Commentary—Contagion in Prescribing Behavior Among Networks of Doctors

A foundational study regarding the diffusion of innovation involved the adoption of tetracycline by doctors in four Midwestern communities in the 1950s (Coleman et al. 1966), and it is not a coincidence that social scientists keep returning to this particular application of social network analysis (including to reanalyze this original study by Coleman and colleagues; see Van den Bulte and Lilien 2001). Studying the use of drugs by doctors involves the perfect mix of a discernable social network (among the doctors), a distinct innovation (a drug), an important area (patient care), difficult statistics (related to causal inference), and financial stakes (by pharmaceutical companies, insurers, and others). Iyengar, Van den Bulte, and Valente, in their careful

• 저널Marketing Science · 30(2) · 213–216
• 토픽Antibiotic Use and Resistance · Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
• DOI10.1287/mksc.1100.0595
• 저자Nicholas A. Christakis, James H. Fowler