Integrating Business Technology and Marketing Education: Enhancing the Diffusion Process through Technology Champions

Abstract

Basic and discipline-specific technological competencies are needed by marketing and business school faculty, students, and their employers. Integration of basic technologies is common and easily accepted among younger students and readily supported, at least philosophically if not practically, by most business schools. Conversely, many marketing and business faculty face difficulties and problems with integration of new and discipline-specific technologies. The authors propose that these difficulties are most likely due to limited budgets and time, nonspecialized technical support, and lack of a formal process. This article presents the diffusion of innovations theory as a process for accomplishing a more formal integration of discipline-specific technologies into a marketing and business program. The use of “technology champions” is proposed as a means of enhancing the technology diffusion process.