Illusive effects on the diffusion of an innovation: A comment

In their recent analysis of the effect of information sources and communication channels on the diffusion of innovation in data base development. Nilakanta and Scamell find ‘a distinctive pattern of diffusion for both requirements analysis and logical data base design tools,’ which leads them to conclude that their results ‘contribute to an understanding of the implications of the relationship between communication and technical process innovation at both the individual and organizational level’. The present examination of their results suggests that the effects found by Nilakanta and Scamell may well be in large part illusive, and that misunderstanding, more than understanding, of the implications follows.