Lomas J, Enkin M, Anderson GM, Hannah WJ, Vayda E, Singer J. Opinion leaders vs audit and feedback to implement practice guidelines: Delivery after previous cesarean section. Journal of the American Medical Association. 1991;265(17):2202-2207.

This article reports on the results of a randomized controlled trial that demonstrated higher rates of trial of labor and vaginal births among physicians who were educated by an opinion leader about a new guidelines for management of women with a previous cesarean section as opposed to traditional methods of audit and feedback on their performance.

Fraser SW
West Sussex, England: Kingsham Press Ltd.; 2002

This workbook provides basic concepts and techniques for spreading innovations and provides practical health care examples.

Gladwell M
Boston, Massachusetts: Little, Brown and Company; 2000

This easily-read book describes spreading change between organizations in detail. Using various examples, Gladwell describes the features of what he calls social epidemics — instances where an idea, action, or product suddenly takes off and becomes wildly popular. He describes three rules that drive spread: 1) the Law of the Few; 2) the Stickiness Factor; and 3) the Power of Context.

Dixon NM
Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press; 2000

Creating successful knowledge transfer systems requires matching the type of knowledge to be shared to the best method for transferring it effectively. Dixon suggests three criteria that can be used to determine how a transfer method will work in a specific situation. Based on these criteria, five categories of knowledge transfer including the specific methods for each are described.

Valente T, Davis R. Accelerating the diffusion of innovation using opinion leaders. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 1999;566:55-67.

This article describes one method of identifying Opinion Leaders: Having their peer group nominate potential candidates. Once Opinion Leaders have been identified, their central position among peers may be utilized to closely guide the diffusion process.

Dearing JW, Meyer G. An exploratory tool for predicting adoption decisions. Science Communication. 1994;16(1):43-57.

The authors propose methods for comparing the likelihood of the diffusion of differing developing innovations. They define and examine eleven attributes: Economic Advantage, Effectiveness, Observability, Trialability, Complexity, Compatibility, Reliability, Divisibility, Applicability, Commutuality, and Radicalness.

Becker MH. Sociometric location and innovativeness: Reformulation and extension of the diffusion model. American Sociological Review. 1970;35:267-282.

The author examines the role of opinion leaders in adapting two different types of innovations: those of Low Adoption Potential (LAP) and those of High Adoption Potential (HAP).

Greer AL. The state of the art versus the state of science: The diffusion of new medical technologies into practice. International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care. 1988;4:5-26.

This paper describes the different roles that innovators, idea champions, and opinion leaders play in the process by which dynamic (i.e., still unfinished) innovations become diffused in the medical community.

Prochaska JO, DiClemente CC, Norcross JC. In search of how people change: Applications to addictive behaviors. American Psychologist. 1992;47(9):1102-1114.

This article applies the authors' theory that people progress through stages as they change their behavior — pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance — to the study of those with addictive behavior.

Attewell P. Technology diffusion and organizational learning: The case of business computing. Organization Science. 1992;3(1).

This article explains how communication campaigns can play an important role in spread by raising awareness about the extent of the problem and the benefits of changes.