This document discusses word-of-mouth (WOM) communication and the key players that influence change through WOM networks. It examines three theories on influentials: the influentials hypothesis, which argues that a few key individuals influence others; the everyone hypothesis, which states that everyone can play the role of influencer; and the hub hypothesis, which focuses on well-connected individuals. While each theory provides insights, the reality is likely a combination. The document also explores why WOM can be difficult for marketers to access, such as the challenges of measuring offline conversations. It concludes by identifying areas for further research, such as better defining influential roles and comparing online and offline hubs.
Study examining the impact of "influencers" on Twitter. Research reveals that Twitter users with high follower counts tend to generate highest amount of content that is shared.
Bullshiters - Who Are They And What Do We Know About Their LivesTrading Game Pty Ltd
‘Bullshitters’ are individuals who claim knowledge or expertise in an area where they
actually have little experience or skill. Despite this being a well-known and widespread
social phenomenon, relatively few large-scale empirical studies have been conducted into
this issue. This paper attempts to fill this gap in the literature by examining teenagers’
propensity to claim expertise in three mathematics constructs that do not really exist.
Using Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data from nine Anglophone
countries and over 40,000 young people, we find substantial differences in young people’s
tendency to bullshit across countries, genders and socio-economic groups. Bullshitters are
also found to exhibit high levels of overconfidence and believe they work hard, persevere
at tasks, and are popular amongst their peers. Together this provides important new insight
into who bullshitters are and the type of survey responses that they provide.
Study examining the impact of "influencers" on Twitter. Research reveals that Twitter users with high follower counts tend to generate highest amount of content that is shared.
Bullshiters - Who Are They And What Do We Know About Their LivesTrading Game Pty Ltd
‘Bullshitters’ are individuals who claim knowledge or expertise in an area where they
actually have little experience or skill. Despite this being a well-known and widespread
social phenomenon, relatively few large-scale empirical studies have been conducted into
this issue. This paper attempts to fill this gap in the literature by examining teenagers’
propensity to claim expertise in three mathematics constructs that do not really exist.
Using Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data from nine Anglophone
countries and over 40,000 young people, we find substantial differences in young people’s
tendency to bullshit across countries, genders and socio-economic groups. Bullshitters are
also found to exhibit high levels of overconfidence and believe they work hard, persevere
at tasks, and are popular amongst their peers. Together this provides important new insight
into who bullshitters are and the type of survey responses that they provide.
2. Brandtzæg, P.B. (2012). Social networking sites: their users and social implications – a longitudinal study. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 17 (4), 467-488
Mathematical Models of the Spread of Diseases, Opinions, Information, and Mis...Mason Porter
This is my general-audience talk at DiscCon III (2021 WorldCon).
My talk overlapped with the Hugo Award ceremony, but the video will be posted later on the DisCon website for attendees who want to see it.
Twitter is going to become much less important as a person to person (peer to peer) communication medium and instead become more of a content-delivery medium like TV, where content is broadcast to a large number of followers. It's just going to become a new way to follow celebrities, corporations, and the like.
These are the findings of research by two business school professors. Their paper "Intrinsic versus Image-Related Motivations in Social Media: Why do People Contribute to Twitter?", was published in the journal Marketing Science. The professors are Olivier Toubia of Columbia Business School and Andrew T. Stephen of the University of Pittsburgh.
In Professor Toubia’s words, “Get ready for a TV-like Twitter".
The research examined the motivations behind why everyday people, with no financial incentive, contribute to Twitter.The study examined roughly 2500 non-commercial Twitter users. In a field experiment, the profs randomly selected some of those users and, through the use of other synthetic accounts, increased the selected group's followers. At first, they noticed that as the selected group's followers increased, so did the posting rate. However, when that group reached a level of stature — a moderately large amount of followers — the posting rate declined significantly.
"Users began to realize it was harder to continue to attract more followers with their current strategy, so they slowed down.When posting activity no longer leads to additional followers, people will view Twitter as a non-evolving, static structure, like TV."
Based on the analyses, the profs predict Twitter posts by everyday people will slow down, yet celebrities and commercial users will continue to post for financial gain.
The paper is attached on Slideshare.
Visible Effort: A Social Entropy Methodology for Managing Computer-Mediated ...Sorin Adam Matei
A theoretically-grounded learning feedback tool suite, the Visible Effort (VE) Mediawiki extension, is proposed for optimizing online group learning activities by measuring the amount of equality and the emergence of social structure in groups that participate in Computer-Mediated Collaboration (CMC). Building on social entropy theory, drawn from Shannon’s Mathematical Theory of Communication, VE captures levels of CMC unevenness and group structure and visualizes them on wiki Web pages through background colors, charts, and tabular data. Visual information provides users entropic feedback on how balanced and equitable collaboration is within their online group are, while helping them to maintain it within optimal levels. Finally, we present the theoretical and practical implications of VE and the measures behind it, as well as illustrate VE’s capabilities by describing a quasi-experimental teaching activity (use scenario) in tandem with a detailed discussion of theoretical justification, methodological underpinning, and technological capabilities of the approach.
