Diffusion of Innovations and the Mass Media and Public Perception Effects

UNIVERSIDAD DE MONTERREY carlos.atoche@udem.edu.mx

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The present study analyzes the mass media and public perception effects on the RFID during its

massive diffusion attempt that happened from 2001 to 2005.

It uses content analysis to explain the effects of the public perception on technology diffusion.

Categories refinements, mass media scope spread and initial findings regarding differences in the

technology diffusion pace at consumer and at consortia level are the contributions for a further

research in this direction.

Abstract

The present study analyzes the mass media and public perception effects on the

RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) technology diffusion studying the major

American and British newspapers during its massive diffusion attempt that

happened from 2001 to 2005.

RFID is a technology that enables the automatic object identification using radio

frequency waves and it has just started its expansion from military and special

applications to the massive usage in the market. It was expected that every good

in the supply chain and sold by any kind of retailer would have embedded or

attached an RFID chip creating the so called “Internet of things”.

The privacy issue emerged as the main concern in the final consumer sector. Initial

surveys and studies from the industry have shown confirmed this trend.

This paper uses content analysis to explain part of the phenomena of the creation

of the public perception about RFID and its impact on technology diffusion,

considering the agenda-setting power of the media. Categories refinements, mass

media scope spread and initial findings regarding differences in the technology

diffusion pace at consumer and at consortia level are the contributions for a further

research in this direction.

Introduction

RFID is a technology that enables the automatic object identification using radio

frequency waves; it has just started its expansion from military and special applications

to the massive usage in the market. It is expected that every good in the supply chain,

and sold by any kind of retailer, will have embedded or attached an RFID chip, creating

the so called “Internet of things”. As a pervasive technology, nobody could know its

presence in his/her goods, and with the possibility of its networked communications with

commercial databases and internet, it can create a “real-time” surveillance world, where

some enabled entities can know where we are, where we were, what we buy, what stuff

are on our bags and so on. The privacy issue has emerged as the main concern from

the consumer sector.

There have been many attempts to develop massive trials of RFID systems at the

consumer levels in the last years, sponsored by large manufacturers and retailers, in

Europe and the U.S., but most of them have received such a strong opposition from

consumers and some NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that all of these trials

were cancelled or postponed. This study analyzes the massive attempt to diffuse the

RFID technology by the Consortia EPC in the period 2001 to 2005.

This study analyzes the effects of the mass media coverage regarding RFID in the

public perception process, and its effects on technology diffusion involving a high

involvement of consumer issues, as privacy.

The paper starts explaining the RFID technology, concepts regarding privacy, and

technology diffusion. Then some research questions are presented, as well as the

applied methodology, and finally I discuss the implications of the mass media coverage

on technology diffusion.

Background

RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification)

RFID is the name given to a technology that enables the automatic object identification

using radio frequency waves.

RFID is an enabling technology that can be used to capture, store and share information

from an object (person, machine, product or container). Its capability degree will depend

on the level of integration with information systems and its quality of response (IBM,

2003). In some scenarios RFID can configure what it is called “the internet of things”,

where the separation of the virtual and real world has been unified thanks to the

integration of RFID-sensors, internet and mobile technologies (Schoenberger, 2002;

Soppera & Burbdridge, 2004).

An RFID system is composed by a “tag” (a chip with a coiled antenna, called

transponder) that transmits radio signals that can be picked up by a “reader”, called

transceiver (EPCGlobal, 2005). Additional elements required for its commercial

application are a standard codification to be stored in the chip and software applications.

Figure 1 shows an integrated RFID-enable system.

Figure 1: An RFID system1

The commercial readers can activate the passive tags in a short range (10 feets), but

there can be stronger readers with a reader capability of 300 feet (Weis, 2003). The

active tags have a maximum range of 3000 feet. This range opens the possibility of

attacks, spoofing, eavesdropping and traffic analysis (Weis, 2003).

