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AbstractInstagram as a social media platform has gained prominence as the medium of influencer marketing practices targeting consumers of beauty products, yet little is known about source characteristics affecting Instagram opinion leadership resulting in consumers’ purchasing behavior. Thus, this work examines effects of Instagram influencers’ attributes (credibility, attractiveness, innovativeness, and sense of humor) on their perceived opinion leadership and its subsequent impacts on consumers’ behavioral intentions. The research also analyzes complementary moderating effects of parasocial relationship and social identity reinforcing behavioral implications of social media opinion leadership. Empirical results from 202 Instagram followers reveal that credibility, innovativeness, and sense of humor exert positive influence on perceived opinion leadership which subsequently enhances levels of positive word-of-mouth, purchase, and loyalty intentions. Besides, social identity strengthens positive impacts of opinion leadership on consumers’ word-of-mouth and purchase intentions. Thus, the findings not only contribute to the theory of opinion leadership, but have beneficial implications enabling beauty brands to develop effectual social media marketing communication strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Using the framework of Adult Learning Theory, this study worked to uncover the composition of rural landowners' information sources and learner characteristics that impact information-seeking behavior among maple syrup producers in Wisconsin. Design: Regression models were used to analyze data from a survey targeted at Wisconsin maple syrup producers (N = 677). Findings: Maple syrup producers mostly learn through interactions with peers and underutilize expert resources, but opinion leaders and early adopters of new technologies are more likely to seek information through both formal and informal knowledge networks than maple producers who are not influencers in their community. Extrinsic motivation was associated with maple producers' tendency to engage in optimal knowledge acquisition, whereas intrinsic motivation was not. Practical implications: Professionals can optimize resources to design outreach programs and develop marketing strategies by targeting landowners based on their learner characteristics. Theoretical implications: Our research contributes to the adult learning literature and advances the theoretical understanding of micro-Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems by investigating the influence of different types of learning motivations on optimal knowledge acquisition. Originality/Value: This study identified landowner characteristics related to optimal knowledge acquisition and is the first to highlight the roles of family legacy and social norms as motivators that drive maple producers to acquire new skills and knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Short videos have become an important driving force of social media. This study aims to understand how the perception of luxury goods, their associated brand experience and purchase intentions are affected by hedonism and social media influencers via social media videos. This research collects 383 samples from Mainland China using an online survey. The data are analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results indicate hedonism and influencer leadership directly and indirectly influence purchase intentions. The results show that more hedonic consumers or consumers who believe in influencers are more likely to have a positive first-class flight experience. This study also confirmed that brand experience and perceived luxury provide a mediating role on virtual world content. The findings offer new knowledge to researchers and industry in the luxury tourism context. Finally, theoretical and managerial implications are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined socially influential residents' beliefs about pro-environmental outreach in a Midwestern city, identifying factors influencing willingness to participate in an urban water quality outreach campaign. The sample included self-identified leaders (opinion leaders) residing in neighborhoods surrounding a small urban lake. Participants answered questions about using less salt on sidewalks and driveways, removing leaves from the street before it rains, allowing rainwater to soak into the ground on their property, and encouraging neighbors to do these behaviors. Favorable beliefs about outreach and experience with outreach were associated with greater willingness to do pro-environmental outreach. Favorable beliefs about pro-environmental behaviors and experience with pro-environmental behaviors were not associated with willingness to do pro-environmental outreach. We discuss how understanding opinion leaders' beliefs about pro-environmental outreach and navigating their misgivings about reaching out to their neighbors can inform campaigns fostering neighborhood water advocacy and outreach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Erciyes Akademi is the property of Erciyes Universitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

