Diffusion of innovation in the public sector: Twitter adoption by municipal police departments in the U.S.

Abstract

While the literature on the diffusion of innovations has a long and rich legacy, there are few empirical studies on the diffusion of technological innovations across public sector organizations. In order to keep pace with the demands of growing urban populations, such organizations must constantly innovate technology, policy and practice. With local governments increasingly forced to deliver services more efficiently, it is important to question which factors foster innovation among local government organizations. Integrating Twitter adoption data across American municipal police departments serving populations over 100,000, we find weak support for the effect of organizational size and local demand, but find evidence of regional effects on the earliness of innovation adoption. Potential avenues for future research are presented on public sector innovation.