This is related to things that people like Robert Axelrod have been studying. It's innovation vs imitation dilemma in social learning and evolutionary game theory.
Science. 2010 Apr 9;328(5975):208-13. doi: 10.1126/science.1184719.
Why copy others? Insights from the social learning strategies tournament.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20378813
Science. 2010 Apr 9;328(5975):208-13. doi: 10.1126/science.1184719. Why copy others? Insights from the social learning strategies tournament. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20378813
Related xkcd http://xkcd.com/1170/