This paper effective communication is an essential ingredient to any successful relationship regardless of political or religious backgrounds. Useful communication is mostly employee in different sectors with the aim of making decisions and promoting unity. Communique serves as informing, influencing, imagining, meeting social expectations and expressing feelings. Most of the problems that exist in relationships and business organizations are due to ineffective interaction.
2009-JCMC-Discussion catalysts-Himelboim and SmithMarc Smith
This study addresses 3 research questions in the context of online political discussions:
What is the distribution of successful topic starting practices, what characterizes the content
of large thread-starting messages, and what is the source of that content? A 6-month
analysis of almost 40,000 authors in 20 political Usenet newsgroups identified authors
who received a disproportionate number of replies. We labeled these authors ‘‘discussion
catalysts.’’ Content analysis revealed that 95 percent of discussion catalysts’ messages
contained content imported from elsewhere on the web, about 2/3 from traditional news
organizations. We conclude that the flow of information from the content creators to the
readers and writers continues to be mediated by a few individuals who act as filters and
amplifiers.
Discuss the concept that attitude and opinion change were consider.docxlynettearnold46882
Discuss the concept that attitude and opinion change were considered to be measures of personal. This was because they were assumed to be enduring. Is this assumption still applicable today? Why and how? .(chapter 8)
Attitude is an action toward or away from an attitude object. An opinion is the way people express their attitude or believe. This could be verbalized while attitudes possessed positive and negative drive value. Tow major of research was done by Hovland and Janis address Laswell model of interpersonal communication who says what to whom in what channel with what effect or outcome. In 1953, this was looking for cause and effect and how one elicits change on another.
Hovland, Kelly, and Janis argued attitude and opinion are enduring. They used three steps in order to determine whether attitude change occurred or not. They include attention, comprehension, and acceptance. Not every message that will catch people’s attention. When the message is complicated, it is hard to comprehend and understand. To make the change, individual should accept changes to avoid any regret later. To overcome this regrets we need to work hard to make sure that we carry out the right decisions and which we are comfortable in.
A research on persuasion involves four parts that are communicator, message, audience and response. Credibility goes hand in hand with the communicator's ability to persuade someone. People tend to do dangerous things when in a group than individually. Persuasion is more successful when the individuals are personally convinced r influenced by an absolute choice. Humans are expected to be active in a given task if they are more involved in the persuasion. Someone with an interest in something is more likely to be persuading over time. Using less effort than that who lacks in Personal Influence. The message and credibility are some of the main factors that affect the rate of influencing persons into something.
In the two-step flow of communication, an individual fundamentally influences the other. The media will be more efficient in eliciting change than any other channel. Its influence is indirect rather than direct. Opinion leaders also play a great role in persuading groups of people. It is out of the persuasion that the public makes a choice based on how convinced they are about these choices.
The basic categories which Hovland, Janis, Lumsdaine, and Sheffield addressed in their persusion research are communicator, content, audience and response. It considered central to attitude change. Hovland used Lasswell's formula of "who says what to whom with what effect."
The Communicator (Who) the group studied source credibility, looking at trustworthiness and expertness. They found that, while high-credibility communicators produced better amounts of attitude change, low-credibility communicators produced little attitude change. Another found, when a person with high-credibility gives false information, a person will dissocia.
BUSI 240
Discussion Board Example
Groupthink
Definition: Organizational Behavior notes, “Groupthink is the tendency of highly cohesive groups to value consensus at the price of decision quality” (McShane & Von Glinow, 2008, p. 257).
Summary: The article entitled “The Turn to Online Research is Narrowing the Range of Modern Scholarship, a New Study Suggests” written by Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow (2008) discusses how the internet has made accessing research and other things on the internet extremely easy. The author asserts that by using search engines, which often rank the importance of a result by popularity, students leave themselves vulnerable to groupthink when conducting research results (Tuhus-Dubrow, 2008). Tuhus-Dubrow (2008) suggests that this this can be mitigated by using multiple sources to help provide a more well-rounded research pool.
Discussion: The internet has made performing research for students a matter of seconds. Students used to have to go to the library and conduct research out of textbooks and other publications but now by simply typing your subject in a search engine a variety of choices are at your fingertips. “Millions of journal articles are available online, enabling scholars to find material they never would have encountered at their university libraries” (Tuhus-Dubrow, 2008, para 2).
The internet just like everything else has it costs as well as benefits. Just like the article states the internet has started to dominate people’s lives. People rely on the internet for everything for both work and personal use.
The internet is considered to be a new form of groupthink because when searching for articles students are not highly selective in the choices they make and they tend to pick one of the few search choices that comes up. Also, the other alternatives of research are now not used due to the convenience of the internet. Tuhus-Dubrow (2008) make the case that outcomes should be portrayed by search engines in some organized way because most websites depend on devices that classify primarily in a couple of ways. The ways they are classified are by chronological order and by popularity (Tuhus-Dubrow, 2008). If a search engine filters results by popularity then this is groupthink because others are succumbing to the will of the group by choosing the same articles that show up first as results.
