Identifying the optimal initial adopters and adoption paths of the internet-based intangible network goods

Abstract

Purpose

Internet-based intangible network good (IING) has undergone rapid developments, even revolutionized multiple industries in recent years. IING is highly dependent on the rapid diffusion rates for development success. For firms, how to select the initial targets or “seeding points” to accelerate the adoption process is critical in network marketing campaigns. The purpose of this study is to provide a new method to identify the optimal initial adopters and adoption paths.

Design/methodology/approach

First, the author generalize three aspects influencing IING’s adoption, namely, innovation attributes, customer’s personality and word-of-mouth. Next, we establish a modified gravity model to describe how social interactions affect consumer’s adoption behavior. Then, simulate the adoption process by setting each agent as the initial adopter to identify the optimal initial adopters. Finally, trace the information flow to forecast the adoption paths.

Findings

The model reveals how individual interactions (micro level) aggregate into the diffusion process (macro level). The optimal initial adopters are determined by a combination of factors as follows: IING’s attributes, the adopter’s diffusion ability, the potential-adopter’s personality and the trust degree between adopters and potential-adopters. Among all these factors, trust degree plays a most important role.

Originality/value

This study proposes the conceptual model of IING’s adoption from a perspective of dyadic influence, in which an adopter’s influence on its peers depends on pairwise characteristics of both parties. The authors propose a new method to identify the optimal initial adopters and adoption paths based on the gravity model. It is the first time to introduce the gravity model to describe IING’s adoption, which is a creative application of social physics. The findings provide new insights in IING’s adoption and identifying the key nodes in networks.

Citation

Wang, L. and Zhang, Q. (2020), "Identifying the optimal initial adopters and adoption paths of the internet-based intangible network goods", Kybernetes, Vol. 49 No. 3, pp. 681-706. https://doi.org/10.1108/K-10-2018-0566