opinion leadership

Definition:
Early models of communication regarded both impersonal sources (the mass media) and personal sources as establishing direct contact with an audience - the so-called 'hypodermic effect'. Belief in this model led to speculation concerning the influence of the mass media upon voting behaviour and the 1940 presidential election in the United States was the subject of one of the most celebrated pieces of communication research, reported in Paul F. Lazarsfeld et al., The People's Choice (1944). Contrary to expectations Lazarsfeld and his colleagues found that influence did not flow directly from a medium (press, radio, etc.) to an audience but was channelled through an intermediary who was designated the 'opinion leader'. In simple terms an opinion leader is one to whom others turn for information and advice. However, it must be emphasized that in the usual marketing context opinion leaders are not a distinct and easily classified group in the sense in which government ministers or managing directors of major companies are. More often than not opinion leaders are just ordinary people, for if they are to be effective at a personal-influence level they must be accessible, which implies that they are members of REFERENCE GROUPS With which people have contact. In fact most reference groups develop around shared interests and some members will be seen as more influential than others in the context of that interest. But people belong to many reference groups, leader and follower roles may be reversed, for example, the captain of the football team may well seek the first reserve's opinion on the merits of hi-fi systems. It is this tendency which makes the identification of opinion leaders difficult.

Cross-References:
[reference groups]

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