An international investigation of opinion leadership and social media

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to examine innovativeness and extraversion as antecedents of perceived and social media opinion leadership in different country-level contexts and explore how these antecedents influence product adoption differently. Design/methodology/approach A survey method was used to collect data from Turkey and the USA. A total of 415 respondents participated in two studies, and data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings This research shows that innovativeness affects perceived opinion leadership, whereas extraversion affects social media opinion leadership, and these effects are moderated by country-level differences. Practical implications Tthis research provides strategic information strategic information on how to identify and target influencers in social media across countries. This paper has implications for marketers who are trying to find influential consumers to increase new product adoption. Social media opinion leaders are important seeding points, because they actively initiate new product adoption for other consumers. Marketers should create strategies that are in line with the country’s cultural orientation in addition to personal/psychological traits. Social implications This research provides valuable information to better explain the consumers’ adoption of technological products and the factors affecting this process in the context of social media. Specifically, this paper identifies strategies to use cultural differences across countries (i.e. Turkey versus the USA) and personality traits (i.e., innovativeness and extraversion) in the adoption of new products. Originality/value This paper extends prior literature on opinion leadership by uncovering consumer dynamics internationally, which are known to influence social media use. Specifically, by examining the effect of innovativeness and extraversion on opinion leadership in different countries, this research contributes to the literature on new product adoption and has implications for effectively identifying influencers in social media.