Do you feel that internet search engines cause groupthink? If so, elaborate on why you think this. Do you feel that this is why many professors at Liberty University want students to not choose the same discussion board topics? I personally feel that the reason professors want us to chose different topics is so that we will not reflect the same views and chose the same articles which would therefore be groupthink.
References
Adler, S. (2009). At davos, beware the tide of groupthink. Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved from: http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/feb2009/db2009021_878209.htm
McShane, S., & Von G.
2. Brandtzæg, P.B. (2012). Social networking sites: their users and social implications – a longitudinal study. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 17 (4), 467-488
Mathematical Models of the Spread of Diseases, Opinions, Information, and Mis...Mason Porter
This is my general-audience talk at DiscCon III (2021 WorldCon).
My talk overlapped with the Hugo Award ceremony, but the video will be posted later on the DisCon website for attendees who want to see it.
Twitter is going to become much less important as a person to person (peer to peer) communication medium and instead become more of a content-delivery medium like TV, where content is broadcast to a large number of followers. It's just going to become a new way to follow celebrities, corporations, and the like.
These are the findings of research by two business school professors. Their paper "Intrinsic versus Image-Related Motivations in Social Media: Why do People Contribute to Twitter?", was published in the journal Marketing Science. The professors are Olivier Toubia of Columbia Business School and Andrew T. Stephen of the University of Pittsburgh.
In Professor Toubia’s words, “Get ready for a TV-like Twitter".
The research examined the motivations behind why everyday people, with no financial incentive, contribute to Twitter.The study examined roughly 2500 non-commercial Twitter users. In a field experiment, the profs randomly selected some of those users and, through the use of other synthetic accounts, increased the selected group's followers. At first, they noticed that as the selected group's followers increased, so did the posting rate. However, when that group reached a level of stature — a moderately large amount of followers — the posting rate declined significantly.
"Users began to realize it was harder to continue to attract more followers with their current strategy, so they slowed down.When posting activity no longer leads to additional followers, people will view Twitter as a non-evolving, static structure, like TV."
Based on the analyses, the profs predict Twitter posts by everyday people will slow down, yet celebrities and commercial users will continue to post for financial gain.
The paper is attached on Slideshare.
Visible Effort: A Social Entropy Methodology for Managing Computer-Mediated ...Sorin Adam Matei
A theoretically-grounded learning feedback tool suite, the Visible Effort (VE) Mediawiki extension, is proposed for optimizing online group learning activities by measuring the amount of equality and the emergence of social structure in groups that participate in Computer-Mediated Collaboration (CMC). Building on social entropy theory, drawn from Shannon’s Mathematical Theory of Communication, VE captures levels of CMC unevenness and group structure and visualizes them on wiki Web pages through background colors, charts, and tabular data. Visual information provides users entropic feedback on how balanced and equitable collaboration is within their online group are, while helping them to maintain it within optimal levels. Finally, we present the theoretical and practical implications of VE and the measures behind it, as well as illustrate VE’s capabilities by describing a quasi-experimental teaching activity (use scenario) in tandem with a detailed discussion of theoretical justification, methodological underpinning, and technological capabilities of the approach.
This paper effective communication is an essential ingredient to any successful relationship regardless of political or religious backgrounds. Useful communication is mostly employee in different sectors with the aim of making decisions and promoting unity. Communique serves as informing, influencing, imagining, meeting social expectations and expressing feelings. Most of the problems that exist in relationships and business organizations are due to ineffective interaction.
2009-JCMC-Discussion catalysts-Himelboim and SmithMarc Smith
This study addresses 3 research questions in the context of online political discussions:
What is the distribution of successful topic starting practices, what characterizes the content
of large thread-starting messages, and what is the source of that content? A 6-month
analysis of almost 40,000 authors in 20 political Usenet newsgroups identified authors
who received a disproportionate number of replies. We labeled these authors ‘‘discussion
catalysts.’’ Content analysis revealed that 95 percent of discussion catalysts’ messages
contained content imported from elsewhere on the web, about 2/3 from traditional news
organizations. We conclude that the flow of information from the content creators to the
readers and writers continues to be mediated by a few individuals who act as filters and
amplifiers.
Discuss the concept that attitude and opinion change were consider.docxlynettearnold46882
Discuss the concept that attitude and opinion change were considered to be measures of personal. This was because they were assumed to be enduring. Is this assumption still applicable today? Why and how? .(chapter 8)
Attitude is an action toward or away from an attitude object. An opinion is the way people express their attitude or believe. This could be verbalized while attitudes possessed positive and negative drive value. Tow major of research was done by Hovland and Janis address Laswell model of interpersonal communication who says what to whom in what channel with what effect or outcome. In 1953, this was looking for cause and effect and how one elicits change on another.
Hovland, Kelly, and Janis argued attitude and opinion are enduring. They used three steps in order to determine whether attitude change occurred or not. They include attention, comprehension, and acceptance. Not every message that will catch people’s attention. When the message is complicated, it is hard to comprehend and understand. To make the change, individual should accept changes to avoid any regret later. To overcome this regrets we need to work hard to make sure that we carry out the right decisions and which we are comfortable in.
