Characteristics of innovators in the building market

Abstract

This research report studies the perception of actors in an industrial market of an innovative product class. Actors are classified according to a new definition of innovativeness, end opinion leadership. The characteristic differences between the most innovative, and the highest opinion leaders, and the rest of the population are d e n ed. This approach has been used to investigate diffusion of new products in consumer markets, but has not been specifically applied to industrial markets. The vehicle chosen for the study was a perception questionnaire returned by individuals involved in the purchase of housing contracts. Some evidence was found of an informal communication network in this system, which is necessary for the process of diffusion. Univariate comparisons are made ->f a number of characteristic differences between innovators, and opinion leaders, and the rest of the population. These have been found to have a number of similarities to those found in consumer markets, and some clues are found as to the specific influences on innovation in this market. It is tentatively concluded that the diffusion p-ocess has some validity in this market This approach is limited in that it reports on the perceptions of individuals, and has no link to overt behaviour. It still has to be shown that these results will have influence on the purchasing decisions of the organisation. In addition, the specific market examined has a number of important differences to many industrial markets, and these result may not be duplicated.