The RFID tag is intended to be used at three different tracking levels: pallet (to

identifying transport pallets), case (tracking reusable transport materials) and item level

(disposable smart labels) (Fitzek, 2003).

1 Source: http://rf-id.com/6information/rfid_info_techexplained.htm

Auto-Id Center and its corporate affiliates have developed the EPC standard and its

components (hardware and software). With all these elements they have enabled the

“Internet of Things”, implementing a new environment that is known as Pervasive

Computing.

Kang and Cuff (2005) describes the Internet of Things as Pervasive Computing (PerC):

“PerC is what happens when the Internet get ubiquitous, embedded, and

animated … the physical world will gain digital qualities, such as computer

addressability through unique identification codes”.

Roussos & Moussouri (2004), in their trial project, named “MyGrocery”, defined three

possible future ordinary scenarios, using RFID technology: supermarket scenario, home

scenario and on-the-move scenario2. In all these scenarios RFID has transformed the

normal lifestyle of the world citizen of the future: if every item at the retailer has its own

RFID tag, and the customer purchase is linked with his/her identification, using the

appropriate software and data bases, it is possible to know where that customer is

located just tracking the items purchased, and for doing it all what it is needed is just

RFID readers. And, in a near future, with the PerC, the RFID tags will be simply invisible

to all the subjects; they will be embedded in all the goods.

Consumer Privacy

The FDA approval of the RFID human implants and its usage in Mexico (Swartz, 2005)

indicate that there are already persons that can be traced and it can be established

accurately where they are, and where they have been.

These issues provide possible threats against privacy. This study analyzes if the RFID

technology community has failed in establishing the adequate communication with end-

users about this issue.

The privacy issue is a very important factor in Europe and U.S., which are the largest

markets for RFID in the retailing industry. In U.K. that concept can be traced until 1361.

The UK’s Calcutt Committee defines privacy as “the right of an individual to be protected

against intrusion into his personal life of affairs, or those of his family, by direct physical

2 See Appendix A for a detailed description of each scenario.

means or by publication of information”. Privacy International states that privacy has four

aspects: information privacy, bodily privacy, privacy of communications, and territorial

privacy (Jones et. al., 2004).

About privacy in U.S., Trent (2004) quotes the U.S. Fourth Amendment: “The right of the

people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable

searches and seizures, shall not be violated”. But, since 9/11, with the Patriotic Act, the

President of the U.S. has the power to label an American citizen as “enemy combatant”,

then it is not illegal anymore to trace his/her activities.

Different organizations have developed surveys and focus groups with customers

around privacy issues (Juban & Wyld, 2004; Roussos & Moussouri, 2004; Gunther &

Spiekermann, 2005; FTC, 2005), and almost all of them indicate a negative perception

from the consumer world.

RFID, even not a novel for the technology world, it has a high innovativeness for the

common citizen in the world, and this different perception can be the starting point of the

different perceptions in both worlds (the technology and the consumer worlds).

The social adaptation to new innovations has different evolution pace compared with

the scientific and business one. Rogers (2003) analyzes different cases of slow diffusion

innovation at the consumer level. He suggests the use of the concept of diffusion

networks, and the necessity to restore the social structure in the diffusion analysis

(Rogers, 1976).

The importance of a social approach is also suggested by Pinch & Bijker (1989), in the

process of social construction of the technology. They propose the identification and

analysis of the different social groups that are part of the diffusion network, taking care

of their particular interests, and to try to design a common strategy in order to accelerate

the introduction and evolutionary adaptation of new technologies, and also in a more

socialized way.

Research Questions and Propositions

This paper is related to the influence of the mass media on the consumer perception on

the RFID difussion, specifically about its awareness and privacy. In this sense, as the

research subject is the communication, the paper uses the content analysis method as

suggested by Holsti(1969). Kassarjian (1977), Sayre (1992) and Holbrook (2001)

support this method for the analysis of consumer research; and Roznowski (2003) has

developed previous research of consumer privacy using content analysis.

