The Role of Networks In the Diffusion of Technological Innovation*
研究了20世纪80年代中后期英国制造业中计算机辅助生产管理技术的扩散，发现组织间网络虽帮助潜在采纳者了解新技术，但供应商主导的“最佳实践”信息限制了技术定制和后续扩散。
ABSTRACT This research considers the diffusion of computer‐aided production management (CAPM) technology in the UK manufacturing sector during the mid to late 1980s, focusing on the role of inter‐organizational networks in the diffusion process. Research on innovation diffusion has tended to adopt a ‘pro‐innovation bias’ such that adoption of prescribed best practice technologies is always considered to be the best policy. In the UK, one particular form of CAPM (MRP/MRPII) has been heavily promoted by technology suppliers as best practice. However, the notion of ‘best practice’ de‐emphasizes the importance of decisions about technology design when users attempt to develop firm‐specific solutions. Crucial to these decisions are the inter‐organizational networks through which potential adopters learn about relevant technologies. Using three case companies, where the introduction of CAPM occurred at approximately the same time, decisions regarding adoption, design and subsequent implementation, are explored in order to establish the influence of inter‐organizational networks on the diffusion and subsequent appropriation of CAPM technologies. These cases revealed that potential adopters engaged in a range of inter‐organizational networks through which they learned about new technologies. However, the knowledge diffused through many of these networks was shaped by technology suppliers who were promoting similar ideas about best practice. Thus, while involvement in inter‐organizational networks gave potential adopters access to information about new technology, this information tended to reinforce supplier images of best practice and did not always lead these firms to develop appropriate technological solutions. Problematic relationships between the suppliers of the technology and the users was seen here to limit the redesign and further diffusion of CAPM.