Doctoral Dissertation Research: Understanding the Mechanisms of Peer Influence in Adopting Health Products

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SES-1602176Tomas JimenezAnna LunnStanford UniversityThis project examines how social ties and interactions shape households' financial resource allocations and investments. A vast literature on diffusion and social influence has found that a variety of individual and household outcomes are shared among people and households that have social connections. However, evidence for why these decisions and outcomes are clustered among social contacts is largely absent. The goal of this research is to identify the mechanisms through which social actors influence household consumption decisions using concepts of peer pressure, reference groups, and aspirations. Analyzing interviewees' descriptions of their social interactions and how these interactions shaped their households' decisions will provide insight into the mechanisms behind social influence, which has also been missing from studies of diffusion and contagion. Since the rate and trajectory of diffusion varies by the mechanisms of social influence, identifying the types of interactions that facilitate the spread of this large household investment will inform diffusion models of similar decisions and practices. This study will also contribute to scholars? knowledge of the factors that both contribute to and prevent individuals' and households' adoption of other health products and technologies in resource-constrained settings, especially products that require large financial investments. The research focuses on the role of sanitation infrastructure in health in India, particularly child health, and how social influence contributes to the household adoption of health infrastructure.The goal of the project is to identify the mechanisms through which other social actors influence household consumption decisions. The research uses a mixed methods research design to investigate the ways in which social actors influence others' consumption preferences and decisions. The researcher initially conducted a quantitative analysis of survey data to identify which social, economic and village characteristics are associated with household latrine ownership. The co-PI will complete field work that builds on a pilot study of household sanitation conducted in January 2015 with funding from the Stanford Center for International Development. Pilot interviews suggested that opinions and preferences of extended family members were quite influential in households' financial decisions. The collection of additional interview data will allow the co-PI to gather and analyze extended accounts of household members' relationships, relative social status, and aspirations in conjunction with their own descriptions of their decision to invest in sanitation infrastructure. The findings of this study will have implications for models of diffusion and understanding the consumption choices of poor households in developing countries.