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OPINION LEADERSHIP FOR

ETHNIC PRODUCTS

Dissertation ProposalPresented to the

Graduate Faculty of theMarshall Goldsmith School of Management

Alliant International University

PresentedBy

Levi Richard

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INTRODUCTION This study is an exploration of the

characteristics of opinion leaders for ethnic products and proposes to learn how they behave and disseminate information.

Most of the prior research on this topic has focused on the opinion leaders of mainstream products.

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OPINION LEADERSHIPFunctions of opinion leadership

Acquire product information about product’s or product categories they are interested in.

Disseminate information throughout their social networks.

Opinion Leaders

SocialNetworks

Spread Information

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U.S. POPULATION TRENDS

Percentage of Total U.S. Population (in 1,000s)

1960 1990 1998 2020 2050

Non-Latino White 88.6 83.9 82.5 79.0 74.8

African-American 10.5 12.3 12.8 14.0 15.4

Hispanic-American N/A 9.0 11.0 16.3 24.5

Asian-American N/A 3.0 3.9 6.1 8.7

Source: U.S. Bureau of Census (1998)

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CONSUMER SPENDING HABITS

Asian Black Hispanic White

Food 6,742 4,265 5,911 5,999

Alcoholic Beverages 325 171 320 523

Housing 17,418 11,043 12,884 14,503

Apparel & Services 1,885 1,765 1,817 1,830

Transportation 8,556 4,976 7,497 8,273

Health Care 2,101 1,368 1,588 2,891

Education 2,087 573 438 1,019

Entertainment 1,789 1,040 1,443 2,503

Personal Care 506 503 519 602

Personal Insurance and Pensions

6,176 3,230 3,765 5,207

Source: New Strategist Publications, 2004

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IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY

1. In the United States, the demand for ethnic products will grow as the American society continues to become more diverse

2. Marketers of ethnic products will need to discover who the opinion leaders are and how they disseminate information to the information receivers.

3. A focus must be placed on discovering the characteristics of opinion leaders for ethnic products.

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OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY1. Compare opinion leadership across

three different ethnic groups.2. Compare social networking

relationships, such as who the ethnic opinion leader is within the network.

3. Investigate how the opinion leader for ethnic products disseminates information to the information receivers.

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BROAD CONCEPTUAL MODEL

CommunicationBehaviors

Ethnic Background

Influences

Broad Conceptual ModelFigure 1

Opinion Leadership

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LITERATURE REVIEW Opinion Leadership Acculturation Ethnic Identity Cross Cultural Studies

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OPINION LEADERSHIP Original research was conducted by

Lazarfeld & Berelson (1948) that measured opinion leaders impact on the election.

Rogers and Cartano (1962) defined opinion leadership as “individuals who exert an unequal amount of influence on the decisions of others…those individuals from whom others seek advice and information”.

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O.L. CHARACTERISTICSDiscussion Interest Knowledgeable about

a product category(s)

Innovativeness Social leadership Social activity

Special interest media habits

Enduring product involvement

Domain specific innovativeness

Information sharing Expertise Influence

Exposed to Mass Media

Uses technology Educated

Age Gender Sociability

Income/Wealth Attitude to change Youth oriented

Maturity Self-centered Authoritarian

Opinionated Accessible Practical

Peer expert Visibility Risk preference

Dogmatism Public individuation Product importance

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ACCULTURATION Acculturation occurs when the member

of one cultural group comes into contact with a larger dominant cultural group and changes in their attitudes, values, perceptions, and behaviors occur over time (Gordon, 1964; Herskovits, 1938; Triandis, Kashima, Shimada, Lisansky, & Villareal, 1986).

Low High

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ETHNIC IDENTITY A psychological construct reflecting

various aspects of our identification with, and membership in, an ethnic group (Cuellar 1997).

Low High

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ETHNIC IDENTITY Factors that impact ethnic identity

Self-identification (Phinney, 1992)Sense of belonging (Ashmore, 2004;

Phinney, 1990)Ethnic involvement (Phinney, 1992)

Friendship (Drieger, 1975; Garcia, 1983) Language Religious Affiliation Group participation Political activities

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ETHNIC IDENTITY Factors that impact ethnic identity

Importance and Salience (Phinney & Alipuria, 1990).

Social Embeddedness (Ashmore, 2004)Exploration (Phinney, 2007)

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OPINION LEADERSHIP ACROSS CULTURES Cosmos & Sheth (1980)

Measured opinion leadership characteristics across five cultural groups (American White, American Black, India, Chinese, and British)

7 dimensions were found to be significant among the five groups (opinionated, practical, self-centered, accessible, peer expert, authoritarian, general expert.

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OPINION LEADERSHIP ACROSS CULTURES Marchall & Gitosudarmo (1995)

Measured opinion leadership characteristics in eight countries (Germany, Hong Kong, Australia, India, Indonesia, Korea, United States, and New Zealand)

Factor analysis was used to categorize 13 opinion leader characteristics into four factors (maturity, expertise, sociability, and wealth).

Findings showed differences between the countries with respect to maturity and wealth.

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OPINION LEADERSHIP ACROSS CULTURES Coulter, Freick, and Price (2002)

Measured cosmetic opinion leadership traits among women in Hungary.

Findings show that the cosmetics opinion leader is younger, more cosmopolitan and upscale, and involved with the media.