Content analysis is defined as a research technique for the objective, systematic, and

quantitative description of the manifest content of communication (Holsti, 1969). It is

defined also as a “method for analyzing the content of a variety of data, such as visual

and verbal data. Content Analysis enables the reduction of phenomena or events into

defined categories so as to better analyze and interpret them” (Harwood and Garry,

2003).

The first research question is referred to the consumer awareness. Consultancy

companies have identified an increasing public awareness in US and Europe (O’Connor,

2005; Roberti, 2004), with a higher degree in US. Capgemini (2005) finds a lower

awareness level in UK compared to US. The study tries to identify a positive relationship

between this awareness and the RFID coverage, as propose by the agenda-setting

theory. The first research questions for this study:

Q1: Has the mass media coverage regarding RFID changed in the last years?

Q2: Is there any difference in the mass media coverage between US and UK?

McCombs and Shaw (1972) started the analysis of the agenda-setting function of the

mass media, initially in the politics field, but it can be applied in business issues

changing operational definitions (Carroll and MacCombs, 2003). Agenda setting means

that there exists “a transfer of salience from the media agenda to the public agenda”

(Carroll and MacCombs, 2003).

RFID has presented an increased awareness, even this technology is not still being

applied in the public spheres, and no advertisements have been deployed to explain and

diffuse it. Then, it is proposed that the mass media has been the main customer

awareness vehicle.

Thus, the first proposition is:

P1: There is a positive relationship between the coverage of RFID on the media

and the customer awareness on RFID

Another aspect about customer perception of privacy in RFID is the high level of

rejection or concern that has been identified by the different surveys (Juban & Wyld,

2004; Roussos & Moussouri, 2004; Gunther & Spiekermann, 2005; FTC, 2005).

Capegemini (2005) found in ample surveys a significant public concern about privacy

issues: 65-69% in the US, 68-73% in UK (Capgemini, 2005). Thus, the next research

questions are:

Q3: What are the causes of the creation of negative perception about privacy in RFID in

the customer world?

Q4: How has been created this negative perception about privacy?

RFID is still in its diffusion stage in the market. Diffusion is defined as “the process in

which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the

members of a social system” (Rogers, 2003). Rogers states the necessity to analyze this

process using a social structure approach, suggesting the use of network analysis,

where the communication structure shall be identified and the interpersonal relationship

should be the unit of analysis (Rogers, 1976). Content analysis is based in this

approach, as it analyzes articles (messages) that are the relation between the source

and the target of a communication process.

The importance of the opinion leadership (“the degree to which an individual is able

informally to influence other individual’s attitudes …”) is greater in cases where the

traditions or values are stronger, and the degree of innovativeness of a technology is

greater (Rogers, 2003). This is the case about RFID, as privacy is a traditional and a

social value in these societies (in U.K. this concept can be traced until 1361, Jones et.

al., 2004), and the degree of innovativeness perceived by the common consumer on

RFID is high.

Also, the social network where a technology tries to diffuse affects the evolution of

technological artifacts (Pinch & Bijker, 1989), and it has been demonstrated with the

different successful actions against RFID trials by privacy advocacy organizations

(Okhubo et. al., 2005), where deployment plans had to be postponed or cancelled by

major corporations caused by the interaction of organized social groups.

Pinch & Bijker (1989) suggests the identification of the social groups that participate in

the development process of the evolution of technologies. This study identified the next

social groups:

- Academy: university scholars, scientists

- Technology providers: companies that develop and manufacture RFID related

products and services

- Manufacturers: they are the 1st tier users. Provides goods or services to other

companies in the supply chain

- Retailers or service providers: they are the 2nd tier users. They receive products

or services from the “manufaturers” in order to sell them to end-consumers.