A research on persuasion involves four parts that are communicator, message, audience and response. Credibility goes hand in hand with the communicator's ability to persuade someone. People tend to do dangerous things when in a group than individually. Persuasion is more successful when the individuals are personally convinced r influenced by an absolute choice. Humans are expected to be active in a given task if they are more involved in the persuasion. Someone with an interest in something is more likely to be persuading over time. Using less effort than that who lacks in Personal Influence. The message and credibility are some of the main factors that affect the rate of influencing persons into something.
In the two-step flow of communication, an individual fundamentally influences the other. The media will be more efficient in eliciting change than any other channel. Its influence is indirect rather than direct. Opinion leaders also play a great role in persuading groups of people. It is out of the persuasion that the public makes a choice based on how convinced they are about these choices.
The basic categories which Hovland, Janis, Lumsdaine, and Sheffield addressed in their persusion research are communicator, content, audience and response. It considered central to attitude change. Hovland used Lasswell's formula of "who says what to whom with what effect."
The Communicator (Who) the group studied source credibility, looking at trustworthiness and expertness. They found that, while high-credibility communicators produced better amounts of attitude change, low-credibility communicators produced little attitude change. Another found, when a person with high-credibility gives false information, a person will dissocia.
BUSI 240
Discussion Board Example
Groupthink
Definition: Organizational Behavior notes, “Groupthink is the tendency of highly cohesive groups to value consensus at the price of decision quality” (McShane & Von Glinow, 2008, p. 257).
Summary: The article entitled “The Turn to Online Research is Narrowing the Range of Modern Scholarship, a New Study Suggests” written by Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow (2008) discusses how the internet has made accessing research and other things on the internet extremely easy. The author asserts that by using search engines, which often rank the importance of a result by popularity, students leave themselves vulnerable to groupthink when conducting research results (Tuhus-Dubrow, 2008). Tuhus-Dubrow (2008) suggests that this this can be mitigated by using multiple sources to help provide a more well-rounded research pool.
Discussion: The internet has made performing research for students a matter of seconds. Students used to have to go to the library and conduct research out of textbooks and other publications but now by simply typing your subject in a search engine a variety of choices are at your fingertips. “Millions of journal articles are available online, enabling scholars to find material they never would have encountered at their university libraries” (Tuhus-Dubrow, 2008, para 2).
The internet just like everything else has it costs as well as benefits. Just like the article states the internet has started to dominate people’s lives. People rely on the internet for everything for both work and personal use.
The internet is considered to be a new form of groupthink because when searching for articles students are not highly selective in the choices they make and they tend to pick one of the few search choices that comes up. Also, the other alternatives of research are now not used due to the convenience of the internet. Tuhus-Dubrow (2008) make the case that outcomes should be portrayed by search engines in some organized way because most websites depend on devices that classify primarily in a couple of ways. The ways they are classified are by chronological order and by popularity (Tuhus-Dubrow, 2008). If a search engine filters results by popularity then this is groupthink because others are succumbing to the will of the group by choosing the same articles that show up first as results.
Do you feel that internet search engines cause groupthink? If so, elaborate on why you think this. Do you feel that this is why many professors at Liberty University want students to not choose the same discussion board topics? I personally feel that the reason professors want us to chose different topics is so that we will not reflect the same views and chose the same articles which would therefore be groupthink.
References
Adler, S. (2009). At davos, beware the tide of groupthink. Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved from: http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/feb2009/db2009021_878209.htm
McShane, S., & Von G.
HIi want this answer about this questions from this book chapter ,.docxhoward4little59962
HI
i want this answer about this questions from this book chapter ,6,7,8,9,10 please use only this book to answers
TEXTS:
Milestones in Mass Communication Research:
Media Research, 3rd Ed.
Lowery & DeFleur ISBN 0-8013-1437-2
please i want ownwords ans rephrase sentances and easy verb also try to write exacly answer and omportant about questions please not longe answers
Discuss the concept that attitude and opinion change were considered to be measures of personal. This was because they were assumed to be enduring. Is this assumption still applicable today? Why and how? .(chapter 8)
In light of the information presented in “personal Influence: The Two Step Flow of communication (chapter 9)” “project Revere(chapter 10)” and several outside articles, discuss the concept of a “minimal effects” theory of mass media influence.
Persuasive studies have examined four basic area, the communicator, the message, the audience and audience responses to persuasive communication attempts, discuss the each of these concepts in light of the information in the text and readings..
A.
Why are new ideas so difficult to penetrate established social groups? Adoption concepts must move logically within society and must be addressed by significant subgroups of that society before they effectively penetrate the social consciousness of the larger population. What protects typically are followed and why do they indeed act as protocols? Please use your text material, outside readings as well as other information. .
Discuss the effects of negative appeals on persuasion. Hovland et al should get the discussion started.
5.
Discuss the concepts of message diffusion through society and address the processes involved: also, is the initial medium a determiner of diffusion. If so why or if not, why?
