The technology adoption S-curve identifies seven phases in the adoption process:
- Contact
- Awareness
- Understanding
- Trial Use/Training
- Adoption
- Institutionalisation
- Internalisation
The assimilation gap is the gap between acquisition (the objective) and deployment (the reality).
In practice, it is not uncommon to find that the first time that users have any engagement in a deployment project is when they attend a training course – we’re putting this new system in and you’re on the training course tomorrow! If this is the case, then the basic steps in the adoption process have been by-passed, and user adoption will fall short of the project goals. The outcome is therefore defined by an assimilation gap. Ensuring that users are properly engaged by making them aware of the project and helping them understand the project objectives, will provide a better basis for getting user buy-in and minimising the assimilation gap.
Robert G. Fichman, Chris F. Kemerer, “The Illusory Diffusion of Innovation : An Examination Of Assimilation Gaps”, Working Paper Series No.746, Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh, November 1995.
