A Replication and Extension of Goldenberg, Libai & Muller: A Complex Systems Look at the Underlying Process of Word-of-Mouth

Abstract

Goldenberg, Libai & Muller (2001) achieved two outcomes: empirical support for a fundamental theory of communications, known as the "Strength of weak ties" (Granovetter 1973), and an explication of small-worlds simulations in marketing. Where Goldenberg et al found that weak-ties had as much or more effect on information dissemination than did strong ties, a near-exact replication, reported in this paper, found that weak-ties had less than one third of the influence of strong-ties. An exact replication and extension, to be presented at the conference and under review with the same journal as the Goldenberg study, leads us to be sceptical of the original findings.