This research aims to determine the factors that influence common consumers to become opinion leaders regarding books. The study will examine the effects of friends and relatives, and the effectiveness of word-of-mouth from opinion leaders, on purchasing decisions. A questionnaire will be used to collect data on satisfaction, loyalty, and other traits of opinion leaders. The research seeks to gain insights on opinion leaders and how they impact consumer behavior and diffusion of information.

1. SYNOPSIS<br />OF<br />RESEARCH METHODOLOGY<br />ON<br />Topic: To determine the factors due to which common man become opinion leader in respect to Books<br />SUBMITTED TO:SUBMITTED BY:<br />Mr. Amit LalPreeti Bisht <br />RT1902-A16<br />ACKNOWLEDGEMENT<br />Accomplishment of any task, howsoever small it may be, is<br />Not possible without the blessings of the Almighty and without the active<br />Help of certain individuals.<br />My special thanks to Mr. Amit Lal, Who motivated me to take up this Term paper. I’m highly grateful to him for guiding me so affectionately.<br />And …… last, but not the least, I’m indebted to teachers<br />For their help, moral support. I hope and wish; I can repay their efforts half as much as they have effort for me.<br />- Preeti Bisht<br />Contents<br />Introduction...................................................................................................................4<br />Objectives……………………………………………………………………………..5 <br />Need and Scope.............................................................................................................5<br />Review of Literature......................................................................................................6<br />Research Methodology..................................................................................................8<br />Questionnaire.................................................................................................................9<br />Reference……………………………………………………………………………...12<br />Introduction:<br />Opinion leaders are the individual whose ideas and behaviour serve as a model to others. Opinion leaders communicate messages to a primary group, influencing the attitudes and behaviour change of their followers. Therefore, in certain marketing instances, it may be advantageous to direct the communications to the opinion leader alone to speed the acceptance of an advertising message. For example, advertisers may direct a dental floss promotion to influential dentists or a fashion campaign to female celebrities. In both instances, the advertiser is using the opinion leader to carry and \"
trickle down\"
its message to influence its target group. Because of the important role opinion leader play in influencing markets, advertisers have traditionally used them to give testimonials.<br />Opinion leadership (or word of mouth communication) is the process by which one person (the opinion leader) informally influences the actions or attitudes of others, who may be opinion seekers or opinion recipients. The characteristic of the influence is that it is interpersonal and informal and takes place between two or more people. One of the parties in a word of mouth encounter usually offers advice or information about a product or service, such as which of several brands is best or how a particular product may be used. <br /> <br />Why are opinion leaders important?<br />Provide advocacy activity: They can champion the products that they believe in. They can act as change agents and help direct how your product is perceived in the market<br />Provide marketing insights: They can be engaged in focus groups in a variety of ways. For example: You can conduct market research through an online panel of these experts. Their feedback can also help company in testing market of drugs before they are made available to the public<br />Be a part of primary investigations: They can be engaged in conducting trials that can help in testing the efficacy of products.<br />A recent study in UK revealed that 71% of the respondents are preferring “friend’s recommendation”, whereas 63% of said “past experience”. Only 15% mentioned “advertising”.<br />Objective<br />To know the various factors which influence common consumer to become opinion leader