COVID-19, the most recent multi-dimensional global food crisis, challenged leadership and impacted individuals' personal networks. Two cross-sectional surveys were disseminated to women involved in their state's women's leadership committee to understand food waste behaviors. An egocentric network analysis was chosen as the methodology to better understand personal advice network characteristics and examine the impacts of Farm Bureau women's leadership committee members' advice networks on their food waste behavior. A multilevel model was conducted to identify factors related to respondents leading their network members toward positive food waste decisions. Independent variables included in the variables at the individual (e.g., each respondent's race, generation), dyadic (e.g., length respondent has known each member of her network), and network levels (e.g., proportion of the respondent's network that was female) were included in the model. Women were more likely to report connections with people they led to positive food waste behaviors and food security when: they had higher food waste sum scores, they were part of Generation X, the network member they led to more positive food waste behaviors was a friend, and if there were fewer women in their advice networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Jurnal Manajemen dan Organisasi is the property of IPB University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Giriş: 1940'lı yıllarda Lazarsfeld, Berelson ve Gaudet tarafından önerilen fikir liderliği kavramı, iki aşamalı akış modeliyle ortaya çıkmıştır. Kavramın geleneksel kabulünün sosyal medya ortamlarında özellikle influencerlar için devam edip etmediğini araştırmak gerekiyor. Metodoloji: Karma yöntem yaklaşımını benimseyen bu çalışma, keşfedici sıralı bir tasarım kullanmıştır. 12 influencer ile yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmeler gerçekleştirilmiş ve nitel görüşmeleri desteklemek amacıyla influencerların hesapları ve içerikleri üzerinde içerik analizi yapılmıştır. Araştırmanın evrenini Instagram fenomenleri oluştururken, örneklemi amaçlı örnekleme yoluyla seçilen 12 fenomenin paylaştığı 120 gönderiden oluşuyor. Bulgular: Bu çalışmanın sonuçları, iki aşamalı akış teorisinin güncellenmesi ve günümüze uyarlanması gerektiğini, influencerların kendilerini kanaat önderi olarak gördüklerini ve influencerların takipçileriyle etkileşimi sonucunda kendilerini kanaat önderi olarak algıladıklarını göstermektedir. . Ayrıca kanaat önderi vasıflı/olmayan influencerlar, hedef kitleleri üzerindeki belirli kanaat önderliği rollerine rağmen, kanaat önderi olmayan/olmayan diğer influencerlardan ve hedef kitlelerinden etkilenerek görüş talep etmişlerdir. Sonuçlar: Sonuç olarak bu çalışma, özellikle sosyal medya ortamlarında geniş bir izleyici kitlesine sahip olan etkileyiciler için fikir liderliği kavramının geleneksel kabulünden devam ettiğini dikkate almanın önemini vurgulamaktadır. Ayrıca influencerların kanaat önderliği rollerinden bahsetmek için sosyal medya kullanım pratikleri, içerikleri, takipçilerle olan etkileşimleri, kurum, kuruluş, marka ya da ajanslarla olan iletişim düzeyi gibi birçok faktöre göre değerlendirilmesi gerektiği sonucuna varılmıştır. Araştırma belirli bir sorun ve sınırlılıklar çerçevesinde gerçekleştirilmiştir. Bulguların yol gösterici olması ve konuyla ilgili yapılacak diğer çalışmalara katkı sağlaması beklenmektedir.

Objective: Influencers are known to have a solid influence on generating purchase intentions in consumers. Therefore, this study aims to examine the effect of opinion leadership, parasocial relationships, and credibility identified through the variables of attractiveness, trust, and expertise on purchase intentions. Design/Methods/Approach: 206 individuals who follow food vlogger influencers were surveyed for this study. The data analysis was carried out using GSCA SEM with GSCA pro software, and the mediation test was conducted through the Sobel test. Findings: The results indicate that opinion leadership and parasocial relationships have a positive impact on purchase intention. In addition, attractiveness and trustworthiness can also influence purchase intention through parasocial relationships. However, it was observed that the expertise variable did not directly or indirectly affect purchase intention. Originality: In this study, variables are utilized based on source effect theory to facilitate the contribution of the results to the advancement of marketing theory and science, specifically in the field of influencer marketing. Practical/Policy implication: For marketers, selecting influencers who wield substantial influence over their audience and have forged robust relationships with them is crucial. These influencers are renowned for their opinion leadership and parasocial connections, making them ideal for promoting products or brands.

Purpose: This study investigates the effects of social influencer characteristics (i.e., opinion leadership and parasocial interaction) on forming follower brand trust and identification. Design/methodology/approach: This study included 286 Korean consumers (144 males and 142 females) with social media experience. We tested the hypotheses using structural equation modelling, multiple regression, bootstrapping and multigroup model analysis within the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector, with a particular focus on an orange juice brand. Findings/results: Opinion leadership and parasocial interaction (i.e., the one-sided, quasi-social relationship between individuals and social influencers through media consumption) were positively related to follower brand trust and brand identification, and brand trust had a positive relationship with brand identification. The mediating effect of brand trust in the positive relationships between social influencer characteristics and brand identification was significant. We also found that opinion leadership was positively related to brand identification in the male group, while parasocial interaction had a positive relationship to brand identification in the female group. Practical implications: Organisations need to be aware that opinion leadership and parasocial interaction are vital for understanding the effectiveness of social influencer marketing. In addition, they need to take a close look at social influencer characteristics as they affect brand performance by target group. Originality/value: Our results suggest that brand trust is essential in explaining how social influencer characteristics relate to brand identification. This study is the first to analyse gender-based variations in brand identification formed by opinion leadership and parasocial interaction highlighting the roles of social influencer characteristics in marketing.

