the life cycle performance of sustainable renovation concepts

a system in which members of a social system are classified based upon their willingnessto accept innovative concepts.This principal is defined as thedifferences in the time thatindividuals within a socialsystem require to acceptinnovative concepts. Figure 11depicts the classification ofRogers between groups in asocial system and the timethey need to acceptinnovations. Innovators areadventurous people that areinterested in the newesttechnological possibilities. Theearly adopters are people thatare almost as willing as theinnovators to acceptFIGURE 11-TIME UNTIL ACCEPTANCE OF INNOVATION (ROGERS, 2003)innovations. However, the early adopters have a business interest in accepting theinnovation. The early majority is a group where the modal members of a social grouptake place. The late majority will accept an innovative concept if people from the earlymajority have already accepted the innovation. The laggards are the group members thataccept the innovations lastly (Rogers, 2003).Next to the classification on characteristics of groups of customers, Rogers (2003) alsorecognizes five characteristics of innovations that play a role at the adoption ofinnovations. These intrinsic characteristics of innovations that influence an individual‟sdecision to adopt or reject an innovation are (Rogers, 2003):- Relative advantageThe relative advantage is the perceived improvement of the innovation over existingsolutions in terms of economic or technical benefits or other advantage-producingperspective. The most important advantage is the perception of personal advantage.- CompatibilityThe compatibility is a measure of the suitability of the innovation to its use, both in atechnical and a social sense. Technical compatibility reflects the appropriateness of aninnovation to its intended technical system. Social compatibility reflects the suitabilityof the innovation and its use to the potential adopter‟s use process and values.- ComplexityThe complexity of an innovation reflects the degree to which the innovation is difficultand complicated to understand or use. Innovations that are easy to understand aremore likely to be adopted.- TrialabilityThe trialability refers to the extent to which adopters can experience, try or perceivethe innovation before making the commitment to adopt. A high trial ability reducesrisk perception and thereby increases the rate of adoption.- ObservabilityThe observability of an innovation refers to the transparency of the advantages of theinnovation to potential adopters. Observability also relates to the degree to which thebenefits can be communicated to others.Another factor that can be advantageous for the adoption of an innovation is the networkeffect or network externalities (Liebowitz & Margolis, 1997). The network effect refers tothe effect that one user of a good or service has on the value of that product to otherpeople. In case of a positive network effect, the value of a product or service increases asmore people use it. A classic example of a positive network effect is the telephone. Themore people own telephones, the more valuable the telephone is to each owner. In case22