TY - JOUR
T1 - Policy Innovation Adoption Across the Diffusion Life Course
AU - Mallinson, Daniel J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Policy Studies Organization
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - This study develops and tests a theory of the diffusion life course using a dataset of 566 policies adopted between 1960 and 2016. Previous small-N studies found differences between leaders and laggards, but broader innovation theory points to five stages of adoption: innovation, early adoption, early majority, late majority, and laggard. This study demonstrates that predictors of policy adoption change throughout the diffusion life course. Neighbor adoptions matter early in the life course but are supplanted by the consistent effect of ideological learning across all stages. The results confirm that less professionalized states tend to adopt later. Finally, state wealth and population size are increasingly important as policies spread. These results have implications for our understanding of when and why states adopt policy innovations. They also illustrate the substantial opportunity for political science and public policy researchers to draw from broader theories.
AB - This study develops and tests a theory of the diffusion life course using a dataset of 566 policies adopted between 1960 and 2016. Previous small-N studies found differences between leaders and laggards, but broader innovation theory points to five stages of adoption: innovation, early adoption, early majority, late majority, and laggard. This study demonstrates that predictors of policy adoption change throughout the diffusion life course. Neighbor adoptions matter early in the life course but are supplanted by the consistent effect of ideological learning across all stages. The results confirm that less professionalized states tend to adopt later. Finally, state wealth and population size are increasingly important as policies spread. These results have implications for our understanding of when and why states adopt policy innovations. They also illustrate the substantial opportunity for political science and public policy researchers to draw from broader theories.
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U2 - 10.1111/psj.12406
DO - 10.1111/psj.12406
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85087658805
JO - Policy Studies Journal
JF - Policy Studies Journal
SN - 0190-292X
ER -