Create a Good Message

One of the basic principles of knowledge transfer is to develop and communicate simple, clear, compelling, context-specific messages or ideas that emerge out of a body of research, that highlights who should act and what should be different (Lavis,2003; Lomas, 1993; Weiss, 1979). From the Diffusion of Innovation literature, we learn that the message needs to be perceived to be to the user’s advantage, be not too disruptive to the way things are “normally” done (i.e., be consistent with group norms), dovetail with and build upon existing policies, procedures and practices, be quite easily understood and reasonably easily implemented, and not be in conflict with existing values and beliefs (Kramer,2002; Rogers, 1995).