Contemporary networked social movements are often described as leaderless. However, social influence is inevitably unevenly distributed across participants, so informal and diffused leaders do exist. This study contends that analysis of informal and diffused leadership in networked social movements should examine whether such leadership is stable and what factors might explain who can take on a leadership role. Starting from these premises, this study investigates discussions of the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement in Hong Kong on the online forum LIHKG. Analyzing millions of movement-related and non-movement-related comments revealed that influence was highly unevenly distributed and that opinion leadership was more unstable in movement-related discussions. Opinion leadership was related to personal characteristics and communication activities, but sometimes in ways that were specific to movement-related discussions. Moreover, opinion leadership tended to stabilize over time. The findings provide insights into the characteristics of informal and diffused leadership in networked social movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims at explaining the impact of Instagram social media influencers on behavioural intentions (i.e., intentions to interact with them and recommend them, and also purchase the products they endorse or post). It focuses on influencers’ expertise and their role as opinion and taste leaders. Based on opinion leadership theory, a survey was conducted on 210 Instagram users. Main findings reveal that post originality, uniqueness, and quality impact on influencers’ opinion leadership which, in turn, impacts on behavioural intentions. Influencers’ expertise impacts on the intention to recommend the influencers and purchase the products posted, while influencers’ taste leadership only influences the intention to interact with them. Few papers analyse the direct effects of influencers’ expertise and opinion and taste leadership on followers’ behavioural intentions. Consequently, when designing a social media marketing campaign influencers’ selection should be made according to those traits which stimulate specific behaviours such as fostering interaction, increase electronic word of mouth or persuade to purchase the products posted. In case of product endorsements, selecting influencers with acknowledged expertise is recommended as they will cause an impact on the intention to purchase endorsed products. Influencers perceived as opinion leaders have an overall influence on their followers’ behavioural intentions.

Abstract Influentials play a key role in enhancing information diffusion on social media. However, how personal influence varies across multiple domains is rarely addressed. This study introduces a concept called Domain-Relevance of Influence to describe the relation between influence and domains, and establishes a methodological framework with a sample of 8,520,933 Weibo users to explore the cross-domain characteristics of influence. The results show that generalists with cross-domain attributes possess significantly higher influence than specialists in most domains, whereas in a single domain such as sports or technology, specialists and generalists can possess comparable influence. We further show that influence is positively associated with cross-domain capability in overall domains, but not necessarily in each single domain. This study contributes to better understanding of the influence variation across domains for influence enhancement, and provides a big data-based methodological basis for cross-domain communication research.

