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The hypothesis of the two-step flow of communication is based on the idea that ideas flow from the media to the opinion leaders and from here to the less active people in the population (Katz p.175).  Katz offers that ideas coming from the media will first reach the opinion leaders who pass on what they have read and heard to friends, family, and everyday associates, therefore being in two steps.

After the voting study in 1940, three subsequent studies attempted to further emphasize the idea of this flow of communication, including one in which doctors and how they decided on adopting new drugs.  This study showed that even the decision makers themselves rely on personal influence to make important decisions.  Katz noted that influence is related to "(1) the personification of certain values, (2) to competence, and (3) to strategic social location" (Katz, p.184). 

In the book Personal Influence, Katz and Lazarsfeld concluded that "the traditional image of the mass persuasion process must make room for people as intervening factors between the stimuli of the media and resultant opinions, decisions, and actions (1955, p.32).  The previous studies have clearly shown that interpersonal communication has an important place in all communication models and must continue to be studied.