- End consumers

- NGO (non-government organizations): civil associations with particular interests

Among these social groups, the study suggests that the NGO has emerged as opinion

leaders. Thus, the other research questions are:

Q5: Have NGOs had an active participation in the mass media in the period 2001-2005?

Q6: What kind of participation have NGOs had in the period 2001-2005?

Methodology

It is necessary to define some terms, as RFID appreciation, that refers to the awareness

direction (positive or negative) of the consumer respect to RFID. Source of information is

defined as the social group that provides the information published in a newspaper.

Following the concepts developed by Holsti (1969) regarding the unit of analysis in

content analysis, the recording and context unit used in this study is the article itself.

Sampling

This study has limitations in the sampling of the media, it is suggested to ample the

actual coverage for more universal results.

In a similar study regarding privacy, Roznowski (2003) classifies the media as

newspapers, consumer magazines and trade publications. For this study, as our focus

are on the US and UK and the consumer perception, it focuses on the major published

media, limited to the three major newspapers in the US and UK.

The three American newspapers selected were: USA Today (2.2 M/day3), the Wall

Street Journal (2.1M/day), and The New York Times (1.1 M/day). The three UK

newspapers selected were The Sun (3.2M/day), The Daily Mail (2.3 M/day), and The

Times (.7M/day).

The study uses the Dow Jones Interactive Database, accessed through Factiva, to

collect the articles, using the entry “RFID” in the period between 01/01/2001 and

31/12/2005, scope of the analysis. The number of articles found in these media with this

approach is shown in Table 1. The study uses all the population of identified articles.

Newspaper Country # articles

USA Today U.S. 28

Wall Street Journal U.S. 45

The New York Times U.S. 34

The Sun U.K. 1

The Daily Mail U.K. 0

The Times U.K. 17

Table 1. Number of articles using the term “RFID” per newspaper.

During the coding process, a repeated article was found in The New York Times, which

was discarded. The same happened with one article in The Wall Street Journal, also

discarded. The total number of articles analyzed was 123.

Content variables

The articles were collected and printed, the investigator read each one and coded.

There is a bias risk as there was just one coder in the study.

3 M/day= millions of units published daily

The categories selected for this study were classified as:

- General information: the name of the newspaper, the publication date, the type of

media (N:newspaper, M:magazine), the country of origin and the coverage,

measured as # of words;

- The source of the information: even almost all the articles were written by a

reporter, the coder identified who provided the information to the reporter. Where

it was not possible to identify it, the “MD” (media) group was used.

- RFID Issue: it is the main topic in the article. It was coded as “Non RFID” article (it

refers to anything else, but indirectly refers to RFID), “Technology Related”, when

it talks about technical issues, “Consumer related non privacy”, when it talks

about consumer issues but not privacy; and “Consumer related privacy”, when it

talks about consumer and privacy.

- RFID appreciation: a direction category was used, ranging from -3 to +3 (Holsti,

1969)

- Target public: the coder identified the public to which the article seems most

suitable directed. The possible values were: Business world, technology world,

consumer world, other.

- Privacy tone: also, using a direction category, from -3 to +3. The article was read,

all the paragraphs referring privacy were identified, each of these received a

value -1, 0 or +1 and all these values were summed, giving the final value. Values

less than -3 or greater than +3 were considered as -3 or +3 respectively.

- The Source and solution of the privacy concern: the coder selected among

Government, Technology Group, End Consumer, NGO or Not Stated.

- NGO involvement: if some NGO is referred in the article

- NGO appreciation: using a direction category, ranging from -3 to +3.

Reliability

This study lacks of reliability measures as suggested by Harwood & Garry (2003), as it

was coded only by one investigator. For solving this problem further researches should

be coded by a group of independent coders, without knowledge of the investigation,

after their coding training. This way intercoder reliability measures can be calculated,

and the objectivity of the coding could be evaluated. This issue and the bias risk are the

accepted limitations of this study.

