Influences on Reinvention during the Diffusion of Innovations

This study considers how states change policy innovations as they diffuse. This process, known as reinvention, has been the subject of recent innovation diffusion research (Mooney and Lee 1995; Glick and Hays 1991). This paper examines the role of controversy in structuring the nature of reinvention, creating a more fully specified model of the causes of reinvention. This research is a comparative analysis of the evolution of provisions of three policy innovations: child abuse reporting laws, crime victim compensation law, and public campaign funding laws. The data show that varying levels of controversy affect the nature of policy reinvention and that reinvention results from a combination of social learning, political characteristics, and contextual factors.