6.5 Individual/Attitudinal Barriers

These barriers reside within individual organizational members, but also may stem, in part, from the organization's climate. Fear of risk and failure and intolerance of uncertainty and ambiguity are commonly‑cited examples of these barriers. Other barriers in this category would be individual characteristics that have the potential to create conflicts, thus stifling adoption or implementation. Basic differences in needs, values and perceptions would be typical examples. For instance, Hage and Dewar (1973) found that values of organizational elites who favor an innovation are predictive of innovation than are organizational structural variables.