leaders; next, Chapter 3 outlines the, mixed, methods used in this research which will be mostly quantitative (survey) and also qualitative (interviews); Chapter 4 outlines the general findings of the survey and Chapter 5 presents the results of the interviews conducted; the last and final Chapter 6 is a discussion that tries to answer the research and sub-questions, provide the limitations and further research recommendations based on this study. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1. Mavens and Opinion Leaders Lazarsfeld, Berelson, and Gaudet first floated the idea of cultural opinion leaders in 1948 (mentioned by Flynn et al., 1996: 138). They found out that friends, family, and Opinion leaders are acquaintances influenced people’s voting habits. people who are interested in a specific product area, like fashion or music. They have the knowledge and influence to spread their ideas about new products and innovations in specific product areas (Flynn et al., 1996, Goldsmith et al., 1996, Goldsmith & Clark, 2005, 2008). Regular consumers rely on opinion leaders for new ideas, fashion, music, and other products. Unsurprisingly, opinion leaders are generally the targets of marketing companies because they have such an influence on consumer tastes. They spread their opinion on products through word of mouth (WOM). Word of Mouth communication is often defined as (or person-to-person) “face-to-face verbal communication (e.g., exchanges of comments, thoughts, or ideas) between two or more consumers, none of whom represents a marketing source (Bone, 1995). It is found to be much more beneficial and effective for companies in the long run. Moreover, consumers consider it to be more independent, reliable, and credible (Walsh & Mitchell, 2010: 59). In fact, of all advertising is viewed as not “90%
leaders; next, Chapter 3 outlines the, mixed, methods used in this research which will be mostly quantitative (survey) and also qualitative (interviews); Chapter 4 outlines the general findings of the survey and Chapter 5 presents the results of the interviews conducted; the last and final Chapter 6 is a discussion that tries to answer the research and sub-questions, provide the limitations and further research recommendations based on this study. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1. Mavens and Opinion Leaders Lazarsfeld, Berelson, and Gaudet first floated the idea of cultural opinion leaders in 1948 (mentioned by Flynn et al., 1996: 138). They found out that friends, family, and acquaintances influenced people’s voting habits. Opinion leaders are people who are interested in a specific product area, like fashion or music. They have the knowledge and influence to spread their ideas about new products and innovations in specific product areas (Flynn et al., 1996, Goldsmith et al., 1996, Goldsmith & Clark, 2005, 2008). Regular consumers rely on opinion leaders for new ideas, fashion, music, and other products. Unsurprisingly, opinion leaders are generally the targets of marketing companies because they have such an influence on consumer tastes. They spread their opinion on products through word of mouth (WOM). Word of Mouth communication is often defined as “face-to-face (or person-to-person) verbal communication (e.g., exchanges of comments, thoughts, or ideas) between two or more consumers, none of whom represents a marketing source (Bone, 1995). It is found to be much more beneficial and effective for companies in the long run. Moreover, consumers consider it to be more independent, reliable, and credible (Walsh & Mitchell, 2010: 59). In fact, “90% of all advertising is viewed as not