2. To examine the different effects of friends and relatives.

3. To examine the effectiveness of word of mouth of opinion leader

4. To know the influence of opinion leader in purchasing decision of Book of common consumer

5. To open new vistas for further researches.Scope<br />This research is carried on to examine how the common-man becomes opinion leader. Similar researches is conducted to determine the factors of making change in common man which turn them to opinion leader. This will help the companies in increasing their profitability. Opinion leader help in reducing the post-purchase dissonance by confirming their own buying decision.<br />Needs<br />The primary purpose or need of the research is to gain an insight of the opinion leaders. Through my research I tried to locate the specific factors such as satisfaction, loyalty etc which are traits of opinion leader. My basic aim is to determine the behaviour of consumer and its scope for further improvement and to know an insight of role of opinion leader while purchasing made by common people. It will also help in determining the prospective customers of LPU purchasing different Books. <br />Review of Literature<br />Asugman, Gulden, Borak, Eser and Bodur, Muzaffer(1994),revealed that in some areas opinion leaders were high self-monitoring individuals. He found out that if opinion leaders were high self-monitoring individuals then it would mean that opinion leaders were not mere transmitters of information but also were receivers of information from their group due to their nature. He also investigated the correlation of opinion leadership with an individual's self-monitoring degree which results in that self-monitoring correlates significantly with opinion leadership in travelling, and with opinion leadership in entertainment. Burt, Ronald S.(1999), gives a view on role of opinion leader in diffusion of innovation. They found out that opinion leaders are brokers in the sense that their influence is between, rather than within, groups. Their study of role of social capital in innovation diffusion establishes a conceptual link between diffusion and the broader issue of inequality. Chaney, M. Isabella(2001),determine whether opinion leaders for wine can be identified either demographically or by their information-seeking behavior. They concluded that opinion leaders do not form a particular demographic segment by themselves and their actions are different from others. Their statistical results indicate that opinion leaders are the magnetic core who can attract consumers' confidence. Feder, Gershon and Savastano, Sara(2006),determine the impact of opinion leaders on the diffusion of new knowledge, concluding that there was no clear evidence on whether opinion leaders were more effective if they were similar in socio-economic attributes to the other farmers rather than superior to would be followers. They found out that if the selected opinion leaders were excessively superior to the others in the community, their effectiveness actually diminishes and they may become essentially irrelevant to the diffusion of knowledge beyond a small circle of those higher status individuals who were closely associated with them. Goldsmith, Ronald E, Bertrandias, Laurent(2006), replicates previous findings that attention to social comparison information is positively associated with fashion opinion leadership and fashion opinion seeking. The findings partially replicate the negative relationship between CNFU and fashion opinion seeking, suggesting that this is more likely among younger consumers than among older ones. Goldsmith, Ronald E.; Clark, Ronald A.(2008),tested hypothesized relationships of consumer need for uniqueness, attention to social comparison information, status consumption, and role-relaxed consumption with opinion leadership and opinion seeking for new fashionable clothing. The study expands the description of motivating factors with status and role-relaxed consumption. Cielo, Juan C.(2008), examine the development and operability of variables in the hypotheses using a quantitative paradigm for the social sciences, deductive research logic, and a cross-sectional methodology. They primarily examine the relationship between ethics orientations and integrity types, as independent variables, and Peruvian managers’ leadership styles, as the dependent variable. Raghupathi, Viju,Arazy, Ofer, Kumar, Nanda,Shapira, Bracha(2009),studied the factors that affect a person's ability to influence others have been conducted in either a work setting or leisure setting. They concluded that both movie-related trustworthiness and work-related centrality exert distinct effects on one's ability to influence others opinions regarding movies. Lu, Yingda, Jerath, Kinshuk and Vir Singh, Param(2010),concluded that opinion leaders in networked communities have to constantly remain active and generate high quality reviews to maintain their opinion leadership status in the future. They suggests that when researchers investigate the evolution of a network, they should not focus only on network characteristics such as degree, betweenness measures, etc. – they should also take into account how characteristics of individuals can influence the evolution dynamics in a social network.. Iyengar, Raghuram, Van den Bulte, Christophe and Valente, Thomas W(2010), studied how opinion leadership and social contagion within social networks affect the adoption of a new product. They also found out that the amount of contagion is moderated by both the recipients’ perception of their opinion leadership and the sources’ volume of product usage. The finding not only venues to gain richer theoretical understanding of social contagion but also ways through which one might ultimately increase the effectiveness of network marketing. <br /> <br />Research Methodology:<br />This section describes the design of the research methodology and aims to improve assurance that appropriate procedures were followed. This research seeks to examine the factors which led a common consumer to become opinion leader in respect to Books in LPU.