6.
Compare and contrast the two articles "communication research and the concept of the mass" and Demassifying the media.
7.
Discuss the concepts contained within the general thinking of the research Directed toward “uses and gratification” studies of the mass media.
8. The current reading addressed various of propaganda. The text addressed propaganda and the Video presentation also mentioned propaganda. Either by name or by allusion, identify propaganda, define pertinent terms discuss its functions and explain why propaganda and its evasion is an important area in media effects studies.
.
(Unit 1&2) ReadingThe Action Research Dissertation A Guide for .docxmercysuttle
(Unit 1&2) Reading
The Action Research Dissertation: A Guide for Students and Faculty text
2
Action Research Traditions and Knowledge Interests
As we discussed in Chapter 1, action research is a cover term for several approaches that have emerged from different traditions. Everyone who uses action research for a dissertation should be steeped in the particular tradition they are working out of and its attendant methodological, epistemological, and political dilemmas (e.g., participatory action research [PAR], teacher research, community-based participatory research, etc.). We do not pretend to provide this level of grounding in this chapter, but we do try to provide some sense of how these traditions relate to each other and where students and faculty can go for more extensive accounts. There are several historical overviews of action research, but most are told from a particular intellectual and social tradition, such as the overviews provided by Anderson et al. (2007, practitioner research); Argyris, Putnam, and Smith (1985, action science); Bullough and Pinnegar (2001, self-study); Chambers (1997, participatory rural appraisal); Cochran-Smith and Lytle (1993, teacher research); Fals Borda (2001, participatory action research); Greenwood and Levin (2006, action research); and Maguire (1987b, feminist participatory action research). In this section, we will try to be as inclusive as possible so that students consulting this book for guidance on their dissertations can find their particular tradition of action research represented. There is also a need for a participatory dialogue among these traditions, which academic departmentalization has tended to balkanize into self-contained scholarly communities and bibliographies.
Historians are in the business of creating—not discovering or interpreting—historical meaning. In this chapter, we have done our best to get our “facts” straight, but the meaning one makes of them will depend on who is telling the story. To our knowledge, no attempt at a comprehensive history of action research exists, and our intent is not to provide one here. While the previous chapter attempted to offer some common elements of action research, there may be as much variation across action research traditions as there is between action research and some mainstream approaches to research. Some action research is group oriented and some is individual oriented; some is done by those within the setting and some is done by change agents from outside the organization in collaboration with insiders; and some is highly participatory and some is much less so. Similarly, some see the goal of action research as improving practice or developing individuals, whereas others see its goal as transforming practice, participants, organizations, or, in some cases, even society. Debates rage within action research around these issues.
To the extent possible, our goal in this book is to present all of these perspectives in an evenhanded way. ...
The Purpose of Exploratory Research
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^ Acadumy of Management Journal2001. Vol. 44. No. 2. 219-237.docxhanneloremccaffery
^ Acadumy of Management Journal
2001. Vol. 44. No. 2. 219-237.
A SOCIAL CAPITAL THEORY OF CAREER SUCCESS
SCOTT E. SEIBERT
MARIA L. KRAIMER
•̂ ' ' ' Cleveland State University
ROBERT C. LIDEN
University of Illinois at Chicago
A model integrating competing theories of social capital with research on career
success was developed and tested in a sample of 448 employees with various occupa-
tions and organizations. Social capital was conceptualized in terms of network struc-
ture and social resources. Results of structural equation modeling showed that net-
work structure was related to social resources and that the effects of social resources
on career success were hilly mediated by three network benelits: access to information,
access to resources, and career sponsorship.
Organizational researchers have begun to de-
velop increasingly comprehensive models of career
success using demographic, human capital, work-
family, motivational, organizational, and industry
variables (e.g., Dreher & Ash, 1990; Judge & Bretz,
1994: Judge, Cable. Boudreau, & Bretz. 1995; Kirch-
meyer, 1998). Although this work has provided
considerable evidence regarding the determinants
of career outcomes, the roles of informal interper-
sonal behaviors have not been fully explored (Judge
& Bretz, 1994; Pfeffer, 1989). Popular advice for
getting ahead in one's career rarely fails to mention
the importance of networking for the achievement
of career goals (e.g., Bolles, 1992; Kanter, 1977).
Indeed, Luthans, Hodgetts, and Rosenkrantz (1988)
found that the most successful managers in their
study spent 70 percent more time engaged in net-
working activities and 10 percent more time en-
gaged in routine communication activities than
their less successful counterparts. Recent advances
in social capital theory (Coleman, 1990) have begun
to provide a finer-grained analysis of the ways in-
dividuals' social networks affect their careers in
organizations (Burt, 1992, 1997; Ibarra, 1995;
Podolny & Baron, 1997; Sparrowe & Popielarz,
1995). This theoretical perspective has the poten-
Data were collected and the manuscript was submitted
and processed while Scott E. Seibert was in the Manage-
ment Department at the University of Notre Dame and
Maria L. Kraimer was a graduate student at the Univer-
sity of Illinois at Chicago. Support for this project was
provided by the Management Department at the Univer-
sity of Notre Dame and the Alumni Office of the Univer-
sity of Notre Dame. The current investigation is part of a
larger study of career success.
tial to considerably enhance scholars' knowledge of
the role of social processes in career success.
