The wisdom of the few: Predicting collective success from individual behavior
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Can we predict the future success of a product, service, or business by monitoring the behavior of a small set of individuals? A positive answer would have important implications for the science of success and managerial practices, yet recent works have supported diametrically opposite answers. To resolve this tension, we address this question in a unique, large-scale dataset that combines individuals' purchasing history with their social and mobility traits across an entire nation. Surprisingly, we find that the purchasing history alone enables the detection of small sets of "discoverers" whose early purchases consistently predict success. In contrast with the assumptions by most existing studies on word-of-mouth processes, the social hubs selected by network centrality are not consistently predictive of success. Our approach to detect key individuals has promise for applications in other research areas including science of science, technological forecasting, and behavioral finance.
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