Assimilating New Technology into the Organization: An Assessment of McFarlan and McKenney’s Model

Abstract

Innovation is considered to be an important quality in many successful organizations. The nature of the innovation adaptation process within the organization, however, is not well understood. This article examines the efficacy of McFarlan and McKenney’s diffusion model as a descriptor of actual behavior. Specifically, the responses of 412 companies were examined with respect to the integration of personal computers into their organizations. The results imply that McFarlan and McKenney’s model provides, at least in general, an explanation of technological diffusion.