Mobile Technology and Smartphone Apps: A Diffusion of Innovations Analysis

Mobile technology and smartphone apps have seen widespread adoption in recent years. Many uses of these technologies are intended for the general public, but some uses are specific to particular domains. These technologies are innovative and worthy of study within specific domains using diffusion of innovations theory. This paper examines the diffusion of these technologies in a unique domain, that of walking the Camino de Santiago, a nearly 500 mile trek in Spain completed by over 100,000 people a year. We use a research model that relates innovation adopter categories with beliefs about characteristics of innovations and then with adoption of innovations. We present results from a survey of past and future walkers of the Camino de Santiago. We conclude that for this domain, the first part of the model is supported but the second part of the model is only partially supported.