Diffusion of innovations theory proposes that opinion leaders can enhance the success of science communication campaigns. Such strategies hinge on an assumption that target communities include well-connected and trusted members who need only be identified and recruited. However, sparse or difficult to engage communication networks may not meet this assumption, making opinion leader-based interventions ineffective or impossible. This project reviews two studies involving rural populations where attempts to identify opinion leaders failed. We leverage these examples to highlight barriers to community-based campaigns, theoretical implications for diffusion scholarship, and suggested strategies for communication scholars and practitioners encountering sparse or fragmented networks.
Kopp et al. (Tue,) studied this question.