COVID-19, the most recent multi-dimensional global food crisis, challenged leadership and impacted individuals’ personal networks. Two cross-sectional surveys were disseminated to women involved in their state’s women’s leadership committee to understand food waste behaviors. An egocentric network analysis was chosen as the methodology to better understand personal advice network characteristics and examine the impacts of Farm Bureau women’s leadership committee members’ advice networks on their food waste behavior. A multilevel model was conducted to identify factors related to respondents leading their network members toward positive food waste decisions. Independent variables included in the variables at the individual (e.g., each respondent’s race, generation), dyadic (e.g., length respondent has known each member of her network), and network levels (e.g., proportion of the respondent’s network that was female) were included in the model. Women were more likely to report connections with people they led to positive food waste behaviors and food security when: they had higher food waste sum scores, they were part of Generation X, the network member they led to more positive food waste behaviors was a friend, and if there were fewer women in their advice networks.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to address these questions. Word-of-mouth (WOM) is increasingly important in business-to-business (B2B) decision-making. Yet, research on this topic is rather limited, and often borrows from business-to-consumer (B2C) WOM literature. The question remains as to whether these assumptions realistically occur in B2B WOM. Specifically, this study explores the following questions: What value does B2B WOM have? Why do social media influencers in B2B engage in WOM? What type(s) of social media influencers spread WOM in B2B? Design/methodology/approach: To address these questions, this study adopts a qualitative research strategy. This study focuses on industry analysts in information technology markets who often influence the buying decisions of customers through their expertise and recommendations of technology solutions. Based on interviews with these influencers, this study explicates B2B WOM, an area the authors know much less of in comparison to B2C WOM. Findings: This study reveals differences in who spreads WOM within B2B, their roles, key features of their content and how they spread WOM. Second, this study demonstrates the types of actors spreading WOM in B2B in relation to the type of WOM and how it actually influences B2B markets. Originality/value: This study broadens the current definition of WOM and, specifically, showcases WOM not only as amplifying messages but as a means to co-create the market itself with vendors and clients. This research offers several contributions to the B2B WOM literature and influencer practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Influencers are known to have a solid influence on generating purchase intentions in consumers. Therefore, this study aims to examine the effect of opinion leadership, parasocial relationships, and credibility identified through the variables of attractiveness, trust, and expertise on purchase intentions. Design/Methods/Approach: 206 individuals who follow food vlogger influencers were surveyed for this study. The data analysis was carried out using GSCA SEM with GSCA pro software, and the mediation test was conducted through the Sobel test. Findings: The results indicate that opinion leadership and parasocial relationships have a positive impact on purchase intention. In addition, attractiveness and trustworthiness can also influence purchase intention through parasocial relationships. However, it was observed that the expertise variable did not directly or indirectly affect purchase intention. Originality: In this study, variables are utilized based on source effect theory to facilitate the contribution of the results to the advancement of marketing theory and science, specifically in the field of influencer marketing. Practical/Policy implication: For marketers, selecting influencers who wield substantial influence over their audience and have forged robust relationships with them is crucial. These influencers are renowned for their opinion leadership and parasocial connections, making them ideal for promoting products or brands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims at explaining the impact of Instagram social media influencers on behavioural intentions (i.e., intentions to interact with them and recommend them, and also purchase the products they endorse or post). It focuses on influencers’ expertise and their role as opinion and taste leaders. Based on opinion leadership theory, a survey was conducted on 210 Instagram users. Main findings reveal that post originality, uniqueness, and quality impact on influencers’ opinion leadership which, in turn, impacts on behavioural intentions. Influencers’ expertise impacts on the intention to recommend the influencers and purchase the products posted, while influencers’ taste leadership only influences the intention to interact with them. Few papers analyse the direct effects of influencers’ expertise and opinion and taste leadership on followers’ behavioural intentions. Consequently, when designing a social media marketing campaign influencers’ selection should be made according to those traits which stimulate specific behaviours such as fostering interaction, increase electronic word of mouth or persuade to purchase the products posted. In case of product endorsements, selecting influencers with acknowledged expertise is recommended as they will cause an impact on the intention to purchase endorsed products. Influencers perceived as opinion leaders have an overall influence on their followers’ behavioural intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Influentials play a key role in enhancing information diffusion on social media. However, how personal influence varies across multiple domains is rarely addressed. This study introduces a concept called Domain-Relevance of Influence to describe the relation between influence and domains, and establishes a methodological framework with a sample of 8,520,933 Weibo users to explore the cross-domain characteristics of influence. The results show that generalists with cross-domain attributes possess significantly higher influence than specialists in most domains, whereas in a single domain such as sports or technology, specialists and generalists can possess comparable influence. We further show that influence is positively associated with cross-domain capability