the cultural incompetence of people being able to save money and to overcome their understanding to have electricity as a status symbol. Therefore an existing technology with its infrastructure is proposed to use: mobile banking. Since this technology has already penetrated Uganda, its convenience to use and satisfaction is high. Additionally, it has advantages such as saving time, security, reliability, and not much space for fraud. This thesis is based on a theoretical framework that is empirically tested and will provide a description of this specific situation in Uganda. Also, it proposes several management recommendations for the company in order to convert adduced threats into opportunities and strengthen their current inclusive business model.

New technological innovations are considered as one of the major drivers of economic growth. However, in order to be able to achieve this growth, the diffusion of these new technologies is essential. The large number of factors that influence the diffusion process makes it rather difficult to make estimations, before the realization of the process. Especially emerging technologies, such as 5G technology, can considerably benefit from a better analysis of the diffusion process in order to fully realize their potential. Based on this shortcoming in the existing literature, this study aims to determine the possible impacts of adoption of 5G technology on business models within the cleaning industry. As it is implied in the objective, these impacts of adoption of 5G technology on business models are enabled by the adoption of 5G technology. Therefore, the constraints which influence the adoption of 5G technology are researched initially, as it is a prerequisite to identify potential modifications on business models.    A qualitative research methodology was deemed appropriate after the investigation of previous research within the field and to complement the case study design which this thesis internalizes. In addition to the review of relevant academic literature, twelve semi-structured interviews have been conducted as another data source. The qualitative data obtained from these interviews are analyzed using the thematic analysis method and themes are identified after the coding and categorization process. After the analysis, three areas of interest, which are Revenue Models, Logistics Operations and Automation for Individualization, have been identified according to the similarities of results, anticipated opportunities and observed challenges within the cleaning industry. Within these areas, the effects of adopting 5G technology on the value proposition of the business model are examined while considering the drawbacks of the cleaning industry through the collaboration with an external company called L2GO. The study concludes by proposing four potential implications of 5G adoption on business models within the identified areas and identifying the possible changes in their value propositions.

During the last years, many governments have set targets for increasing the share of biofuels in the transportation sector. Understanding consumer behavior is essential in designing policies that efficiently increase the uptake of cleaner technologies. In this paper we analyze adopters and non-adopters of alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs). We use diffusion of innovation theory and the established notion that the social system and interpersonal influence play important roles in adoption. Based on a nationwide database of car owners we analyze interpersonal influence on adoption from three social domains: neighbors, family and coworkers. The results point primarily at a neighbor effect in that AFV adoption is more likely if neighbors also have adopted. The results also point at significant effects of interpersonal influence from coworkers and family members but these effects weaken or disappear when income, education level, marriage, age, gender and green party votes are controlled for. The results extend the diffusion of innovation and AFV literature with empirical support for interpersonal influence based on objective data where response bias is not a factor. Implications for further research, environmental and transport policy, and practitioners are discussed.

The effective integration of technological innovation is vital to the success of small businesses and can catapult growth and profitability. Some business managers and supervisors, however, may not have a firm understanding of strategies for integrating technological innovations in businesses; this lack of knowledge may result in employee frustration and costly roadblocks to achieving business objectives. This case study was conducted to identify the strategies used by business managers and supervisors to integrate technological innovations in small businesses. Christensen's theory of disruptive innovation and Rogers' theory of diffusion of innovation served as the conceptual framework. Ten business managers and supervisors from Castries, St. Lucia, participated in semistructured interviews. Participants who were selected using purposive sampling worked in a small business in St. Lucia for atleast 5 years, were part of senior management, and used strategies for integrating technological innovations in a small business. Two of the themes that emerged from data analysis were integration challenges relating to technological innovation complexity, and technology cost regarding hardware, upgrades and software procurement. Findings from this study may contribute to positive social change by providing business managers and supervisors insight about strategies and innovative solutions they can use to develop better business practices, increase tax revenues, and employment opportunities, improve profitability, and boost the economy.

Senior management decisions to foster innovation and adopt new technology solutions have serious implications for the success of their organization change initiatives. This project examined the issue of senior management decision or reasons of their decision to adopt new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems as a solution to solve their business problems. This project investigated the degree that perceived ease of use and usefulness of the ERP system influenced decisions made by senior managers to innovate. Roger's diffusion of innovations theory and Davis technology acceptance model theory were used to predict when senior managers were open to innovation, and whether senior managers made decisions to adopt new technological innovations. Out of the 3,000 randomly selected senior managers of small to medium sized organizations in the United States who were invited via emails to participate, 154 completed the online survey. Binary logistic regression analysis on the collected data failed to produce statistically significant support for the claim that perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and openness to innovation should impact the senior manager's decision to innovate. The conclusions of this study suggest further research may include a qualitative design to gain a deeper understanding of the underlying reasons, opinions and motivations on the emotive aspects of the decision-making process in the adoption of ERP software innovations. It also offers a positive social change to stakeholders who are potentially affected by technology innovation and adoption by providing empirically validated evidence for causes of senior management technology decisions.