Innovation characteristics and innovation adoption-implementation: A meta-analysis of findings

A review and meta-analysis was performed of seventy-five articles concerned with innovation characteristics and their relationship to innovation adoption and implementation. One part of the analysis consisted of constructing a methodological profile of the existing studies, and contrasting this with a hypothetical optimal approach. A second part of the study employed meta-analytic statistical techniques to assess the generality and consistency of existing empirical findings. Three innovation characteristics (compatibility, relative advantage, and complexity) had the most consistent significant relationships to innovation adoption. Suggestions for future research in the area were made.