The influence of perceived innovation attributes on the adoption of outdoor adventure leadership degree programs by American colleges and universities

This dissertation examines the innovation attributes of Outdoor Adventure Leadership (OL) degree programs in higher education and how they fit into the theoretical framework of perceived innovation attributes established by Rogers (1983). It also determines the importance of those attributes in influencing the rapid increase in the number of OL degree programs in American colleges and universities since 1988. An OL degree program is an educational innovation that has diffused and evolved from the Outward Bound program The theoretical framework guiding this research is based on Rogers' (1983) classification system of perceived innovation attributes. Rogers identified five categories of perceived innovation attributes based on a meta-analysis of thousands of innovation studies. These categories are relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability.; Previous research on the relationship between innovation attributes and innovation adoption indicates that 49 to 87 percent of the variance can be explained by these five categories (Rogers, 1983). Yet, only one percent of all diffusion research studies have been devoted to developing a greater understanding of the perception of innovation attributes (Rogers, 1995). Innovation diffusion research within higher education is sparse with the exclusion of studies regarding innovations in instructional technology. Specific studies regarding the adoption of degree programs in higher education is non-existent.; This investigation expands upon the scope of research about perceived innovation attributes by focusing on programmatic innovations rather than technical innovations in a new setting-higher education. The perceived innovation attributes of OL degree programs were determined through an interview process with an expert panel of key leaders from OL degree programs. A survey instrument was developed using the perceived attributes that emerged through the expert interviews and by modifying items from existing instruments. The survey instrument was designed to elicit the relative importance of the perceived innovation attributes in influencing degree program adoption. The survey instrument was sent to all OL degree programs (n = 35) that have been adopted since 1988. To determine if the five perceived innovation attribute (PIA) categories originally developed by Roger (1983) encompassed the attributes of an OL degree program innovation in higher education, reliability analysis was conducted on the items within each perceived innovation attribute (PIA) category in the survey instrument. The relative importance of each of the PIA categories on OL degree program adoption was determined by rank ordering the mean importance scores for each PIA category.; Results indicated that the common innovation attributes of OL degree programs included attributes that fit into the PIA categories developed by Rogers (1983); however, additional attributes were also present. The new attributes that emerged were leadership, location, and affiliation. In terms of relative importance in influencing program adoption, leadership was the most important followed by compatibility, complexity, and location. Trialability and observability were found to be moderately important. Relative advantage and affiliation were considered to be the least important. The practical implications of these findings are that the perceptions of an innovation attributes are important in influencing the adoption of program innovation in higher education; however, the most important factor is leadership. Those interested in program innovation and change in higher education may need to focus on finding a strong leader to help in the process.