Getting new technology adopted in the workplace is notoriously difficult. As Machiavelli famously said, 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 highlights how our location on our career path can play a big role in our adoption of new technology. The researchers examined the film industry and found that the adoption of digital cameras was much higher among first-time directors than it was among more experienced directors.

Breaking the mold

The researchers argue that this difference is largely driven by the fact that new directors don’t yet have an established way of working, and they’re also operating in a creative industry in which establishing yourself as different from what already exists can have career benefits.

They highlight that this isn’t the case in some other professions, and cite research looking at the adoption of new technology in areas such as finance, which tend to be a bit more deferential to status and hierarchy. There, it was found that more senior staff tended to adopt technology more frequently as they felt safe and secure enough to do so. Less experienced workers would usually follow what their more senior peers did.

In both instances, however, there are clear markers as to whether someone’s career may benefit from adopting new technology or not. The researchers highlight that while it’s reasonably well understood that there are internal processes that help to shape whether technology is adopted or not, the career stage of those doing the adoption is much less well understood.

Approach to risk

The study highlights the inherent duality of risk that is often present in the workplace. On one hand, newcomers are not burdened by the legacy of what went before them so may be 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, however, those in more senior positions do have those resources and they also have the track record to withstand the kind of failures that so often accompany the adoption of new approaches.

This is inherent in the world of entrepreneurship, as while the traditional stereotype of an entrepreneur is someone in their 20s disrupting the status quo, often in large part because they don’t yet know how things “should” be, the reality is that the most successful entrepreneurs are actually in their 40s, as its at that point in our lives that we have the networks, the experience, and the resources to make a successful attempt at starting a business.

Digital adoption

To investigate the differing approaches of early and later-career directors towards the emergence of digital cameras, the researchers collected data from the Internet Movie Database (IMDb). They harvested a list of films that grossed over $10,000 at the U.S. box office spanning 1975 to 2018. The researchers were especially keen to gather two key variables for each film.

Firstly, they collected details regarding the director and their professional trajectory. IMDb supplied information on the director of each film, along with their other directorial ventures and roles within the movie and television industry.

Secondly, they documented the technical specifications of the film, and especially the cameras utilized in filming. The distinction between digital and film cameras was manually verified. Instances where both digital and film cameras were employed were classified under the digital category.

Lastly, the researchers correlated directorial experience with camera specifications, with a particular focus on the period between 1997 and 2009. During this timeframe, digital camera technology underwent significant improvements, and was capable of achieving a level where the video quality from digital cameras rivaled that of film. 

No clear advantage

It was notable, however, that digital cameras did not yet hold a clear economic advantage over film, as movie theaters predominantly relied on film projectors, necessitating the conversion of digital movies to film for distribution. This situation began to change in 2007 when film studios collaborated with cinema chains to facilitate the adoption of digital projectors. By 2011, approximately half of all movies utilized digital projection, marking a substantial increase from the less than 10 percent observed in 2000.

Between 1997 and 2009, the researchers observed that first-time directors had approximately a 10 percent likelihood of opting for digital technology in their filmmaking endeavors. This probability stood at twice that of directors who had previously helmed one or two movies, and three times higher than directors with more extensive experience in the field.

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.