Policy diffusion through leadership transfer networks: Direct or indirect connections?

Abstract Change agents play important roles in the diffusion of policy innovation. Scholars argue that the career paths of change agents could facilitate the diffusion of innovation through network‐based mechanisms of portable innovation or policy wormholes, but have not fully distinguished between direct and indirect connections inherently important in a leadership transfer network. This study proposes an indirect portable innovation hypothesis and an indirect policy wormhole hypothesis to highlight the effects of leadership transfer networks through indirect network connections, extending the agent network diffusion (AND) model. We test the hypotheses empirically with the diffusion of local financial subsidy policies for new energy vehicles (NEVs) among cities in China from 2009 to 2016. The results confirm the effects of direct and indirect portable innovation and policy wormholes.