in overall domains, but not necessarily in each single domain. This study contributes to better understanding of the influence variation across domains for influence enhancement, and provides a big data-based methodological basis for cross-domain communication research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Faculty of Pharmacy of Ankara University / Ankara Üniversitesi Eczacilik Fakültesi Dergisi is the property of Ankara University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Social media influencers are integral to contemporary organizations' marketing strategies. Despite growing interest in the topic, there is scant knowledge of how organizations manage and collaborate with influencers in their content production during commercial collaborations. Drawing on semi-structured interviews and a semiotic analysis of social media content, this study elucidates the dynamics of organizations' commercial collaborations with influencers and discusses how influencers decode and transmit organizations' commercial messages to their followers in the destination marketing context. Social reality and commercial messages are enmeshed in the content narrative and interpreted by the influencer and their knowledge of their audience into what they could mean and become in the semiotic and symbolic landscapes of social media environments. Thus, an influencer's interpretation of organization's commercial messages is embedded in the social media environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an online social networking services (SNS) community, a group of users that have great influence on the other users are called opinion leaders. They have received much research attention because they are capable of influencing other people's purchasing behaviors. In this research, we investigate various motivational factors that influence SNS users' electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) intention. In addition, we examine the role of opinion leadership in e-WOM intention. By using survey methodology approach based on prior research, we collected data from 405 SNS users in the U.S. This research utilized the partial least squares technique for analysing empirical data. We find that intrinsic motivational factors embracing altruism, self-efficacy, and self-expression universally influence SNS users' e-WOM intention regardless of opinion leadership. However, extrinsic motivational factors comprising economic rewards, reputation feedback, and social ties only influence SNS users' e-WOM intention through opinion leadership. This research fills a gap in the literatures by establishing a comprehensive research framework including intrinsic and extinct driving forces on E-WOM intention. It emphasizes the significance of opinion leadership in the context of SNS users' purchasing behaviour. This study constructs a research model to discern the differences in the magnitude of impact between intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors on e-WOM intention via opinion leadership. Our results confirm that both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations positively affect SNS users' perceived opinion leadership. Our research findings imply that firms need to strengthen their efforts in fostering users' perceived opinion leadership to utilize e-WOM in SNS community if they want to use extrinsic motivational factors to promote e-WOM behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies learning through social networks in which agents update their beliefs by weighting those of their peers. We allow agents to pay little attention to peers with poor information at first, but more later on, as that peer acquires better information from more knowledgeable agents. We derive explicitly how social influence depends on agents' popularity (eigenvector centrality) and expertise (information precision) and show that even completely uninformed agents can contribute to social learning. In certain cases, providing better information to extremely popular agents may distract attention from the views of the experts, and lead society to worse assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multidimensionality of COVID-19’s consequences on food access and food waste behaviors was not immune to one gender versus another. The role of agricultural women leaders in alleviating food security concerns is not widely understood. An egocentric network analysis was conducted to assess the attributes possessed by social network peers and to discover variables that impact women’s food waste behavior. Researchers found that women’s advice networks were composed primarily of family or friends, known for more than five years, communicate weekly, can be described as an opinion leader, and share mutual trust. The density of women’s networks needs to be researched further to determine a strategic plan to expose women leaders to new information and other social networks. Data indicated women’s food waste behavior was influenced by their perceptions of COVID-19 as an opportunity for food waste change, innovation, and reputation enhancement. The need to develop current and future women agricultural leaders to improve food access and food sovereignty within global communities cannot be overstated.

Agricultural extension services in poor countries often identify opinion leaders based on criteria such as wealth and social status. We explore the effectiveness of this top-down approach by analysing the role of so-called model and nodal farmers in the diffusion of malt barley in a highland community in Ethiopia. We use a retrospective case study design where we combine quantitative network analysis with qualitative data. Nodal farmers played a more central role in knowledge diffusion of the technology than model farmers. While model farmers were wealthier and better connected to the local authorities, nodal farmers were socio-economically more similar to their fellow farmers. Nodal and model farmers, as well as farmers closely connected to them, had a significantly higher adoption index than the rest. The diffusion of knowledge is an important condition for the adoption of modern agricultural technologies, but it is not enough, particularly when access to external inputs is limited. Moreover, relying on assumed opinion leaders has its limitations and may even reinforce existing inequalities. This paper has shown the complementarity of network approaches. We propose network approaches such as social network analysis to identify community brokers who emerge from bottom-up or clan-based, political, knowledge networks that mediate access to agricultural