Results

The initial findings were identified during the sampling process. Though magazines were

not used in this study, the number of RFID articles in the major magazines were

identified and counted. In the major business-oriented magazines (Businessweek,

Fortune and Forbes) there were 61 articles, and in customer-oriented magazines

(Newsweek, US News and World Report and Times) there were just 16 articles. It can

be suggested that there exists a tendency of RFID articles to be published in the

business and technology world, and in less frequency in the general public media. With

an extended sample, covering the main media for each social group, a detailed analysis

of impact on each social group can be studied.

Research questions 1 and 2

These questions are referred to the evolution of publications referring RFID in the last

years, and if any difference is detected between the US and UK. For analyzing it I used

the Reuter information service, which involves over 8,000 mass media sources, looking

for the term “RFID”.

The presence of RFID in the media has increased in an exponential form since 1995.

Figure 2 provides the number of publications in the different media since 1995 to 20054.

In 1995 there were just 88 publications that referred to RFID, and in 2005 this number

rose to 16125. The reference to the term “privacy” in these articles is also increasing,

from the absence of privacy in 1995-1998 to be covered by 7-13% of all the publications

in 2003-2005.

4 Reference: Factiva, using Reuter information services. Last calculation on 20/01/2006

Table 2. Number of articles per year and per country of origin.

Figure 2. Evolution of articles about RFID and % of them about privacy5

The evolution of the articles on the media sample used in this study (Table 2) shows a

similar behavior to the total media in the world, with a small reduction in 2005 compared

to 2004, but with a steady growth trend considering all the period of analysis.

About the differences found between US and UK about RFID articles, the first

impression when selecting the most published newspapers was that UK has more

newspaper diffusion: the two largest UK newspapers publishes 5.5 Millions per day,

compared with the two largest American newspapers, which publish 4.3 millions per day.

However when comparing the RFID articles in Table 2, UK newspapers had just 18

articles in the last 5 years (The Sun, with 3.2 M/d had just 1, the Daily Mail none article),

5 Sheffi (2004) published a similar table using the same source of data, until February 2004. This table updates the information until 31/12/2005.

Count of Media Year

Country 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Grand Total

UK 7 5 6 18

US 3 8 21 40 33 105

Grand Total 3 8 28 45 39 123

Increase % 167% 250% 61% -13%

1.14%

0.00% 0.00%

1.05%

1.81%

0.51%

1.46%

3.15%

13.81%

10.73%

7.42%

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

18000

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

0.00%

2.00%

4.00%

6.00%

8.00%

10.00%

12.00%

14.00%

16.00%

'# Articles '% referring privacy

compared with the American newspaper, which had 105 articles. Thus American media

is covering in a larger extension this topic than the UK media.

Proposition 1

P1 states that there exists a positive relationship between the RFID awareness and the

media coverage.

In 2004 Capgemini (2005) developed a survey in the US and Europe, and found that

23% of Americans were aware of RFID, and 24% of british. BIGresearch6 is developing

periodical surveys, which are showing and increase awareness among the US

consumers, as shown in Table 3.

September

2004

December

2004

March

2005

June

2005

September

2005

Awareness 28.2 % 35.50 % 40.75% 43.60% 42.40%

Table 3. Public awareness about RFID in US (source BIGresearch)

With the available data it can be stated that the awareness is increasing, perhaps

reaching its natural limit because of limited technology diffusion, as RFID is a technology

that is not massively used yet.

The analysis of the evolution of the RFID articles in the media and in the selected

American newspapers also provides the same positive trend (with an exception of 2005

articles in US). Similar correlation is suggested in the BIGresearch reports. The

information collected supports to P1.

Now, the awareness about RFID can be seen as positive or negative perception.

BIGresearch and Capgemini found a positive perception about the technology, even the

negative perception about privacy.

The results of the content analysis referring to the tone of the articles about RFID are

shown on table 4.

