bandwagon effect

noun

: the phenomenon by which the growing success of something (such as a cause, fad, or type of behavior) attracts more widespread support or adoption as more people perceive and are influenced by its increasing popularity

During recent presidential elections it has become vital for candidates to win early party primaries in several states to start a bandwagon effect. Most people withhold support and contributions until they are sure the candidate has a good chance to win. Campaign "momentum" is highly prized because it creates a bandwagon effect that brings even more supporters into the fold.

—Hy Ruchlis et al.

Researchers have found two factors that may account for momentum's success. I call the first the bandwagon effect. As a stock keeps outperforming the market, more and more investors "discover" it and jump on board—propelling it even further ahead of the market and seducing still more buyers.

—Mark Hulbert

Examples of bandwagon effect in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

By creating a strategic BTC reserve, the U.S. could trigger a bandwagon effect, potentially driving up the coin’s price and enabling the Treasury to pay down part of the national debt through capital gains. —Marie Poteriaieva, Forbes, 17 Sep. 2024

Either the military establishment uniformly agrees from the outset that a military takeover should proceed, or a smaller group of audacious coup plotters within the military finds a way to create a bandwagon effect, wherein rank-and-file soldiers and the military brass rally around the plot. —Brian Klaas, Foreign Affairs, 17 July 2016

The Turkish plotters were likely aware that their hopes lay with creating a bandwagon effect. —Brian Klaas, Foreign Affairs, 17 July 2016

And then there is the bandwagon effect: No one wants to be cruising a highway in a Fiat 500, feeling vulnerable as everyone else lords above them in Tahoes, Expeditions, and Escalades. —Max Holleran, The New Republic, 25 Apr. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1906, in the meaning defined above