Final answer:
The financial impact is typically the most critical factor in determining the adoption of an innovation by a culture, which also considers the broader contexts of cultural receptivity and globalization.
Step-by-step explanation:
The most important factor in determining what kind and how much of an innovation will be accepted by a culture is often the financial impact, both immediate and long-term, of accepting the change. Cultures constantly evolve with new innovations affecting both material and non-material aspects of life. For example, the creation and adoption of smartphones revolutionized communication and introduced new modes of interaction. Nevertheless, the degree of acceptance of such innovations can also be heavily influenced by the culture's receptivity and the globalization process.
As new technologies emerge, they sometimes create generation gaps, cultural lag, and eventually lead to cultural changes. Innovations need to resonate with the community's values, be financially viable, and have the potential to benefit a vast number of individuals. Globalization plays a role as well, diffusing ideas, concepts, and products across different societies at an accelerated pace.
Several mechanisms drive cultural change: diffusion, friction, innovation, and invention. Diffusion represents the movement of cultural elements between societies, often through trade or migration, while friction occurs when conflicting cultural elements interact. Innovation refers to the alteration of existing cultural elements, and invention is the creation of entirely new cultural forms.