6 See http://www.bigresearch.com/news/big111505.htm

Table 4. RFID awareness tone.

The content analysis gives a very positive influence of the mass media (73.17%) about

RFID. This element indicates that most of the articles have given a positive perception to

the public, and this perception was adopted by them, as suggested by the agenda

setting theory. Further empirical analysis can be developed in order to establish this

causal relation.

Research questions 3, 4, 5 and 6

Questions 3 and 4 refer to the privacy issue, which has been identified as the main

obstacle for the universal diffusion of RFID technology. Trials at the item level had to be

postponed or cancelled (Gillette-Wal-Mart, Gillette-Tesco, Benetton, among other

projects) because privacy advocacy groups intervention. Questions 5 and 6 refer to the

participation of NGOs in this process.

The study found that, even most of the articles were positive about the technology, when

they talked about the privacy issue most of them gave negative information about the

technology, indeed 87% of the negative articles talked about privacy. Table 5 illustrates

these results.

Count of Media Year

RFID appretiation 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Grand Total %

-3 1 1 0.81%

-1 1 6 4 11 8.94%

0 9 4 8 21 17.07%

1 2 1 11 14 13 41 33.33%

2 1 2 4 12 8 27 21.95%

3 5 3 9 5 22 17.89%

Grand Total 3 8 28 45 39 123

Table 5. Privacy tone.

The negative perception in consumers about privacy has been adopted even though

they did not have any encounter with goods using RFID. Thus, the agenda setting of

the mass media is found here again. This can explain how this negative perception

could be created.

In the sample analyzed just 25.2% of the articles were privacy related, and of these

articles 87% of them provided negative information about the privacy issue in RFID, and

it can provide some insights about problems in the consortia7 media coverage when

promoting this technology. The presence of this theme in the sample is much larger than

in the universe of publications (7%8).

Table 6 gives the privacy tones stated by each of the social groups in the articles.

7 I refer to consortia to the group of technologist institutions, RFID suppliers and retailers that plan to use RFID in their processes and products. 8 See Figure 2

Count of Media Year

Privacy Tone 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Grand

Total % Total

%

privacy

treated

-3 2 4 4 10 8.1% 32.3%

-2 2 1 1 4 3.3% 12.9%

-1 6 1 6 13 10.6% 41.9%

0 1 1 2 1.6% 6.5%

1 1 1 0.8% 3.2%

2 1 1 0.8% 3.2%

(blank) 3 7 18 37 27 92 74.8%

Grand Total 3 8 28 45 39 123 100.0% 100.0%

Privacy

Source of Information -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 (blank) Total Coverage

Academia 4 4 0.0%

Government 1 1 4 6 33.3%

Manufacturer (1st consumer) 7 7 0.0%

Media 3 3 7 12 25 52.0%

NGO 2 2 100.0%

Other Consumer community 1 1 3 5 40.0%

Other Technology Community 2 1 1 1 1 25 31 19.4%

Retailer (2nd consumer) 1 1 9 11 18.2%

Technology provider 2 1 1 28 32 12.5%

Grand Total 10 4 13 2 1 1 92 123

Privace Tones

Table 6. Privacy tones by source of information.

The consortia (integrated by the academy, the technology providers and the retailers)

that were built for the universal RFID adoption have given very low coverage to the

privacy issue (0% from the academy, 18% from retailers and only 12.5% from

technology providers).

Even though EPCGlobal (one of these alliances) includes this topic in its diffusion

activities (see http://www.epcglobalinc.org/consumer/index.html ), it seems that its

consumer privacy strategy has not generated the consumer trust as expected. Perhaps

the communication channels were not the most suitable to reach the general public.

The analysis of the privacy issue in the newspapers was developed mainly by the

NGOs, the media and other consumer sources, and all of them gave negative messages

to the public.

