The life cycle of an innovation: adoption versus discontinuation of the fluoride mouth rinse program in schools.

Reasons for adoption and for discontinuation of a dental caries prevention innovation (the fluoride mouth rinse program) are examined by using recent theory on decision processes within organizations. Greer's (1977) analysis of three theoretical approaches for the study of innovation adoption--classical, organizational, and political--are used as an organizing framework to analyze these two parts of an overall life cycle for innovations. The results from both descriptive and multivariate analyses support the relevance of "political" and "classical" diffusion models for both adoption and discontinuation. Organizational structure variables--e.g., demographic indicators, administrative structures, and financial measures--show little explanatory strength for either outcome. Both outcomes seem to be dominated by "political" influences from strong interpersonal communications rather than by formal decision-making processes. The results suggest that political contingency theories may explain the processes by which organizations adopt and discontinue innovations, whereas classical diffusion theory explains the content of these processes.