Experimental approach analyzes how our relationships affect the adoption of innovations

A team of researchers has experimentally demonstrated that indirect connections in a social network have a significant impact on the adoption of innovations. Their study, published in the journal PNAS Nexus, reveals that the influence of indirect contacts is approximately two-thirds and one-third that of direct contacts for the second and third circle of influence, respectively.

The researchers—from the Instituto de Física Interdisciplinar y Sistemas Complejos (IFISC, UIB-CSIC), Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM)—designed an experiment with more than 590 participants spread over about 20 sessions to analyze how innovations spread in a social network.

“We have not found experiments that investigate this effect in controlled environments, so we decided to do it ourselves,” says Anxo Sanchez, researcher at el Grupo Interdisciplinar de Sistemas Complejos (GISC), UC3M. Participants had to choose between two colors, one representing “tradition” and the other “innovation,” with the aim of reaching an overall consensus.

“Our results show that the adoption of an innovation is a complex process in which an individual feels significant pressure not only from his or her direct connections, but also from those socially close to him or her,” explains Manuel Miranda, IFISC researcher and first author of the study.

The experiment was conducted in four different settings, providing participants with information about the color choices of their direct contacts and also those at greater social distances. In other words, they not only knew which color their “friends” chose, but also their “friends of friends.” The researchers used a mathematical model that accounts for both direct and indirect interactions in the network to adjust the experimental results and determine how influence decays with social distance.

“This study challenges the common assumption that only direct interactions determine the dynamics of innovation adoption,” adds IFISC researcher Ernesto Estrada. “We have shown that individuals are also significantly influenced by their second and third circles of contacts.”

The findings have important implications for understanding how ideas, behaviors and technologies spread in society. Moreover, they could be applied in areas such as public health policy, marketing or social change. This interdisciplinary work combines experimental methods with advanced mathematical models to shed light on the complex processes of social influence in the diffusion of innovations.

“These results are obtained by treating all ‘friends’ as an indistinguishable group. Solving and trying to predict this influence at a particular level will require more work,” says María Pereda, researcher at UPM.

The researchers conclude that this study opens new avenues for investigating how innovations spread in social networks and suggests that strategies to accelerate the adoption of new ideas or technologies should take into account not only direct connections, but also the influence of wider social circles.