The Influence of Peer Network, Change Agents and Organization Characteristics in the Adoption of e-Journal Publishing

The paper examines the importance of peer network, change agents and organization characteristics in the adoption rate of e-journal publishing based upon responses from Malaysian journal editors. The sample comprises of 150 Malaysian journal editors who responded to a questionnaire distributed at a journal editor's conference. Analysis was based on 82 usable responses. Findings show that journal editors perceive a certain degree of influence from peer network but perceive a less degree of influence from change agents. Both peer network and change agents are not significant contributors to adoption rate of e-journals, however all the three organization variables: journal's age, publication size and editorial experience are significant contributors. We discuss the results and implication of the findings. e-journal publishing, owing to the realities that the technologies associated with their use require new roles, routines, values, attitudes and patterns of behavior (4)-(7). These challenges bear upon the time taken and decision making in the adoption of e-journal publishing, and this was being reported in developing countries such as Malaysia, where the number of e-journals was small compared to print journals. One of the problems is that most scholarly journals in Malaysia are produced by not-for-profit organizations, academic institutions and professional societies with little concern for capital and returns (10)-(14). Therefore accepting new technologies may be marred by uncertainties and risk as diffusion of new idea is a process of social change by which the structure and functions of a social system unit With studies showing that the rate of adoption of technologies channeled through the Internet are moving faster than other media and the view that Internet usage in Malaysia is estimated to be over 17 million in 2012, with 60.7% population penetration rate (15), the slow transition from print to electronic publishing indicates a disconnect between technology availability and utilization. This barrier may be due to several factors such as organization characteristics, change agents effort and peer influence. Therefore this paper examines the influence of these factors in the adoption rate of e-journal publishing amongst Malaysian scholarly journal publishers