Influencers vs the power of the crowd: A research about social influence on digital era/Influencer versus el poder de la multitud: una investigaci
| Autor | Tobon, Sandra |
| Cargo | Research article |
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Introduction
According to the Global Web Index (2020), the two most consulted media to learn about new products or services before making an online purchase are the recommendations of opinion leaders (OL) and Online Consumer Reviews (OCR).
About 4 billion people are users of online social networks and on average they use these platforms for 2 hours 24 minutes per day. Likewise, 85% of internet users claim to have made at least one online purchase in the last month, and 70% of these claim to have read online reviews before making the purchase (Statista, 2021).
For its part, according to Statista (2021), 92% of the users of a social network said they follow one or more celebrities or influencers and 36.2% said they tried a product that said celebrities recommended, compared to 20.4 who said they had bought a product recommended by an influencer.
These two mechanisms of social influence have revolutionized the way companies have to promote and disseminate products and have allowed the emergence of new, previously anonymous, agents who are now gaining popularity in social networks and free online forums for their ability to provide relevant information for making consumer decisions (Bao & Chang, 2014; Tobon & García-Madariaga, 2021).
However, the nature of these two sources of social influence is different; while OLs have become figures that companies hire to promote their products (Stubb, Nyström, & Colliander, 2019), OCRs are opinions or recommendations that consumers are freely sharing on the web (Hennig-Thurau, Gwinner, Walsh, & Gremler, 2004; Moran & Muzellec, 2017). Moreover, while the former has a large number of followers in their social network accounts (Chantamas, Satanasavapak, & Visetbhakdi, 2020), the latter have, in many cases, a more limited and cohesive social network (Park, Gu, Leung, & Konana, 2014). Therefore, it is relevant to study which type of information source has the greatest influence on consumer decisions, OLs or OCRs.
According to the dual-process theory of Katz (1957), an OL is an anonymous agent that, by position in the social network and its knowledge, can influence the consumption decisions of its followers. Therefore, companies have used their image to promote their products (Bao & Chang, 2014); however, with the emergence of social networks, the figure of the OL has changed and now, more than knowledge, its central position and access to millions of followers are the keys to disseminating information and news of products or services (Beer, 2018). Recent literature has named these new figures as influencers, celebrities, or hubs (Katona, Zubcsek, & Sarvary, 2011; Schimmelpfennig & Hunt, 2020). However, the background remains the same, characters with a central social position and a wide and varied audience that is attentive to their opinions and recommendations. We use the concept of OL and influencer in an indistinct way to signify a person with a large number of followers of different backgrounds.
There is empirical evidence on the role of OLs in disseminating information or recommending products. For example, Iyengar, van del Bulte, and Valente (2011) had shown how an OL plays a central role in the diffusion of a pharmaceutical product. Likewise, Jin and Phua (2014) found that the brands that were endorsed by celebrities had the greater intention of purchase and brand recall.
For its part, the other source of social influence -the OCR- has multiplied exponentially on the web and its influence on purchasing decisions has been documented (Babic Rosario, de Valck, & Sotgiu, 2020). For example, Cheung and Thadani (2012) showed that OCRs are the most frequently studied form of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) and the one that has the greatest influence on consumers in buying intentions. Moreover, Babic, Sotgiu, de Valck, and Bijmolt (2016) conducted a meta-analysis of eWOM literature and concluded that this source of information influences the sales of the products.
Accordingly, if these two sources have been shown to influence the way consumers make decisions in digital contexts, and considering that their nature is different, it is worth asking which type of information source is most influential in online purchase decisions. Companies are investing billions of dollars annually to promote their brands through celebrities or opinion leaders. For example, Nike will pay $162 million for advertising to Cristiano Ronaldo in the next ten years, who in turn promotes brands such as Altice, DAZN, MTG, Herbalife, Electronic Arts (Forbes, 2019).
However, are the product recommendations from an opinion leader like Ronaldo more influential than the billions of comments that anonymously spread on social network sites about products? This research responds to this question with an online experimental design to establish which information source is more credible and which has the greatest influence on online purchase decisions.
This document has been organized as follows: the next section presents a review of the most relevant and recent literature on social influence, followed by the description of the methodology implemented to examine the hypotheses, subsequently, the results obtained are analyzed and the discussion of said results ends in the light of the existing literature and the implications both at an academic and applied level of the present investigation.
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Literature review and hypotheses
2.1 Social influence: OL versus OCR
Social influence is the study of "how one person or group affects another's opinions, attitudes, emotions or behaviors." It can take on different forms such as "persuasion, conformity, motivation, compliance, performance, obedience, leadership, and information exchange" (Goldsmith, 2015, p. 3).
Katz and Lazarsfeld (2009) raised the theory of personal influence in the traditional marketplace. According to this theory, called The two-step flow of communication, "influences stemming from the mass media first reach 'opinion leaders' who, in turn, pass on what they read and hear to those of their everyday associates for whom they are influential" (Katz, 1957, p. 63).
Hence, the mass media has an indirect effect on consumer behavior, but OLs have a direct influence on their followers. This theory has explained the standard marketing strategy that searches for an OL to promote brands with their social network (Keller & Berry, 2003).
Katz and Lazarsfeld (2009) demonstrated that anonymous persons with a social network central position have more influence than mass media in innovation diffusion and communication. Moreover, this informal way of communication can change behavior and become decisive in the people's choice process.
This explanation was appropriate and useful in the traditional communication model, but with the appearance of the Internet and Social Networks Sites (SNS), new forms of social influence have emerged (Jin & Phua, 2014).
SNS has allowed people to be connected and share experiences, moods, and lifestyles with their followers, influencing and being influenced in consumer decisions. As social beings, people need to be part of a group. The Internet and SNS have made it easier and faster for people to be part of a group or follow their friends, family, and even people they do not know personally, such as celebrities or bloggers. These types of people, who have many followers, are called OLs or influencers (Keller & Berry, 2003).
Another source of information has arisen with the use of SNSs like Facebook, and with them, many anonymous users are also finding an audience and influencing other consumers' behavior. This type of information is called electronic word of mouth (eWOM). eWOM is defined as "any positive or negative statement made by potential, actual, or former customers about a product or company, which is made available to a multitude of people and institutions via the internet" (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004, p. 39).
However, in SNS and forums online, almost everyone can post their product reviews, and it is tough to know how much expertise the reviewer has. Moreover, when an OL or celebrity posts his/her experience for free or for money, most of the time he/she has no expertise in the product. That brings us to the next research question: Can OL recommendations change consumer purchase behavior?
According to previous literature results, we hypothesize that:
* H1: A product or service that has been recommended by an OL or an OCR is far more likely to be purchased by a consumer than another that has not been recommended.
2.2 OL eWOM
When an OL posts eWOM, most of the time this is because he/she is promoting a brand and has been paid for by companies (Iyengar et al., 2011). An OL is defined as a person who influences and shapes the attitudes, opinions, and behaviors of other consumers (Gnambs & Batinic, 2013). In network analysis, an OL is a person who has the most followers or connections and has a central position on the network (Bao & Chang, 2014).
In this investigation, we start from the definition of OL formulated by Katz and Lazarsfeld (2009), and use the...
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