A Study On Micro-Mechanism For Technology Innovation Diffusion With Social Capital

Nowadays, with the deepening of world economy integration and knowledge globalization, technology innovation has become a life source of power for countries, regions and firms. But the realization of the value of technology depends on the wide and effective diffusion of technology innovation. Disclosing the rules of innovation diffusion can help firms, regions and countries to improve the effectiveness of high-tech innovation diffusion and their lasting competitive advantages under the dynamic environment. With the increase of mutual dependence and social interaction among enterprises, traditional theory of technology innovation diffusion is insufficient to completely depict the nature of diffusion. An in-depth study of technology innovation diffusion has become an urgent need of both theoretical and practical significance.The micro entity of technology innovation is the enterprise which acts as new technology provider, adaptor or potential user. Reviewing domestic and overseas research literature of this field, it has been found that though the main research trend of technology diffusion has been shifted from collective to individual, from deterministic to stochastic, the micro-mechanism of technology innovation diffusion has not been exposed yet. Furthermore, the traditional theoretical framework of technology innovation diffusion is hard to accommodate the reality under such a dynamic social interactions accompanying the globalization trend. Therefore, it is necessary to study the fundamental rules of technology innovation diffusion, to conduct in-depth analysis of the adoption principals in technology dissemination, and the social interaction processes on a micro level, so as to obtain quantitative perceptions to technology innovation diffusion among enterprises.Accordingly, it is decided to cut into the subject from the micro-mechanism of technology innovation diffusion. Bringing in social capital theories, which depict social interaction rules, this paper studied the micro-mechanism of technology innovation diffusion between firms, covering the following 3 aspects.First, a micro-analysis framework of technology innovation diffusion based on social capital was developed considering the decision principles for adoption of technology innovation by a firm. Taking economic rational and social relation rational as decision principle for firms in adopting technology innovation, starting from the core of social capital theory, social networking, trust and normal, a thorough survey of their influences on firms' adoption of technology innovation was carried out.