The first purpose of the current study was to
integrate the current conceptualizations of social
capital as they pertain to career success. Tbree dif-
ferent theoretical approaches—weak tie theory
(Granovetter, 1973), structural hole theory (Burt,
1992), and social resource theory (Lin, 1990)—
focus on different network properties as r.
In March I did a brief talk at MEMX2015 on marketing automation. In this presentation, I outline some key points a sample membership recruitment campaign and 10 top tips if you’re starting your marketing automation journey.
Agnes Jumah, Advanced Marketing Strategy Shimano Case Study Charts
Slideshare Agnes Jumah, Word Of Mouth Marketing
1. Agnes Jumah – MA Strategic Marketing Management – Buyer Behaviour Assignment
“Word-of-mouth communication is the most powerful force for change but the least accessible”.
Discuss this. What do we know about the patterns of word-of-mouth that helps us use it? What
do we need to know still?
INTRODUCTION
Word of mouth (WOM) communication is unique, complex and multifaceted. WOM according to
Wikipedia is defined as a reference to the passing of information from person to person. Originally
the term referred specifically to oral communication (literally words from the mouth), but now
includes any type of human communication, such as face to face, telephone, email, and text
messaging.
This paper will discuss and examine different theories in relation to key actors within networks:
opinion leaders, influentials and hubs and how they influence change. In addition, some thoughts
on how WOM communications can be inaccessible to marketers will be put forward.
WORD OF MOUTH COMMUNICATIONS AND THE KEY PLAYERS
Much research has been carried out on what drives change within WOM communications. To
understand the drives, it is worth mentioning the Multi-step Flow of Communications – see figure
1.
Figure 1 – Multi-Step Flow of Communications
The Multi-Step Flow model builds on both the One-Step model and the Two-Step model by Katz
and Lazarsfeld (1955) and is considered the way in which communications flow takes place where
there are many intermediaries.
So within communications, what is the importance of opinion leaders and influentials within a
social network and in driving change? In reading some of the current literature, it was found that
many theories existed. The three theories examined in this paper are:
1. The Influentials Hypothesis
2. The Everyone Hypothesis*
3. The Hub Hypothesis*
The Influentials Hypothesis – Focus on the Individual. This theory suggests that a few key
individuals (opinion leaders or influentials) influence the decisions of less active others. It has been
1
2. Agnes Jumah – MA Strategic Marketing Management – Buyer Behaviour Assignment
theorised that, Influentials act as intermediaries between the media and others in their social
network determining the rate and direction of change. Lazarsfeld et al (1944) cited by Rogers
*Title created for categorisation purposes of this paper only.
(1995), in their seminal work, analysed a presidential election and were able to highlight the role
that opinion leaders played in influencing the voting decisions of others. Rogers (1995, p300) puts
forward the argument that opinion leaders are “individuals who lead in influencing others’
opinions”. Rogers goes further to state that opinion leaders are key to the rate at which innovation
adoption occurs and that once opinion leaders have adopted an innovation and discuss this with
others in their network, the rate at which adoption take place grows exponentially. This
“influentials hypothesis” was also supported by Katz and Lazarsfeld (1955). This thinking has been
developed. It is hard to conceive that WOM communications is as rigid as the Influentials
Hypothesis followers may have us believe. The Influentials Hypothesis suggests that only a select
number of actors assume a very distinct opinion leader role.
The Everyone Hypothesis – Focus on Everyone. Influence can be considered broader than the
Influentials Hypothesis suggests, with different participants taking on different roles depending on
the situation. More recent studies seem to advocate this. Balter and Butman (2005) cited in Word
of Mouth Research: Principles and Applications follow this argument. They stated that:
“WOM is not about identifying a small subgroup of highly influential or well-connected
people to talk about a product of service. It’s not about mavens or bees or celebrities or
people with specialist knowledge. It’s about everybody”.
Allsop, Bassett and Hoskins (2007) also support this thinking: that everyone can adopt different
roles at different times. They have suggested that at different times and in different environments,
an individual consumer can assume any role: opinion leader, former or follower. Their paper was a
useful summation of WOM principles; unfortunately much of it is theoretical, with general
commentary and a large focus on their own branded WOM simulation system. Despite this some
useful points can be drawn. Fill (1995) also argues that opinion leaders and members of the target
audience all have an effect on each other. Keller and Fay (2006) pioneers in the field of WOM
measurement, state that “everyone plays the role of the “sender” and “receiver” in conversations
about brands.” Watts and Dodds (2007) propose that opinion leaders are not the drivers of
innovation and additionally, state “most social change is driven not by influentials, but by easily
influenced individuals influencing other easily influenced individuals”.
