Causal Model Analysis of the Adoption Process: An Application of Decision Making Theory and Path Analytic Techniques to a Civil Defense Innovation.
Abstract
The study investigated the causal antecedents of an individual's adoption of public fallout shelter innovations. The basic hypothesis was that action takes place within a situational context and is a result of both that objective situation and the subjective orientation the actor develops toward it. Aspects of the situation investigated were: (1) activity of OCD in the respondent's locale; (2) the beliefs, attitudes and behaviors of the respondent's neighbors related to fallout shelters; and (3) certain of the respondent's own 'fixed' attributes such as age. Orientations investigated included beliefs, attitudes and habit patterns toward civil defense itself, as well as more general orientations such as alienation. In general, little support was found for the hypothesized direct relationship between situational variables and adoption behavior. However, personal attributes and neighborhood norms (both situational variables) indirectly affected adoption through their influence on general and civil defense related orientations. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1972
- Accession Number
- AD0747054
Entities
People
- Gene M. Lutz
- Gerald E. K. Klonglan
- Paul Yarbrough
Organizations
- Iowa State University