Seeing the Bigger Picture : institutions, end-users and the diffusion of HDTV in the Netherlands

Abstract

Seeing the Bigger Picture examines the diffusion process of high definition television in the Netherlands between 2006 and 2010. By combining research traditions of institutional decision-making and end-user adoption in a multi-method empirical approach, this study answers the question how processes on institutional commercialization and end-user adoption are related to each other. The diffusion process of HDTV in the Netherlands, but also of new media technologies in general, should not be understood as a linear process, but as a dynamic process of constant negotiation, in which the decisions of institutions and end-users are influenced by a great number of external factors as well as the expectations of each others’ actions. This study forms a valuable step in closing a gap in academic diffusion research, in which institutions and end-users are often researched separately