The Hub Hypothesis – Focus on Connections. There is another school of thought on what drives
change within network that focuses on hubs or those that are “well connected” i.e. with several
social ties or relationships, within a social network. In his empirical study on married, female
students living in the same apartment block, Arndt (1967, p293) found that initially, wives that
were “well integrated into the social structures were more likely to adopt a new product than
were the isolated ones”. The gap between these two audiences did however narrow over time.
Though responses were low (only 332 comments were received) this study yielded insightful
findings that support the Hub Hypothesis. Arndt’s findings are to some degree generalisable but
some caution must be exercised as it has been suggested that genders perform differently in
WOM communications depending on the product category (Allsop, Bassett and Hoskins, 2007, p
401 and Keller Fay Group Whitepaper, 2006, p4). Field experiments such as Arndt’s are probably
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3. Agnes Jumah – MA Strategic Marketing Management – Buyer Behaviour Assignment
the best way to measure hub activity accurately but as this was a small sample it would be
beneficially to have these results extrapolated or repeated on a larger scale for better accuracy of
offline hub activity. One of the latest pieces of research on hubs has been put forward by
Goldenberg, Lehmann and Hong (2009). In their study that examined the adoption of new
applications on a social networking website, Goldenberg et al researched the difference well-
connected individuals make on the overall course of diffusion. They go further and categorise hubs
into two types: 1) Innovator Hub and 2) Follower Hub. This is interesting concept as it highlights
further implications for the marketer: not only is there a need to locate the hub within a network;
according to Goldenberg et al, it then needs to be determined whether or not the hub is the type
that adopts innovations faster than others (Innovator Hub) or the type that adopts early because
they are in a position that exposes them to other adopters (Follower Hub).
In addition to the above finding, this broad study also suggests that generally hubs:
adopt earlier as a results of degree (number of connections) and not their own
innovativeness
control innovation adoption speeds and therefore market growth rates (specifically
Innovator Hubs) because without them and their subsequent connections, many within the
network simply would not be aware of the innovation.
when analysed can to, some degree, indicate whether a product has any chance in the
market.
The Goldenberg et al research provides some interesting thinking into how hubs control
innovation diffusion; however it would be beneficial to repeat the experiment taking into
consideration the following thinking. Are their findings applicable to all markets – it can be argued
that it is not. Indeed, the authors of the research themselves highlight that it may be unrealistic to
assume that all organisations would have “access to such (complete) data” as they did.
Additionally, the context of the research raises some questions. The research examines online
activity. This allows for accurate measurement however according to Keller and Fay (2009), 90% of
WOM communications is offline so how does this research relate to offline WOM communications
and how can the learning be applied to face-to-face WOM? The sample of the research must also
be taken into consideration. In an online, social networking environment, hubs could be well
connected not as a result of their nature but as a result of the length of time that they have been
members of the site – the authors allude to this by indicating hub status is positively correlated
with the membership term. Finally, the research also states that there is a higher probability of the
hubs being male. Some caution as already stated, is required as genders can act differently in
WOM communications.
From looking at these different theories, reality is likely to resemble a combination of all three
hypotheses. Research has shown hubs exist. Opinions leaders have been supported by leading
thinkers. It has also been shown that everyone at different times both gives and receives WOM
within their network. The key for marketers is to know exactly how these actors influence change
within their own relevant networks, whether it worth investing in these types of influentials and
how best to implement WOM plans. There is still no universal formula. WOM can be sent and
received in numerous ways – even within the same network – which makes it hard to track and
therefore calculate the impact of these actors. More empirical research is required to determine
this.
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Having examined some of the hypotheses surrounding the different types of influentials, their role
in networks and how they drive change, the next section will briefly discuss why WOM can be
considered the least accessible form of communication.
HOW WOM CAN BE CONSIDERED INACCESIBLE.
WOM communications or marketing can be inaccessible for a number of reasons, a few of which
are listed below. For clarity, “inaccessible” in this context is defined as: WOM being difficult to
recall, difficult to mimic for experimental reasons and therefore difficult to measure accurately.
Offline WOM and the effects that it exacts on the recipient are hard to measure. In A Holistic
Examination of Net Promoter (2007), the authors cite the work of Rust et al (2000) that notes: “the
effect of [word of mouth] is notoriously hard to measure but it is frequently significantly large”.
WOM communications take place everywhere and anywhere; can be positive, negative or neutral;
a referral or recommendation. Keller and Fay (2006) have suggested other reasons unique to
WOM that make it difficult to measure:
1. Conversations and their subject matter are consumer-driven and diverse
2. WOM can be generated as a result of other actions including marketing (e.g. advertising,
websites, sales promotions) and normal business activity (e.g. customer service)
3. WOM can be “highly ephemeral” with exchanges between consumers being random and
hard to predict
How can accurate measurement and useful results be made accessible to marketers? Godes and
Mayzlin (2004) state that surveys are the “most popular” way of measuring WOM conversations.
Another method is consumer diaries. Both methods are acceptable however the issue with each is
that they rely on consumer recall. East et al (2008, p246) suggests reports gathered in this way
“may be systematically distorted by recall bias”. Being dependent on the memory of consumers
through surveys and diaries will not ensure 100% accurate recordings but appears to be the most
realistic way of collecting information. Perhaps the key is asking specific questions to ensure the
data collected is as accurate is it can be.
