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
The structure for respondents C and D’s interviews were slightly altered from the one used for respondent B because they have lesser-known blogs. Respondent C did have a more successful blog than respondent D. Also, respondent C conformed more to the role of online opinion leader and respondent D to that of online opinion seeker. The questions touched on (personal) motivations, involvement and importance of fashion in their lives, curating their blogs (i.e. choosing content for their blogs), media habits (that includes the, in their opinion, importance of social networks and traditional media for acquiring information), and their interaction with readers. See Appendix II for the transcript of the interview with respondent A and the e-mail interviews (follow-up e-mails are joined into one long interview) with respondents B, C, and D. CHAPTER 4 RESULTS SURVEY In total, 131 people filled out the survey. It was distributed, as mentioned in the previous chapter, on mostly public fashion forums, through social media, and personal contacts who expressed an interest in fashion. In total, the sample consists of 118 women (or 90.1 percent of the total respondents) and 13 (9.9 percent) men with. This finding is not surprising as in most
Table 8: The various means of discovering and staying up to date on the latest fashion news and trends. Media Habits Total Friends On the street Fashion magazines Online webzines Blogs Other: Offline Opinion Leaders Count 6 18 25 19 25 1 94 Percentage (%) 6.4 19.1 26.6 20.2 26.6 1.1 Online Opinion Leaders Count 3 6 7 5 9 0 30 Percentage (%) 10.0 20.0 23.3 16.7 30.0 0.0 Offline Opinion Seekers Count 28 47 47 37 40 7 206 Percentage (%) 13.6 22.8 22.8 18.0 19.4 3.4 Online Opinion Seekers Count 2 4 4 3 5 0 18 Percentage (%) 11.1 22.2% 22.2 16.7 27.8 0.0 Leaders/ Seekers Count 4 7 7 3 3 5 29 Percentage (%) 13.8 24.1 24.1 10.3 10.3 17.2 Missing Values Count 7 2 4 2 2 4 21 Percentage (%) 33.3 9.5 19.0 9.5 9.5 19.0 Total Count 50 84 94 69 84 17 398 Total (%) 12.6% 21.1% 23.6% 17.3% 21.1% 4.3% 100.0%
Q4. What is your highest level of education you have completed or are now in the process of completing? (Between brackets Dutch equivalent) Please tick a box. Elementary School (score=1) High-school (voortgezet onderwijs) Secondary vocational (MBO/LBO) Polytechnic (HBO Bachelor) Bachelor’s degree (3 jaar WO) Master’s degree (4-5 jaar WO) Post-graduate (PhD) Other: ____________________ Q5. Below you will find a couple of statements about general opinions on fashion. To what extent do you agree with them? Please tick the box based on your own opinion. Strongly disagree (score=1) Disagree (score=2) Neutral (score=3) Agree (score=4) Strongly agree (score=5) Friends often ask my advice on what clothes to buy. □ □ □ □ □ My opinion on fashion seems not to count with friends. □ □ □ □ □ What I say about fashion often changes other people’s minds. □ □ □ □ □ When I consider buying new clothes, I usually ask others for advice. □ □ □ □ □ When choosing fashionable clothing, other people’s opinions are not important to me. □ □ □ □ □ I often influence people’s opinion about □ □ □ □ □