The Emergence of The Relationship Economy

The New Order of Things to Come

The Bell Curve Meets the S-Curve:

The speed of change in learning
environments
 Which curve are you?

• Educators traditionally
understand the bell-curve
• Innovators (and those who
follow them) talk more about the
S-curve
Bell Curve
S-curve
 Acceptance of Innovations

Depends on whether you are a(n)

• innovator
• early adopter
• early majority
• late majority
• laggard
 Innovators: Venturesome
• Social networks outside the community
• Control of substantial financial resources
– Help absorb possible losses
• Able to understand and apply complex
technical knowledge
• Able to cope with a high degree of
uncertainty
• Desire for rash, daring, risky
• Willing to accept occasional setback
• Plays gatekeeper for new information flow
 Early adopters: Respect
• Social network is locally concentrated
• Highest degree of opinion leadership
• Generally sought out by change agents
• Respected by peers, embody success
• Makes judicious innovation decisions
• Shares subjective evaluation
 Early majority: Deliberate

• Interact frequently with peers

• Seldom in position of opinion leadership
• May deliberate before adopting
 Late majority: Skeptical

• Adoption may be
– Economic necessity
– Result of peer pressure
• Don’t adopt until others have
• Relatively scarce resources
• Uncertainty must be removed
 Laggards: Traditional

• Near isolates in their social networks

• Past is point of reference
• Suspicious of innovations and change
agents
• See resistance as rational
 Socioeconomic differentiators

• Earlier adopters have more formal education

• Earlier adopters have higher social status
• Earlier adopters have more upward mobility
• Earlier adopters are part of larger organizations
 Personality distinguishers

• Earlier adopters have more empathy

• Earlier adopters are less dogmatic
• Earlier adopters handle distractions better
• Earlier adopters have greater rationality
• Earlier adopters have more intelligence
• Earlier adopters are better able to cope
with uncertainty and risk
• Earlier adopters are less fatalistic
• Earlier adopters have higher aspirations
 Communication behavior
• Earlier adopters have more social
participation
• Earlier adopters are more highly
interconnected in their networks
• Earlier adopters have more connection
outside their main network
• Earlier adopters have greater exposure to
mass media and interpersonal
communication channels
• Earlier adopters have a higher degree of
opinion leadership
 Where are you?
• Innovators (2.5%)
– Venturesome
• Early adopters (13.5%)
– Respect
• Early majority (34%)
– Deliberate
• Late majority (34&)
– Skeptical
• Laggards (16%)
– Traditional
 Caveats

• The S-curve is innovation-specific

• The S-curve describes only
innovations that are successful
(many are not).
• The S-curve is not inevitable.
 References

• Rogers, Everett M. (2003). Diffusion of

Innovations (5th Ed.). New York: Free
Press.
The Emergence of The Relationship Economy
The New Order of Things to Come

The Bell Curve Meets the S-Curve:

The speed of change in learning
environments