Editorial
Technology adoption in the workplace is a notoriously difficult task. As Machiavelli wrote, innovation is hard “because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new.”
Recent research from the Kellogg School of Management shows how our career stage can significantly influence our willingness to adopt new technology. In a study of the film industry, researchers found that first-time directors embraced digital cameras much more readily than experienced directors.
The Link Between Tech Adoption and Career Stage
The researchers argue that the lack of an established way of working frees new directors to try new tools. The fact that they’re operating in a creative industry that rewards novel approaches is a further incentive.
However, these findings don't necessarily extend to other professions. The authors pointed to technology adoption trends in finance, which is typically more deferential to status and hierarchy. In that case, senior staff frequently adopted new technology as they felt safe and secure enough to do so. Less experienced workers would then follow their more senior peers' lead.
Both instances do point to clear connections between the benefits of new technology adoption on career advancement. The researchers highlight that while it’s reasonably well understood that internal processes can help shape technology adoption, the impact of career stage on adoption is much less understood.
Related Article: How Talent Shortages Are Impacting New Technology Adoption
Openness to Risk as Related to Career Stage
The study highlights the inherent duality of risk present in our workplaces. On the one hand, newcomers are unburdened by legacy approaches and therefore may feel more free to chart their own path and experiment with new technologies. Indeed, that experimentation may be a necessity if they lack the resources to adopt a more time-honored approach.
Similarly, those in senior positions have both the resources and the track record to withstand any failures that might accompany the adoption of new approaches.
The world of entrepreneurship makes this dynamic clear. Although the stereotype of an entrepreneur is someone in their 20s disrupting the status quo because they don’t know how things “should” be, the reality is that the most successful entrepreneurs are in their 40s, because they have the networks, the experience and the resources to make a successful attempt at starting a business.
Related Article: Do Digital Workplaces Drive Innovation or Efficiency?
The Mid-Career Squeeze on Innovation
The researchers collected data from the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) to establish the trends on digital camera adoption. They harvested a list of films released between 1975 and 2018 that grossed over $10,000 at the U.S. box office to identify two key variables for each film: 1) the depth of the director's experience at the time of filming and 2) the cameras they used to film the movie. The researchers further verified if a digital or film camera was used, and in cases where it was both, they classified them under the digital film category.
Correlation of the two variables — directorial experience and camera specifications — followed, with a particular focus on the period between 1997 and 2009. Digital camera technology underwent significant improvements in that time frame, to where the video quality of digital cameras rivaled that of film.
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One notable data point: digital cameras did not hold a clear economic advantage over film during the chosen time frame. Movie theaters still predominantly relied on film projectors, meaning digital movies had to be converted to film for distribution. This started to change in 2007 when film studios worked with cinema chains to facilitate the adoption of digital projectors. By 2011, approximately half of all movies used digital projection, marking a substantial increase from the less than 10% observed in 2000.
The researchers observed that first-time directors between 1997 and 2009 had approximately a 10% likelihood of using digital technology for their filmmaking. They were twice as likely to use digital than directors who had helmed one or two movies, and three times higher than directors with more extensive experience.
The findings remind us that career-related concerns play a big role in whether people adopt new technology and attempt to innovate more broadly. In highly competitive professions, where the specter of failure looms large, individuals at the outset of their careers tend to be more receptive to embracing innovative yet risky technologies.
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