Field experiments can be carried out – one of the most cited being Arndt’s (1967) work with
student housewives - these however are often focused on small samples.
WOM role play has also been used in the past. This method is not a realistic enactment of WOM as
it asks the sample what they would do in a particular circumstance. Asking a consumer, what they
would do in theory, can be very different to what they would actually do in reality. As East et al,
(2008, p245) state: “...there is no guarantee that they would do as they claim”. In examining the
results from this sort of experiment, a marketer would be reliant on what a consumer says they
may do. This may provide a good indication of what may happen, but compared to spends on
other media that are stringently measured, it is difficult to justify WOM within the marketing
budget when its research may be based on theoretically scenarios. With most forms of marketing
communications media and vehicles, marketers are aware of what they will receive in return for
their investment: £X advertising rate, in X space, for X time period equals X number of enquiries or
X unit sales, for example. This does not exist for traditional forms of WOM marketing. It is
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5. Agnes Jumah – MA Strategic Marketing Management – Buyer Behaviour Assignment
therefore hard to guarantee what the return on marketing investment will be with a WOM
campaign.
Some online WOM communications are easier to track as they are automatically recorded, i.e. are
not reliant on the consumers’ recollection. Despite this, the measurement of online WOM is not
without its own distinct challenges. Some online conversations can be followed through consumer
generated content such as chatrooms or blog threads however these then need to be sorted. Was
the post positive, negative or neutral? How many people read the post? Was it passed on and if
so, how many read it? And what of emails and texts – how can marketers know the content of
these conversations? Many questions as to the best way of tracking WOM still exist; some theories
and suggestions on improving methods and areas of further research are outlined in the final
section.
AREAS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH OR DISCUSSION
Many questions have been raised in this paper with regards to influentials and the inaccessibility
of WOM. There are still several gaps in our knowledge. Before any further research is carried out,
it would be useful to have clarity on some of the titles relating to influentials. In examining
research papers, it was often found that the terms Influencer, Hub and Opinion Leader were
substituted for each other or interchanged. Keller and Fay (2009) have alone documented five
types of influential:
Formal Position of Authority; Institutional Experts; Media Elites; Cultural Elite and The Socially
Connected. See Appendix 1. With so many categories and definitions being used and interchanged,
and without agreed sector-wide definitions, it will be difficult to conduct research that benefits all
players within WOM marketing.
Regardless of their label, there are always going to be some that talk more than others and with
more connections than others. In an email exchange (November 2009), with Emanuel Rosen,
author of The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited (see Appendix 2), he stated:
“We still have many questions about hubs: Who exactly are those people who talk more
than others and how can they help a marketer spread the word? Are they less important
today as some argue, or are they more important in a connected world?”
Rosen is correct. There are still many questions surrounding hubs and how marketers can identify
them. However, Rosen omits a key point in his email: the hubs that need to be identified, engaged
with and utilised are those that don’t just help a marketer spread the word but help spread the
word profitably. Some work has been done in identifying how WOM can predict or influence
profitability e.g. Incorporating Word-of-mouth Effects in Estimating Customer Lifetime Value –
again more research is needed.
A comparative review of the existing research on online and offline hubs would also be useful.
There may be some learning from both sides that furthers current thinking.
In addition to hubs, more research is needed on the networks in which they operate and how
social ties affect communications. Homophilic networks have been shown to inhibit the overall
diffusion of innovation and information. Goldenberg et al (2009) have suggested that although
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6. Agnes Jumah – MA Strategic Marketing Management – Buyer Behaviour Assignment
network homophily can be a “barrier to innovation when different groups are involved”, where
groups are the same, homophily can increase diffusion. This is supported by Rosen (2009, p112-
113) and Rogers (2003, p305). This makes ties between actors in a network very important. There
is limited work in this area.
The panacea for marketers would be a measurement system for WOM that grades each influence
by importance depending on the market and the number of consumers that are sent an initial
message, email, text or promotion: For each person, you send your message to, they will
communicate with approximately X number of people about your message, for example. This
WOM “message calculator” is a long way off and would require a unified effort from all those
operating in WOM marketing. Keller and Fay (2006) state the “industry has lacked information on
the totality of word of mouth” – this is often the case for media that are either new or hard to
measure. An excellent example of how a new collection of media were classified for the benefit of
marketers and media planners/buyers can be seen in Ambient media: advertising's new media
opportunity? See Appendix 3. When WOM is classified in a suitable system, measurement tools
that work for marketers can be created and used effectively within the marketing and media plan.
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Appendices
1 Keller and Fay Table
2 Emanuel Rosen Email
3 Ambient media: advertising's new media opportunity? WARC Paper
Appendix 1 - Keller and Fay Table
_______________________________________________________________________________
Appendix 2 - Emanuel Rosen Email
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Appendix 3 - Ambient media: advertising's new media opportunity? WARC Paper
Separate document.
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