technologies. Our combined research approach differs from the mainstream of studies in this field that employ either ethnographic fieldwork or (spatial-)econometric methods. We aim to create a bridge between the often separated worlds of (technical) agronomic research, (qualitative) rural sociology, and (quantitative) econometric analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media have provided brand-new capacities for affecting users and leading them toward social action. The aim of the current research was to develop a model of factors affecting the opinion leadership of social media users in creating social action. To this end, a correlational design was adopted to describe the relationship between predictor variables of leader’s reputation and attractiveness, expertise, normativity, social status, similarity to users, official media, message characteristics, the users’ influenceability, and criterion variable of dissemination of calls for social action, and simultaneous social action on Instagram social media. A researcherdeveloped questionnaire whose validity and reliability were confirmed, was filled out by 393 participants. Cronbach’s Alpha for all sub-scales, except for one, was greater than.70. The present research findings showed that opinion leadership on social media did not directly affect the simultaneous social action of users, rather, its influence was mediated by opinion leader’s “reputation and attractiveness”, “users’ influenceability”, and “dissemination of calls for social action”. Also, “message characteristics” had the greatest effect on the opinion leadership. The findings can be employed by educational and scientific centers, and institutions responsible for content production and dissemination, to create simultaneous social action through opinion leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twitter gained new levels of political prominence with Donald J. Trump's use of the platform. Although previous work has been done studying the content of Trump's tweets, there remains a dearth of research exploring who opinion leaders were in the early days of his presidency and what they were tweeting about. Therefore, this study retroactively investigates opinion leaders on Twitter during Trump's 1st month in office and explores what those influencers tweeted about. We uniquely used a historical data set of 3 million tweets that contained the word "trump" and used Latent Dirichlet Allocation, a probabilistic algorithmic model, to extract topics from both general Twitter users and opinion leaders. Opinion leaders were identified by measuring eigenvector centrality and removing users with fewer than 10,000 followers. The top 1% users with the highest score in eigencentrality (N = 303) were sampled, and their attributes were manually coded. We found that most Twitter-based opinion leaders are either media outlets/journalists with a left-center bias or social bots. Immigration was found to be a key topic during our study period. Our empirical evidence underscores the influence of bots on social media even after the 2016 U.S. presidential election, providing further context to ongoing revelations and disclosures about influence operations during that election. Furthermore, our results provide evidence of the continued relevance of established, "traditional" media sources on Twitter as opinion leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper examines whether guests contribute sWOM (social word of mouth) on different SNSs (social networking sites) regarding various personal motivations. SNSs have changed the way guests eat and experience their food and dishes. Marketing managers have effectively targeted SNSs as a marketing tool, yet have little research about drivers of guests' sWOM contribution on SNSs has been done. A model including the significant motives: (1) experiences, (2) opinion leadership, (3) reflection of self and (4) need for unique is tested to investigate their positive effects on contribution behavior of social media guests. Design/methodology/approach – The data collected from 411 guests by using the snowball method was used for analysis. The structural equation modeling was applied to examine the relationships among the constructs and test the eight proposed hypotheses. Findings – Results reveal that experiences, opinion leadership, reflection of self and need for unique were positively associated with contributing sWOM of restaurants. Furthermore, those who have positive experiences tend to be opinion leadership and reflection of self. And guests who show reflection of self, they are more likely to have opinion leaders and show need for uniqueness. Our study expands the existing frameworks of sWOM contribution by identifying various motivations and labeling sWOM. Findings provide restaurant managers with managerial implications for online marketing strategies on SNSs to attract sWOM contribution among guests. Research limitations/implications – It has some limitations while discovering the motivations of positive sWOM contribution. First, we only focused on the motivation of contributing positive sWOM, while negative sWOM received many arguments in changing attitudes toward buying products or services. Second, we collected data in Vietnam only without comparing with different countries. Future research could explore further cross-cultural perspectives to fill the gap. Third, this study explored sWOM contribution in service environment, sWOM contribution from service context may be slightly different from those of product brands. Practical implications – These findings highlight the motivations of sWOM contribution that restaurant managers must recognize and make use of it. SNSs have given power to consumers to post everything at anytime and anywhere they like, therefore restaurant managers need to deeply understand why their consumers contribute sWOM. In digital era, customers and guests have become the ultimate tools for promoting product or service brands. The marketing managers should create an online platform in order to facilitate their consumers to discuss their brand frequently (Charu et al., 2018). Restaurants should have policies to push positive eWOM maximally and also reduce advertising costs. Originality/value – This is one of the first studies on sWOM contribution of what motivate guests to contribute their sWOM on SNSs. Theoretically, this study offers deep insights into the links between various motivations and sWOM in foodservice context. Managerially, understanding these motivations allow marketing managers create effective policies that motivate guests to contribute positive word of mouth.

