The Rotary movement, diffusion of an innovation

Abstract

The aim of the study was to establish which models of innovation diffusion and which special features characterize and explain the diffusion of the Rotary movement on global level and, in detail, in Finland. Cartographic techniques were employed as the main method of analysis, supported by cross‑tabulations and some statistical tests in the detailed study.

The United States has played a central role in the global diffusion of the movement. Economic ties and common language have reduced the isolating impact of oceans. The movement has spread almost all over the world, the latest areas of diffusion being Central African states and Pacific Islands. Roughly speaking, the diffusion has advanced in order of economic devel­opment of countries. In the Old World, the communist ideology constitutes an absolute barrier to the diffusion of the movement.

In Finland the Rotary movement has spread from south to north and from the coast to the interior and, at the same time, to the periphery. The diffusion has advanced fairly exactly in the hierarchical order determined by the administrative status of communes. On the lowest or rural commune level the significance of distance as an explanatory factor increases markedly. The diffusion process could be reduced to a cartographic synthesis com­bining the hierarchical and expansion diffusion types.