Phone communication spurs a cascading effect on social influence

Date:
June 21, 2023
Source:
University of Texas at Austin
Summary:
Social influence from phone communications is significant, reaching
as far as four degrees of separation from the original caller,
according to a new study.


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FULL STORY ========================================================================== Social influence from phone communications is significant, reaching as
far as four degrees of separation from the original caller, according
to a new study from researchers at The University of Texas at Austin,
who developed a new framework to more precisely study the phenomenon.

The researchers created a framework that distinguishes between people
behaving in similar ways because of peer influence or because they've
sought out friends with similar behaviors and beliefs. It's an important distinction to make for marketing and public health agencies looking to effectively target communications and influence behavior.

Yan Leng, an assistant professor at the McCombs School of Business, and colleagues also devised a new tool that marketers can use to identify influencers: highly connected individuals who can start phone cascades.

The research is online in advance in the Journal ofInformation Systems Research.

With Xiaowen Dong of the University of Oxford, Esteban Moro of the
University of Madrid and Alex Pentland of the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, Leng tested the framework on mobile phone data collected
in a small European country with a single mobile provider to show how
phone communications affect people's decision to attend a cultural event.

The framework consists of three steps:
1. Identify people who initially adopt a behavior.

2. Use cellular phone data to build communication cascades, or
diagrams of
individuals who have direct phone calls or are indirectly connected
with initial adopters.

3. Gather the following data: a) locations people visited, b)
whether their
friends eventually adopted the behavior, and c) characteristics
of people's social networks, such as how connected they are to
their networks.

People who had direct phone contact with initial event attendees were
87.61% more likely to end up later attending themselves compared with
those who didn't receive a phone call from a contact. Those who were
two tiers away (friends of friends) from an initial adopter were 68.65%
more likely to attend if they received a call.

This effect persisted up to four degrees of separation, showing that even
being indirectly connected to a past attendee through a communications
network raises one's likelihood of future attendance. Third-tier contacts
were 53% more likely to go to the show and fourth tier 47% more likely.

While the researchers lacked details about the context of phone calls,
they assumed the topic of communications within 24 hours of the event
would include talk about the performance.

"And if people weren't talking about the event, then our estimate is
an underestimate," Leng said. "Our findings on the long-range effect
of social influence still hold." The researchers used their results to
build a new tool, their so-called influence centrality, that shows which
people spread information more than others. This is important information
that can be used in targeting in marketing, as it could help companies
and public agencies promote new products and behaviors. Businesses
that have a new product they want people to adopt can use the framework
and tool, too. For instance, companies sending out sample products to influencers are better off if they know who will most effectively spread
the word. Overall, the research shows that despite the preponderance of
social media, phones still matter for marketers.

"Phone communication is still a very important channel researchers should study," Leng said.

* RELATED_TOPICS
o Mind_&_Brain
# Social_Psychology # Relationships # Behavior #
Consumer_Behavior # Psychology # Perception #
K-12_Education # Psychiatry
* RELATED_TERMS
o Social_psychology o Macroeconomics o Social_cognition
o Phishing o Milgram_experiment o Social_movement o
Interpersonal_relationship o Cognitive_bias

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Texas_at_Austin. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Yan Leng, Xiaowen Dong, Esteban Moro, Alex Pentland. Long-Range
Social
Influence in Phone Communication Networks on Offline Adoption
Decisions.

Information Systems Research, 2023; DOI: 10.1287/isre.2023.1231 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230621105429.htm

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