A communication network consists of interconnected individuals who are linked by patterned flows of information. An individual’s network links are important determinants of his or her adoption of innovations. The interconnectedness of an individual in a social system is positively related to individual’s innovativeness. Interconnectednessis the degree to which the units in a social system are linked by interpersonal networks.
Networks provide a certain degree of structure and stability in the predictability of human behavior. Communication structure is the differentiated elements that can be recognized in the patterned communication flows in a system. This structure consists of the cliques within a system and the communication interconnections among them through bridges and liaisons. The basic criterion for assigning individuals to cliques is communication proximity, defined as the degree to which two linked individuals in a network have personalcommunication networks that overlap. A personal network consists of those interconnected individuals who are linked by patterned communication flows to a given individual.
Personal networks that are radial (rather than interlocking) are more open to an individual’s environment, and hence play a more important role in the diffusion of innovations. The information exchange potential of communication network links is negatively related to their degree of (1) communication proximity, and (2) homophily. This generalization is a restatement of Granovetter’s theory of “the-strength-of-weak-ties.” Individuals tend to be linked to others who are close to them in physical distance and who are relatively homophilous in socialcharacteristics.
Social learning theory states that individuals learn from others that they observe, whom they then imitate by following a similar (but not necessarily identical) behaviour. Such social modeling frequently occurs in diffusion networks.
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