Opinion leadership refers to the influence an individual exerts on others due to their skills, personality, status, or specific knowledge. According to Amina Béji-Bécheur and Mathilde Gollety, this form of influence can be approached from three different angles. First, an opinion leader can be defined by their degree of influence. Second, the communication aspect, often one-sided, can be emphasized. Finally, an approach combines the two previous dimensions to define the concept of opinion leadership. In the context of disseminating an innovation, the opinion leader plays a crucial role. Indeed, the future success of a new product depends in part on its ability to exchange information with others and its power of influence. This is why companies seek to leverage these influential information relays, and identifying these individuals is of paramount importance.
The role of opinion leaders varies depending on the products and the target audiences, as they can convey positive or negative information about a product. We can thus distinguish between monomorphic opinion leaders, who specialize in a specific field, and polymorphic leaders, who are experts in several fields. The 1944 study by Lazarsfeld, Berelson, and Gaudet highlighted the impact of opinion leaders on the communication of ideas, particularly through their influence on voting decisions during the 1940 US presidential election. This type of leadership involves interpersonal communication based on an exchange of information and the leader’s personal influence on attitudes and behaviors, as Héla Ben Miled and Pierre Le Louarn emphasize.
The evolution of communication technologies, particularly the internet, has profoundly transformed the use of opinion leadership in marketing. By offering a means of instant, wide-reaching, and inexpensive dissemination, the internet…
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