The willingness and the capacity of a given organization to adopt and implement innovative programs results from a complex interactive process which includes both the internal characteristics of the organization and the character of the environment in which the organization operates. The impact of any one factor may be influenced by the source of the proposed innovation, i.e., an organization may be willing to adopt innovations that originate internally while being unwilling or incapable of accepting those imposed from without. The factors on which this study focuses are those dimensions of the organizational environment which, because of patterns of interdependency and expectations, may enhance the organization's willingness to adopt new programs, as well as the factors that reflect the impact of administrative leadership on these processes. The interaction between these two categories of factors is the basis for the development of a conceptual model of organizational innovation, a model which suggests that organizations in highly structured and articulated environments with unstable and nonautonomous patterns of leadership will be more likely to adopt innovative programs than similar organizations operating within less structured environments with stable and autonomous leadership. The tenets of the model were examined through an analysis of the experiences of four courts that had been involved in an attempt to implement a prosecutor program. Results support the propositions of the model. Twenty-eight references are listed. (Author summary modified)