ABSTRACT
Perspectives on innovation diffusion, drawn from the technological change literature, guide this investigation of the spread of business gaming software within the UK. Data from UK surveys and from secondary sources illustrate the overall diffusion of gaming software and its diffusion within and between academic and business organizations. Diffusion levels and rates in academia are estimated to be in excess of those for business. The UK diffusion processes are comparable with those in the USA. Factors contributing to the growth in business gaming are explored, along with determinants of organizational adoption including organization type, organization size and the presence of an innovation ‘champion’. The analysis highlights aspects underlying the diffusion processes including the microcomputer's impact and the importance of in-house developed software.
In this chapter a technology innovation and diffusion perspective is used to view the historical and ongoing processes associated with the spread of a novel educational process. The chapter focuses on the diffusion of business gaming software throughout UK academia and business. Such software has been around for nearly 30 years since its first use in the USA and, therefore, offers the relatively unusual opportunity to study some long lived diffusion processes involving educational software.
