TY - JOUR A1 - Sirianni, Antonio D. A1 - Morgan, Jonathan H. A1 - Zöller, Nikolas A1 - Rogers, Kimberly B. A1 - Schröder, Tobias T1 - Complements and Competitors N2 - The vast majority of research on the diffusion of innovations focuses on how one particular idea or technology spreads across a network of connected individuals, or a population more generally. Diffusive processes are typically considered either in isolation. We consider innovations themselves as nodes in a larger network, and look at how individual innovations can spread with or against one another in a larger community of potential adopters. Using a large publicly-available data set, custom-designed measurements, and network analysis methods, we present a temporal analysis of a set of technological innovations. Specifically, we examine how coding languages spread across users on GitHub, an online platform for collaborative coding. By looking at which languages co-appear in individual projects, we develop network based measurements of how frequently languages appear together in the same coding projects (functional cohesion), and how similar two languages are in terms of how often they co-appear with other languages in coding projects (functional equivalence). We also assess two types of diffusion, one form where users of one language become users of an additional language (complementary or 'piggybacking' diffusion), and another where users of one language abandon one language for another (competitive or 'cannibalistic' diffusion). Using MR-QAP Regression Techniques, we find strong evidence that functional cohesion positively predicts complementary diffusion. We also find some evidence that functional equivalence predicts competitive diffusion. More broadly, we find support for the idea that the networks of functional relationships between innovations is important for understanding diffusive processes. KW - Soziologie KW - Kommunikation Y1 - 2023 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-fhpotsdam/frontdoor/index/index/docId/3373 SP - 1 EP - 23 ER -