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The Social Capital of Opinion Leaders

Author

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  • Ronald S. Burt

    (University of Chicago)

Abstract

Opinion leaders are more precisely opinion brokers who carry information across the social boundaries between groups. They are not people at the top of things so much as people at the edge of things, not leaders within groups so much as brokers between groups. The familiar two-step flow of communication is a compound of two very different network mechanisms: contagion by cohesion through opinion leaders gets information into a group, and contagion by equivalence generates adoptions within the group. Opinion leaders as brokers bear a striking resemblance to network entrepreneurs in social capital research. The complementary content of diffusion and social capital research makes the analogy productive. Diffusion research describes how opinion leaders play their role of brokering information between groups, and social capital research describes the benefits that accrue to brokers.

Suggested Citation

  • Ronald S. Burt, 1999. "The Social Capital of Opinion Leaders," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 566(1), pages 37-54, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:566:y:1999:i:1:p:37-54
    DOI: 10.1177/000271629956600104
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Frenzen, Jonathan K & Davis, Harry L, 1990. "Purchasing Behavior in Embedded Markets," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 17(1), pages 1-12, June.
    2. Flynn, Leisa Reinecke & Goldsmith, Ronald E. & Eastman, Jacqueline K., 1994. "The King and Summers opinion leadership scale: Revision and refinement," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 55-64, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ibiso Isoboye Damieibi & Isoboye Jacob Damieibi, 2023. "Impact of Networking on Resources Sharing in Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Nigeria," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(5), pages 1229-1248, May.
    2. Yali Zhang & Haixin Zhang & Zhaojun Yang & Jun Sun & Chrissie Diane Tan, 2019. "Snowball Effect of User Participation in Online Environmental Communities: Elaboration Likelihood under Social Influence," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-15, September.
    3. Sangmi Chai & Bomi Choi & Minkyun Kim & T. C. E. Cheng, 2023. "Why do people speak about products online? The role of opinion leadership," Information Technology and Management, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 1-17, March.

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