Applying Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation theory to the acceptance of online databases at University Zone of Iran

• Published in: Malaysian journal of library & information science Vol. 18; no. 3; pp. 25 - 38
• Main Authors: Nazari, F, Khosravi, F, Babalhavaeji, F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kuala Lumpur University of Malaya 01.01.2013
• Subjects: Academic libraries; Diffusion of innovations; Faculty; Online data bases; Technology adoption; Iran
• ISSN: 1394-6234

Nazari, F., Khosravi, F., & Babalhavaeji, F. (2013). Applying Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation theory to the acceptance of online databases at University Zone of Iran. Malaysian Journal of Library & Information Science, Vol.18, no. 3: 25-38. The introduction of online access to electronic reference materials has changed the forms of information services provided by libraries for their users However, although electronic information sources are collected on a large scale by academic libraries, they are not used in the same scale. The main objective of this study is to find out the factors that affect the adoption and use of online databases. Rogers’ diffusion theory was used to evaluate the effect of perceived innovation attributes of the online databases on the rate of adoption. The survey instrument was distributed to 351 faculty members from the 8th Zone of Islamic Azad University (IAU) in Tehra. This study confirms that the respondents perceived the relative advantage (Correlation Value 0.64), compatibility (Correlation Value 0.65), complexity (Correlation Value -0.57), trialability (Correlation Value 0.31), and observability (Correlation Value 0.53), all are related to adoption and use of online databases. The findings of the present study indicated that 49.28 percent of faculty members were early majority and over 60 percent of the faculty members accepted and used online databases, indicating the acceptance rate is average (3.67).