ABSTRACT
While studies on innovation diffusion have been increasingly developing from a technological angle, relatively little research has so far looked into the role of non-technological factors. Drawing on the case of gem-quality synthetics within the diamond industry, this chapter elucidates how an innovation’s technological and non-technological context impacts its eventual diffusion in industry, with four phases being specifically identified: inception, inauguration, propagation, and institutionalization. By highlighting how innovations diffuse according to specific interactions between their technological and their non-technological contexts, this chapter signifies how the consideration of non-technological factors can prove vital to a correct understanding of innovation diffusion in industries. In doing so, this chapter contributes to an important yet poorly understood topic in innovation management – that is, how non-technological factors can significantly influence the diffusion of innovations that prove technologically sound.