We sought to identify the characteristics of men who have sex with men (MSM) who are opinion leaders on immunization issues and to identify potential opportunities to leverage their influence for vaccine promotion within MSM communities. Using venue-based sampling, we recruited and enrolled MSM living in Los Angeles (N = 520) from December 2016 to February 2017 and evaluated characteristic differences in sociodemographic characteristics, health behaviors, and technology use among those classified as opinion leaders versus those who were not. We also asked respondents about their past receipt of meningococcal serogroups A, C, W, and Y (MenACWY) and meningococcal B (MenB) vaccines, as well as their opinions on the importance of 13 additional vaccines. Multivariable results revealed that non-Hispanic black (aOR = 2.64; 95% CI: 1.17⁻5.95) and other race/ethnicity (aOR = 2.98; 95% CI: 1.41⁻6.29) respondents, as well as those with a history of an STI other than HIV (aOR = 1.95; 95% CI: 1.10⁻3.48), were more likely to be opinion leaders. MenACWY (aOR = 1.92; 95% CI: 1.13⁻3.25) and MenB (aOR = 3.09; 95% CI: 1.77⁻5.41) vaccine uptake, and perceived importance for these and seven additional vaccines, were also associated with being an opinion leader. The results suggest that the co-promotion of vaccination and other health promotion initiatives via opinion leaders could be a useful strategy for increasing vaccination among MSM.

Social media have provided brand-new capacities for affecting users, and leading them toward social action. The aim of the current research was to develop a model of factors affecting opinion leadership of social media users in creating social action. To this end, a correlational design was adopted to describe the relationship between predictor varibels of leader’s reputation and attractiveness, expertise, normativity, social status, similarity to users, official media, message characteristics, the users’ influenceability, and criterion variable of dissemination of calls for social action, and simultaneous social action on Instagram social media. A researcher-developed questionnaire which its validity and reliability were confirmed, was filled out by 393 participants. Cronbach’s Alpha for all sub-scales, except for one, was greater than .70. The current research findings showed that opinion leadership on social media did not directly affect the simultaneous social action of users, rather, its influence was mediated by opinion leader’s “reputation and attractiveness”, “users’ influenceability”, and “dissemination of calls for social action”. Also, “message characteristics” had the greatest effect on the opinion leadership. The findings can be employed by educational and scientific centers, and institutions responsible for contect production and dissemination, to create simultaneous social action through opinion leadership.

Instagram has gained momentum in influencer marketing for cosmetic products. This study aims to examine the antecedents of social media opinion leadership and its effects on consumers' actual purchase behavior. The results based on a sample of 223 followers reveal that originality, quality, and quantity are essential elements leading a user to be perceived as an opinion leader. Besides, opinion leadership impacts consumers' purchase intention, actual purchase behavior, and purchase loyalty. These findings deepen our understanding of the effects of opinion leadership on consumers' purchase decisions. Moreover, the findings have beneficial implications for developing effective social media marketing communication strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to determine the effect of the information source’s credibility and characteristic towards opinion leadership, and the effect of opinion leadership on consumer behavioral intention in social media Instagram. The population in this study were all social media users who use Instagram as their fashion reference. The total sample used in this study was 168 people. The sampling method used in this research is purposive sampling. The result obtained from this study indicates that credibility and characteristic have a significant and positive effect on opinion leadership, and opinion leadership has a significant and positive effect on the intention to interact and intention to follow the advice.

Although prices are the most discussed topic in consumer conversations, research has mostly neglected the field of price-related word-of-mouth (WOM). The present study picks up this research gap by analyzing the effects of price-WOM valence and price change communicated by WOM on consumer price perception. While a WOM sender's opinion is a stronger predictor of the recipient's perceived price fairness, a price change communicated by WOM has a stronger effect on price expensiveness perceptions. Innovators are found to be more positive with their price fairness judgment compared to imitators, and opinion leaders are more prone to price-WOM than non-opinion leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Italy, the Twitter debate on the green pass ignited a conflict between mainstream positions in favor of restrictions, and opposite opinions extremely critical of government measures, also characterized by disinformation. Drawing from the classic Katz and Lazarsfeld model of influence, this article investigates the role of opinion leaders as well as that of political social media influencers (PSMIs) in fueling disinformation on the green pass. Thanks to a computational analysis of Twitter contents (4 million+) and the use of critical metrics and social network analysis (SNA), we identified a limited number of influential profiles endorsing critical positions on the green pass. Their interaction networks analysis also showed how both opinion leaders and PSMIs spread disinformation and conspiracy theories through a dissemination strategy aimed at diverting their followers from Twitter toward "below-the-radar" channels (e.g., Rumble), where positions on political issues tend to be more hyper-partisan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]