ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors describe some contact points between research on innovation diffusion and processes of social influence, and theoretical model of influence can help to understand the impact of social interactions on innovative behaviours. They will report an empirical study carried out in Italian compulsory schools, in which they examined whether teachers, potential adopters of a new didactical tool, are affected by the interaction with a source promoting the innovation. Integrating experimentally based models of social influence into the framework of innovation diffusion studies might help an understanding of the ways in which communication processes actually shape innovative behaviours and attitudes. As in all innovative contexts, the decision-making process that a teacher has to go through when confronted with a learning innovation 'is essentially an information-seeking and information-processing activity in which an individual is motivated to reduce the uncertainty about the advantages and disadvantages of an innovation'.
