Adoption process and marketing of social change: a case study of the family planning programme

Abstract

Traditionally demographic and economic variables have been suggested for segmenting the family planning market. This paper argues that for designing effective communication strategies, couple's stage of adoption is a better basis for segmenting the family planning market. However, the major difficulty in using the suggested approach is the inadequate knowledge of the process of adoption. Therefore, a model of adoption is proposed. The methodology consisting of a heuristic built around automatic interaction detector (AID) is described. The validity and the salient features of the proposed adoption model are discussed. The segmentation scheme is proposed on the basis of the stages of adoption in family planning. Unlike conventional KAP researches, the segments provide a description of a couple in a multi-dimensional space. The usefulness of the segmentation scheme in the design of work methodology for the worker is discussed. Finally, for planning at the district level, the implications of regional difference in the distribution of couples in the different market segments are discussed. This article is based on the author's doctoral dissertation, "Adoption of Family Planning : A Process Model and Optimal Pattern of Field Workers' Visits." The dissertation was partially financed by the Population Project Unit of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.