“Bad News Travels Faster”: The Role of Word of Mouth in Innovation Propagation in Rural Areas

The introduction of innovation and its implementation both at the company and territorial levels are linked to many variables among which Word of Mouth (WOM) can play a critical role. In particular for small communities WOM can act as a privileged source of information determining, in many circumstances, the innovation diffusion or rejection and heavily influencing the related training and extension programmes and learning processes. This paper attempts to outline some guidelines for those operators concerned with innovation diffusion particularly in rural areas. After a synthetic review about some theoretical indications about WOM as relevant foundations for the understanding of this phenomenon, the paper develops an operational approach mainly based on some contributions deriving from the complex systems theory in the definition of the architecture and dynamics of social networks with particular regard for small communities. On the basis of a survey conducted in a rural area in Central Italy, the paper illustrates the modalities through which WOM flows are concretely articulated and proposes some suggestions for its diagnosis and practical management.

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