Term Paper on "Adoption as Well as Diffusion of Enum"

Term Paper 15 pages (4795 words) Sources: 15

[EXCERPT] . . . .

adoption as well as diffusion of ENUM technology, a technological innovation at the center stage of the "one number for all." This is done via a comparative study of ENUM trials in various countries. The rate of adoption of the technology by end users is done using both the theory of reasoned action and diffusion of innovation (Kautz and Pries-Heje, 1995).In this paper; we present a strategic approach for the adoption process as well as the diffusion of the ENUM technology. In this paper, we discuss the concept of diffusion of innovation in relation to the concept of "one number for all," a technological innovation that is a global scheme to simplify communication by giving everyone a single contact number, through which they could be reached by telephone, e-mail, fax, or any other clever technology still to be invented. In a word, the solution is ENUM, or e-numbers. Proponents say that we should all be given a single 11-digit number which would make us all eminently easier to reach. The telecommunications industry believes that technology can be developed to direct messages to phones, faxes and e-mails using just one number. Individuals could customize the system, diverting callers to faxes or e-mails, or allowing only specified callers to contact them on their personal phone. The target audience of this innovation is appropriately described as well as the planned outcome of the innovation. The concept is illustrated using the concepts from Rogers (2003).

Introduction

"One number for all," is a technological innovation that is a global scheme to simplify communication by giving everyone a single contact number, through which they could be reached by telephone, e-mail, and fax. It is based on ENUM technology. ENUM is a protocol that was developed within the mandate of Internet Engineering Task Force (Faltstrom & Mealling,2004).The ENUM system is the Domain Name Service DNS (TMDENTON, 2003).When a user registers their telephone contacts in an ENUM-based system, the basic features of the DNS are made transferable to the process of managing the telephone numbers. In a nutshell, all the integral features of the conventional telephone numbering system are seamlessly migrated to a new technological platform through subscribing to ENUM-based services.

How ENUM works: An overview:

The process of making telephone numbers ENUM-enabled involves transmuting them into domain names. The domain name rules, characteristics as well as features would apply in this system. An individual seeking to contact another individual on the ENUM platform would generate an enquiry that is routed through various computers called nameservers and then to the information of the customer. On the way to the final destination, the inquiry is conveniently guided by other nameservers that are relevant to the query. This happens until the record of the customer is reached on the ENUM-based database. It is worth noting that if the customer does not enable their records for ENUM queries, then the nameserver issues a null reply meaning the record is shown not to exist on the server.

The target audience

The target audiences of ENUM are Telecommunication companies (TELCOs), governments and individual users. It is to be made up of individuals who are mainly busy and therefore need a seamless platform for the convergence of all their communication needs on a single platform.

The planned change or outcome that is expected

ENUM is expected to change the way, people communicate across the world. It will result in the adoption of a system of communication that uses one number for everything. One therefore would be able to use one number anywhere they go. This is regardless of their geographical, location since it is based on the internet backbone. The advantage of this nis increased efficiency and response as well as a reduction in operational costs.

Theoretical Model

The process by which a social system adopts an innovation can be conceptualized as a series of steps in which individual members of the society become aware of the innovation, develops an attitude towards the innovation, makes a conscious decision to either adopt or reject the innovation, utilize it and thereby reinforce the decision to adopt the innovation (Rogers,1995). The innovation or idea should basically be absolutely new or be objective. ENUM is a technological innovation that can be considered to be both hardware and software based. Everett Rogers is credited with the formulation of the initial treaties of the theory of diffusion of innovation (Rogers,1995). Several other studies have employed the model that was theorized by Rogers in the prediction of how technological innovations would be diffused through the general society. Adoption was defined by Rodgers (1995) as the decision that an individual or an organization makes in order to full make use of a give innovation as the available best course of action (p.21).

Currently, most of the technological innovations theory research are clustered in the domain of the adoption of improved information and telecommunication technologies such as cable television as pointed out by Collins, Reagan, & Abel (1983),emails (Bohr & Mason,2006), informatics (Trelease,2006) and cell phones as pointed out by Leung & Wei (1999).Rogers (1995) pointed out that the decision to fully adopt or even totally reject a given innovation is the subject of multiple factors. The factors can be arranged in four main groups/categories as pointed out by (Leung & Wei, 1999). These are;

1. Personality traits that are related to the adopter

2. Socioeconomic factors and influences

3. Interpersonal channels as well as the usage of mass media

4. The perceived attributes of the given innovation

Some of these factors (personality traits that are related to the adopter, socioeconomic factors and influences and Interpersonal channels as well as the usage of mass media) have been shown to be very active in technological innovation researches that include internet as pointed out by Atkins (1993). The four one (the perceived attributes of the given innovation) however, has never been granted a lot of attention as indicated by the work of Vishwanath & Goldhaber (2003). Rogers (1995) pointed out that the perceived attributes of a given innovation are very influencial in the process of making the adoption decision. He explained that this accounted for between 49-87% of the variance in the innovation's rate of adoption (Rogers,1995). These perceived attributes are made up an individual's perceptions that are subjective as well as their beliefs on the given innovation. The work of Rogers placed emphasis on both personal and subjective beliefs that are compared and contrasted against expert opinions. This is regardless of the accuracy of these perceptions as pointed out by Vishwanath & Goldhaber (2003)The more positive a person's perception is regarding a given innovation, the higher the chances of its subsequent adoption. The work of Rogers (1995) indicated that there are five main characteristics of a particular innovation that greatly influences the attitudes of the consumers. These include relative advantage, complexity, compatibility, trialability and observability.As for the context of Information Technology (IT), Moore and Benbasat (1991) came up with five factors that have an impact on the adoption of innovation's theory that was earlier on advanced by Roger (1995). They ended up coming up with eight factors which are relative advantage, image, voluntariness, ease of usage, visibility, demonstrability of the results as well as trialability.Their study validated the scales that were used in operationalizing these factors (Moore & Benbasat, 1991). Research however indicates that in IT related innovation such as ENUM, the main factors that are influential in the adoption of the innovation are technical compatibility, the perceived need (relative advantage) and technical complexity. Bradford & Florin (2003) pointed out that these are very important antecedents to the process of adopting various other innovations. The adoption of ENUM technology in the telecommunication arena can be explained using other models suitable for IT based innovations. The user adoption of technology can be presented using the technology acceptance model (TAM)

Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) and technology acceptance model (TAM)

Technology acceptance model (TAM) was first developed by (1989) in an effort of explaining the behavior of computer usage. The model has theoretical backing of Fishbein and Ajzen's theory of reasoned action (TRA) as pointed out by Vieru (2000). The theory posits that the level of usefulness of an innovation that is perceived as well as the perceive ease of its usage are the determinant of the person's intention to engage the utility of the system as pointed out by Davis (1989). The adopters of the ENUM technology must therefore perceive both its usefulness and the ease of using it. The proponents of the TAM model suggest the acceptance of the end-users is an integral element of adopting and IT based innovation (Davis,1989). Dillon & Morris

(1996) defined user acceptance as the willingness within a given group to utilize IT for the various tasks for which it should support (p.5). Diffusion of innovation (DoI) theory presents a stable foundation suitable for developing credible conceptual models to be used for the assessment of the impact of ENUM technology amongst the users over a period of time.… READ MORE

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