<br />Sampling Technique:<br />Convenient sampling methods is used to collect the data as the questionnaires are distributed conveniently. That is, a sample population selected because it is readily available.<br />Research Design:<br />The research design of the term paper is descriptive in nature.<br /> <br />Sampling Unit:<br />Students of LPU<br />Sampling element:<br /> Individual respondents are the sampling element.<br />Data collection: Here the study undertaken is based on the primary data and secondary data both.<br />Primary data:<br />We will collect through the questionnaire from the consumer of LPU.<br />Secondary data: It has been collected from websites and other sources such as books, articles, and research papers.<br />Questionnaire<br />Dear Respondent,<br />I student of Lovely Professional University (LPU) doing MBA conducting a survey. This survey is designed to know the factors due to which a common consumer becomes an opinion leader. So, Please spare some precious time of yours to fill it correctly to make my study complete.<br />Name of the respondent………………………………<br />Gender:-<br />Male()Female()<br />Age……………………………………………………….<br />Occupation………………………………………………<br />1-Do you read books?<br />Yes()No()<br />If yes, go for next question and If no go to question No. 11<br />2- How often you read books?<br />Daily()Weekly ()<br />Monthly()Occasionally()<br />3-Which type of book does you read?<br />Novel()Biography()<br />Magazines()Spiritual Book() <br />Any Other (specify)…………………..<br />4-Why you read books<br />For time pass()Hobby()<br />Gain knowledge()Preparing for completion()<br />Any other (Specify)….………..<br />5-Do you recommend any one before purchasing Books?<br />Yes()No()<br />6-Rate the factors which influence you to become opinion leader. <br />12 3 4 5<br />SatisfactionLoyaltyExperienceKnowledgeWord of mouthFamiliaritySimple LanguageAvailabilityReasonable PriceGood FormatInterestSocial statusSame ageWillingness to talkCredibility<br />7-In general, do you talk to your friends and neighbours about books?<br />very often never?<br />5 4 3 2 1<br />8- When you talk to your friends and neighbours about book do they<br />give a great deal of information give very little information?<br />5 4 3 2 1<br />9- In a discussion of newly introduced Book, which of the following happens most often?<br />You tell your friends about Book your friends tell you about Book?<br />5 4 3 2 1<br />10- Overall, in all of your discussions with friends and neighbours, are you:<br />Often used as a source of advice not used as a source of advice?<br />5 4 3 2 1<br />11- Why you not read books………………………………………………………………………<br />…………………………………………………………………………………………………….<br />……………………………………………………………………………………………………<br />(Thanks for your Cooperation)<br />Reference:<br />Asugman, Gulden, Borak, Eser and Bodur, Muzaffer, “Opinion leadership and Self-monitoring: evidence for the two-way flow of communications” Asia Pacific Advances in Consumer Research, Volume 1, 1994, Pages 203-207.<br />Burt, Ronald S., “The social capital of Opinion leader” The American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1999.<br />http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/ronald.burt/research/scol.pdf<br />M. Chaney, Isabella, “Opinion leaders as a segment for marketing communications” Marketing Intelligence & Planning, May 2001, Page- 302-308 <br />Feder, Gershon and Savastano, Sara, “The role of opinion leaders in the diffusion of new knowledge: The case of integrated pest management” World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3916, May 2006.<br />Goldsmith, Ronald E, Bertrandias, Laurent “Some psychological motivations for fashion opinion leadership and fashion opinion seeking” Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, Vol. 10 No. 1, 2006, pp. 25-40<br />Goldsmith, Ronald E.; Clark, Ronald A, “An analysis of factors affecting fashion opinion leadership and fashion opinion seeking” Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 308-322, 2008<br />Cielo, Juan C., “Influence of Ethics and Integrity in Peruvian Managers’ Leadership Styles: A Doctoral Research Proposal” Journal of CENTRUM Cathedra, Vol. 1, No. 1, Mar 2008.<br />http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1479881<br />Raghupathi, Viju,Arazy, Ofer, Kumar, Nanda,Shapira, Bracha, “Opinion leadership: Non-work-related advice in a work setting” Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, Nov 2009 http://www.allbusiness.com/technology/software-services-applications/13627683-1.html <br />Lu, Yingda, Jerath, Kinshuk and Vir Singh, Param “The Emergence of Opinion Leaders in Online Review Communities” Mar 2010<br />http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1562245<br />Iyengar, Raghuram, Van den Bulte, Christophe and Valente, Thomas W, “Opinion Leadership and Social Contagion in New Product Diffusion”, Jan 2010 http://marketing.wharton.upenn.edu/documents/research/Npd.pdf<br />