TECHNICAL VERSUS ADMINISTRATIVE RATES OF ORGANIZATIONAL INNOVATION: A STUDY OF "ORGANIZATIONAL LAG"

This study examines the relationship between the rate of adoption of technical and administrative innovations and explores the effects of the rate of adoption on organizational performance. The concept and proposition of "organizational lag" which postulates a discrepancy between the rate of adoption of technical and administrative innovations is operationalized and tested. It is further hypothesized that organizational lag is inversely related to organizational performance. Using the socio-technical system framework to explain the relationship between administrative and technical innovations, administrative innovations are defined in relation to the "social system" of an organization, while technical innovations are assumed to affect the "technical system." Organizational performance is considered to be a function of the joint operation of both systems. To test the hypotheses, the implementation of innovations in public libraries from 1970 to 1982 was assessed. A questionnaire was mailed to 158 public libraries in six Northeastern states serving a population of 50,000 or more. Information was requested on the kinds of innovations implemented by libraries, and respondents were asked to rate the effectiveness of each of those innovations. Information was also collected on the organizational structure and performance of each library. Eighty-five libraries returned usable questionnaires which were the subject of analysis. The organizational lag hypothesis was supported by the survey data. It was found that libraries, on the average, implement more technical innovations than administrative ones, and that the positive correlation between the rate of adoption of administrative and technical innovations is higher in high performance libraries than in low performance ones. It was further found that organizational lag has a direct relationship to organizational size, and is greater in low performance libraries than in high performance ones. Organizational innovation, however, did not show a significant impact on an efficiency measure of organizational performance. The analysis showed, contrary to the present managerial perceptions, that changes in the social system might have a greater impact on the total organizational system and would prepare it for the introduction of appropriate technical changes.