Innovation can be defined as "The use of non-trivial change and improvement in a process, product or the system that is novel to the institution developing the change" (Slaughter1998). And once an innovation is constantly used by an organization on a regular basis, it leads to routinization. Rogers (2003) defines routinization as "when an innovation has become incorporated into the regular activities of the organization and has lost its separate identity." We also know from the prior research that the innovation could be segregated as per its technical attributes (process or product Innovation), types of innovation (incremental or radical innovation) or economic attributes (direct or indirect economic innovation).Through this study we are trying to observe whether public sector organizations routinize sustainable innovations that are used in the initial projects, and can a relationship be established between the selected attributes of those innovations including process-product, direct-indirect, radical-incremental innovation that may explain their routinization. The LEED Checklist was used as the baseline for studying routinization in public sector organizations. A group of four public sector organizations namely: Arizona State University, University of Florida, City of Austin and City of Seattle were selected on the basis of the constraints that were identified in the early stages of the study. Upon selecting these organizations the LEED Checklists were analyzed and the routinized credits were segregated. The LEED Checklist we segregated on the basis of the attributes of the innovation. To confirm the accuracy of the sorting process an Inter-Rater Reliability was established with the help of an expert panel. The results determined from the segregation process were made to overlap on the routinized credits from the LEED Checklist and the data retrieved was used for the final analysis. During the process of establishing the final results for this research, we segregated the general credits from the prerequisites to avoid any skewing of the results considering that both types of credits were based on different concepts. The results show that public sector organizations do routinize sustainable innovations that were used in the initial projects, and incremental innovation diffuses faster than the radical innovation; product innovation diffuses faster than process innovation; and direct economic innovation diffuses faster than the indirect economic innovation. / Master of Science

Sustainable innovations are observed as a major way by which the ill-effects of the built environment can be avoided or offset. The adoption of innovations are critical to the society, as they pave the way for further incremental or radical innovations, depending on the feedback from their users. In this process, the attributes of an innovation play an important role in its adoption. The objective of this study was to determine whether observability, one of many attributes of innovations identified in the literature as affecting their adoption, plays a critical role in the adoption of sustainable innovations, specifically Rainwater Harvesting Technologies and Strategies (RwHTS). Further, the study aimed to determine whether the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) resulted in frequent adoption RwHTS. Last but not least, the study also sought to understand how designers used BIM to enhance the acceptance of RwHTS in capital projects. The stakeholders identified for this study were architectural firms that are geographically located in the southeastern states of the United States, and the study was conducted from their perspective. This study was segregated into two major phases. The first phase involved a survey of 2,200 designers/architects located in seven southeastern states, including Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Virginia, Maryland, and District of Columbia. The survey questions targeted experiences associated with the implementation of RwHTS and the use of BIM for designing and constructing facilities over the last decade by the architectural firms. Based on the responses received, six firms were purposively selected for Phase II, which involved a case study approach that included meeting with the designers, conducting interviews, understanding general firm policies for capital projects, identifying factors that result in the adoption of RwHTS, and developing a process-based profile undertaken by the firm to understand how key decisions were made. By the end of this phase the researcher identified the factors that result in the adoption of RwHTS. In addition, the researcher also found that observability did not emerge as an attribute that played a critical role in the adoption of RwHTS, in comparison to the other attributes. The study also found that the current use of BIM did not result in the frequent adoption of RwHTS. Finally, the study was able to produce a generalized process map that depicted the steps undertaken during the design process for the adoption of RwHTS in capital projects. This study encompassed the basic principles of sustainability in the built environment, adoption of innovation, and Building Information Modeling use within the design industry. / Ph. D.

he purpose of this study was to examine faculty perceptions about attributes and barriers impacting diffusion of Web-based distance education (WBDE) at the China Agricultural University (CAU). Random and stratified sampling was used and 273 faculty participated in the study. About 70% of participants stayed in early stages in the innovation-decision process related to WBDE (no knowledge, knowledge, or persuasion) and about 30% were in later stages (decision or implementation). Faculty members' stage differed significantly by professional area, level of education, teaching experience, and distance education experience. Gender, age, and academic rank had no significant influence on faculty members' stage. CAU faculty tended to agree with the existence of the five attributes of WBDE (relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability). Professional area, gender, age, level of education, and academic rank had no significant influence on the five perceived attributes. Teaching experience had no significant influence on the five perceived attributes, except compatibility. Distance education experience had no significant influence on the five perceived attributes, except compatibility and observability. CAU faculty perceived ten factors (concerns about time, concerns about incentives, WBDE program credibility, financial concerns, planning issues, conflict with traditional education, fear of technology, technical expertise, administrative support, and infrastructure) as moderate barriers to diffusion of WBDE. Age, level of education, academic rank, and teaching experience had no significant influence on faculty perception about the ten barriers. Professional area and gender had no significant influence on faculty perception about the ten barriers, except concerns about time. Distance education experience had no significant influence on faculty perception about the ten barriers, except conflict with traditional education. Faculty members' stage in the innovation-decision process had no significant influence on faculty perceptions about relative advantage of WBDE and nine of the ten barriers. Faculty members' stage in the innovation-decision process, however, did have a significant impact on faculty perception about compatibility, complexity, trialability, observability of WBDE, and WBDE program credibility as a perceived barrier. Relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, and trialability were correlated with at least one of the ten barriers. Observability was not related with any of the barriers.

E-payment paradigm in the context of fighting corruption and increasing transparency at the public-sector authority’s level is becoming more important than ever especially for Eastern Europe. The present research will address how an electronic payment system is affecting the diffusion of innovation among online public services, settling the challenges at the government level, providing solutions for diminishing the money laundering in the country and all other associated problems. Diffusion of innovations theory had been investigated by many scholars in different industries and countries. The research implication is to generate general knowledge by fulfilling the literature gap related to electronic payment systems in the public sector and diffusion of innovations. The research aim is to provide (1) an extensive literature review to gain familiarity principally on the diffusion of innovation theory, secondary on government electronic payment systems and cashless societies; (2) collect, explore and analyze empirical evidence related to the perceived attributes of diffusion of innovations theory and the rate of adoption of e-payment system designed for public services from the perspective of consumers, public service providers, and payment operators; (3) answer the research questions by the aid of the diffusion of innovation theory, and measure the rates of adoption of public e-payment systems by using an case study approach, the researchers analyzed the case of Moldova and the Governmental Payment Gateway MPay, one of the initiatives launched by the Public Institution e-Government Center.  The interpretivism research paradigm was adopted for the research, and an exploratory case study methodology is implemented to gain insights, familiarity with the subject, and acquire more knowledge in the concepts and theoretical frameworks that are related to the research problem and question.