How can be compatible that the articles give good awareness about the RFID as

technology but a negative perception when they talk about privacy? The study suggests

that the technology group has concentrated in informing the benefits of the technology,

but has not developed an adequate communication strategy about privacy, and other

groups have done this job.

It could be supposed that the NGOs have deployed a massive communication program

in the newspaper, but it does not have empirical support: it was just identified 1 out of

123 articles promoted by NGOs.

But each time ONGs were consulted by the news reporter, all the articles, even if it

started with a positive perspective about privacy in RFID, was finally giving negative

influence about this issue, becoming their participation more as a passive one than

active (Question 5). In some sense NGOs have assumed the “opinion leader role”. Their

strength in this role has been confirmed with its power to stop every known RFID trial at

the item level. Question 6 is responded in this way.

Question 3 could not be supported in this pilot project, because of the lack of additional

quantitative information required to establish a causality relationship, but it gives enough

information for question 4 about the process of the creation of the perception about

privacy.

Discussion of results

This study identified many elements that can help to understand the diffusion of the

RFID technology using a social perspective.

The increase of the coverage of RFID in the mass media has been identified, and it has

favored the increase of the RFID awareness in a technology that has not arrived to the

market yet. The first effect of the agenda setting of the media could be identified here.

The diffusion network approach in this process was useful for identifying the social

groups, their roles in this process, and it also helped to classify the categories of the

articles. The emergence of an opinion leader (ONGs) could be identified along the study.

Juban & Wyld (2004) identified previously an exclusive focus of the technology group in

business oriented issues (standards, costs, applications), ignoring the consumer

education. The characteristics of this innovation, and the culture and values in the main

markets predicted the importance of the opinion leader role (Rogers, 2003), which was

not assumed by the consortia that promote the RFID adoption. To recover this role can

be a long and difficult process, as they lost the first mover advantage.

Conclusions

This study analyzed the tendencies of the sampled mass media, and it identified similar

behavior in the public perception, suggesting the effect of the agenda setting. The strong

presence of concerns about privacy in the RFID applications is another case of agenda

setting identified in the study.

The influence of the opinion leader was also found in the study, and even using indirect

communication channels it seems that it was effective in the creation of a negative trend

about privacy in the RFID implementation.

The academia has not been effective in its communication attempts about privacy, but

yes regarding the technology promotion. It is required the development of a strong

communication strategy if they pretend the acceptance of RFID among the end

consumers.

The RFID case shows that there are two different paces in the technology diffusion

process: at the consortia level and at the final consumer level. The consortia efforts to

speed the technology diffusion among scientists, technology suppliers, and users in the

supply chain was quite successful, RFID was technically feasible to use in business

applications in just some years since its emergence as a technical solution. But the

technology diffusion at the final consumer requires a slower pace (as Rogers identified

in agricultural technology diffusion), and coordination mechanisms between both worlds

should be developed in order to diffuse a new technology.

Limitations and further research

The results and findings of this study should be considered as preliminary ones, and

they can not be generalized. For generalization purposes it is required the analysis of

relevant media directed to every social group that interact in the diffusion network and in

the adoption process.

With a larger sample of mass media coverage it will be possible to obtain interesting

findings about the interaction of the different social groups, the structure of the diffusion

network and the communication channels that interacts among them. Also it will allow

the inter-groups comparisons, as the differences between the communication

approaches in each of the mass media used by each group.

A revision of the operationalization of variables and a deeper analysis of the categories

are required in order to provide better levels of validation in further research. Standard

quantification rules can be applied, in order to develop useful statistics around the

communication process.

References

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http://www.capgemini.com/news/2005/Capgemini_European_RFID_report.pdf

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http://archive.epcglobalinc.org/aboutthetech_indepthlook.asp Accessed Dec. 10th

2005.

Fitzek, Daniel. 2003. Application of RFID in the grocery supply chain: universal solution

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Appendix A

MyGrocer Scenarios (Roussos & Moussouri, 2004)