Factors and Attributes Affecting the Adoption of Digital Media Technologies by Public Relations Practitioners in Kuwait

Abstract

This exploratory study examined the attitudes and factors influencing the decision to adopt new digital media technologies by public relations practitioners in Kuwait. Kuwait’s public relations practitioners were found in the past to be slow in adopting digital media technologies. Yet, Kuwait now ranks among the highest in the region in terms of new digital media consumers. In a recent Kuwait public relations conference, scholars addressed that the field needs to benefit more from adopting digital technologies. Hence, there is a lag in adopting communication technologies when compared with Western societies. The diffusion of innovation was the theoretical framework of this study. Therefore, the study examined the association of Rogers’s attributes of innovation with the decision to adopt new digital media technologies by public relations practitioners in Kuwait. In addition, the researcher examined how public relations practitioners differently perceive these five attributes of innovation based on gender and organization sector. This dissertation implemented a mixed-method approach, using qualitative and quantitative methods. The researcher in-depth interviewed (N = 14) public relations practitioners working in Kuwait and surveyed (N = 147) others. In-depth interviews provided an explanation of each of Rogers’s attributes of innovation. Interviewees mentioned the features of each of these attributes that influence their decision to adopt new digital media technologies. The descriptive results of the survey showed that only 1% of survey respondents had not adopted a new digital media technology for public relations practices. In addition, respondents identified Instagram as the most beneficial new digital media technology for public relations in Kuwait. Inferential statistics of the survey presented one significant finding in that public relations practitioners in private sector organizations were more influenced by the trialability attribute of innovation than public relations practitioners in public sector organizations. The main implications were that technology producers would benefit from the attributes of innovation features to encourage public relations practitioners to adopt their technologies. Adopting these technologies would improve women’s public relations practices. Last, adopting digital media technologies would reduce public relations costs.