Latent Homophily or Social Influence? An Empirical Analysis of Purchase Within a Social Network
利用亚洲移动网络数据，研究消费者在社交网络中的购买相似性是由潜在同质性还是社会影响驱动，同时控制外部因素，发现两者均显著影响购买时机和产品选择。
Consumers who are close to one another in a social network often make similar purchase decisions. This similarity can result from latent homophily or social influence, as well as common exogenous factors. Latent homophily means consumers who are connected to one another are likely to have similar characteristics and product preferences. Social influence refers to the ability of one consumer to directly influence another consumer's decision based upon their communication. We present an empirical study of purchases of caller ring-back tones using data from an Asian mobile network that predicts consumers' purchase timing and choice decisions. We simultaneously measure latent homophily and social influence, while also accounting for exogenous factors. Identification is achieved due to our dynamic, panel data structure and the availability of detailed communication data. We find strong influence effects and latent homophily effects in both the purchase timing and product choice decisions of consumers. This paper was accepted by Sandra Slaughter, information systems.