They also show a higher degree of product involvement and product knowledge.

Also, the findings showed that these opinion leaders showed “seeking behaviors” indicating they look for new and different brands of cosmetics.

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OPINION LEADERSHIP ACROSS CULTURES Sohn (2006)

Measured opinion leader characteristics (expertise, product involvement, domain specific innovativeness, media habits, and demographics) within digital camera online communities in Korea.

Found no correlation between product involvement and demographics, with O.L. in the online environment.

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Figure 1: Broad Conceptual Model

Opinion LeaderFor

Ethnic ProductsDissemination

Behaviors

OL Characteristics

Internet ForumsBlogsWord-of-mouth

Chat roomsNewsletterOne-on-one conversation

Acculturation

Ethnic Identity

Ethnic Product Involvement

Ethnic Media Usage

Ethnic Product Knowledge

Ethnic Social Networks

H1

H2

H3

H4, H6, H7

H5H9

H8

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RESEARCH QUESTIONS RQ1 Is there a relationship between opinion

leadership for ethnic products and the strength of ethnic identity? RQ1a: Is there a relationship between opinion leadership

for ethnic products and the dimensions of ethnic identity? RQ1b: Is there a relationship between the opinion leader

for ethnic products and their level of education? RQ1c: Is there a relationship between the opinion leader

for ethnic products and gender? RQ2 Is there a correlation between the strength of

acculturation and the ethnic identity of opinion leaders for ethnic products?

RQ3 Is there a correlation between the ethnicity of opinion leaders for ethnic products and the ethnicity of the information recipient?

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RESEARCH QUESTIONS RQ4 Is there a positive correlation between the use of

culturally based media and the opinion leader for ethnic products?

RQ5 Is there a negative correlation between the strength of acculturation for the opinion leader for ethnic products and product knowledge? RQ5a: Is there a negative correlation between the strength of

acculturation and the use ethnic language media? RQ6 Does a correlation exist between the opinion leaders for

ethnic products and product knowledge? RQ7 Is there a positive relationship between the level of

product involvement and opinion leadership for ethnic products?

RQ8 Is there a relationship between opinion leadership for ethnic products and the strength of ethnic social networks?

RQ9 Is there a relationship between opinion leadership and the influence over the members of the social network?

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HYPOTHESES H1: There is a relationship between opinion leaders for

ethnic products and the strength of ethnic identity. H1a: There is a relationship between opinion leadership

for ethnic products and the dimensions of ethnic identity.

H1b: There is a relationship between opinion leadership for ethnic products and their level of education.

H1c: There is a relationship between the opinion leader for ethnic products and gender.

H2: There is a relationship between strength of acculturation and the ethnic identity of opinion leaders for ethnic products.

H3: There is a positive correlation between the ethnicity of opinion leaders for ethnic products and the ethnicity of the information recipient.

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HYPOTHESES H4: There is a positive relationship between the use of

culturally based media and the opinion leader for ethnic products.

H5: There is a negative correlation between the strength of acculturation for opinion leaders for ethnic products and product knowledge.

H5a: There is a negative correlation between the strength of acculturation and the use ethnic language media.

H6: A positive correlation exists between opinion leaders for ethnic products and product knowledge.

H7: There is a positive relationship between the level of product involvement for ethnic products and opinion leadership for ethnic products.

H8: There is a relationship between opinion leaders for ethnic products and the strength of ethnic social networks.

H9: There is a relationship between opinion leadership and the influence over the members of the social network.

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RESEARCH DESIGN I will utilize an online survey or a mailed

questionnaire. Sample population of 3,000 (1,000 each

made up of African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and Asian-Americans).

Anticipate a response rate of 10-15%

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THE SURVEY Opinion leadership Acculturation Ethnic Identity Product Knowledge Product Involvement Purchase behaviors Demographics

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MEASUREMENT Acculturation Scale

Acculturation will be measured with a scale developed by Cuellar, Arnold & Maldonaldo (1995). 28-item, 5 point Likert scale.

Ethnic IdentityThe questions used to measure the level of

ethnic identity have been adapted from the Multi-group Ethnic Identity Measure, developed by Phinney (1992). 23-item, 4 point Likert scale

Ethnic Opinion LeadershipRevised opinion leadership scale (Childers,

1986). 7-item, 5 point Likert scale

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MEASUREMENT Product Knowledge

The questions used to measure product knowledge have been adapted from a study conducted by Coulter, Feick, and Price (2000). 5-item, 5 point Likert scale.

Product InvolvementThe questions used to measure involvement

have been adapted using an involvement scale developed by Zaichkowsky (1985). 7 point Likert scale.

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DATA ANALYSIS Descriptive statistics will be used to describe

the demographic characteristics of the sample, and calculate the mean scores of all items on the scales.

Factor analysis will be used to uncover the underlying dimensions of opinion leadership for ethnic products.

ANOVA will be used to compare the factor mean scores for each group.

The correlations between each of the variables will be analyzed. Factor analysis will be used to retest the reliability of the established scales and re-confirm the underlying dimensions.

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TIMELINE Proposal Defense 3rd Week of March

08 IRB 2 Weeks to

Confirm Mail announcement post cards 4th Week of April

08 Mail out survey 2nd Week of May

08 Mail follow-up post cards 4th Week of May 08 Begin to analyze data 3rd Week of June

08 Final defense August 08