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# The Influence "Paradox": When More Network Ties Lead to Less Change

## Details

**Authors** Yuan Hsiao, Nicholas A. Christakis

**Year** 2026

**Publisher** American Sociological Review

**Kind of work** article

**Discipline** Sociology

**Secondary disciplines** Network Science, Public Health

**Applied** false

[Read it at the publisher](https://doi.org/10.1177/00031224261438845) 
10.1177/00031224261438845

## In authors' words

### Abstract

The diffusion of behaviors and ideas is a core concern in many fields and highly relevant to collective action and innovation adoption. A common assumption is that well-connected individuals within social networks are especially influential and so are good targets to initiate behavioral interventions. Here, we argue that the effectiveness of network-based targeting depends on how social ties are organized within a network. We theorize that there is a structural "network paradox": when social ties are concentrated around a small number of well-connected individuals, a focus on targeting those individuals becomes less effective at generating broad diffusion. We further argue that this paradox is especially pronounced for behaviors that require high levels of social reinforcement to spread. We conducted a three-part study including theoretical analysis, empirical analysis based on a randomized field trial of health practices in Honduras, and simulations. Across all three studies, the results highlight the critical role of network structure in shaping diffusion dynamics under targeting protocols that privilege individuals with more ties. Such protocols may fail when those individuals are clustered together. Our findings have implications for understanding leadership and influence, innovation, public health and developmental economic interventions, and marketing.

### What they set out to do (purpose)

To test whether targeting well-connected ("high-degree") individuals in a social network is the most effective way to spread a behavior, and whether the answer depends on how ties are structurally organized within the network.

### Who or what was studied (sample)

5,773 people across 32 villages in Honduras enrolled in a randomized field trial of two health practices (chlorine-based water purification and multivitamin use), plus theoretical and agent-based-simulation analyses.

### How they did it (methods)

Three-part study combining theoretical reanalysis of diffusion models, empirical analysis of a randomized field trial of health-behavior interventions, and agent-based network simulations varying tie concentration and adoption thresholds.

### What they found (results)

Targeting highly-connected individuals for behavioral interventions was less effective at spreading two health behaviors (water purification and multivitamin adoption) than targeting less-connected or randomly chosen individuals whenever those highly-connected individuals' ties were clustered together, an effect most pronounced for behaviors requiring social reinforcement.

## Commentary

### In short

The finding shows that a network's whole-level outcome (how broadly a behavior diffuses) depends on how its parts (individuals) are relationally arranged, not on how many ties any single part holds, illustrating systems structure and relationships acting together.

**Patterns it shows** S, R

**Added** 2026-09-26

**How to cite this** Yuan Hsiao, Nicholas A. Christakis (2026). The Influence "Paradox": When More Network Ties Lead to Less Change. American Sociological Review.