The Dual Roots of Opinion Leadership Export

@article{citeulike:81280, abstract = {Political scientists often focus on the link between personal attributes and the flow of political information. In this article, I argue that opinion leadership may not be as singularly rooted in the presence of a certain predisposition or set of personal characteristics as suggested in previous political opinion leadership studies. I develop two sets of hypotheses: the first derived from the perspective that opinion leadership is a function of a recipe of attributes and the second derived from the perspective that opinion leadership is tied to the characteristics of the social milieu in which the citizen is embedded. I test these hypotheses empirically using a data set constructed from two surveys of individuals in the New York metropolitan area. The results suggest that while opinion leaders possess attributes that distinguish them from nonleaders, they appear to gain influence through their informational advantages relative to others in the same environment.}, author = {Roch, Christine H.}, citeulike-article-id = {81280}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2508.2005.00310.x}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bpl/jopo/2005/00000067/00000001/art00006}, doi = {10.1111/j.1468-2508.2005.00310.x}, issn = {0022-3816}, journal = {The Journal of Politics}, keywords = {empirical-analysis, influential, leader, leadership, opinion, opinion-dynamics}, month = {February}, number = {1}, pages = {110--131}, posted-at = {2009-09-30 02:51:38}, priority = {0}, publisher = {Blackwell Publishing}, title = {The Dual Roots of Opinion Leadership}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2508.2005.00310.x}, volume = {67}, year = {2005} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:81280 L3 - citeulike-article-id:81280 N2 - Political scientists often focus on the link between personal attributes and the flow of political information. In this article, I argue that opinion leadership may not be as singularly rooted in the presence of a certain predisposition or set of personal characteristics as suggested in previous political opinion leadership studies. I develop two sets of hypotheses: the first derived from the perspective that opinion leadership is a function of a recipe of attributes and the second derived from the perspective that opinion leadership is tied to the characteristics of the social milieu in which the citizen is embedded. I test these hypotheses empirically using a data set constructed from two surveys of individuals in the New York metropolitan area. The results suggest that while opinion leaders possess attributes that distinguish them from nonleaders, they appear to gain influence through their informational advantages relative to others in the same environment. IS - 1 JF - The Journal of Politics SN - 0022-3816 EP - 131 TI - The Dual Roots of Opinion Leadership PB - Blackwell Publishing VL - 67 SP - 110 KW - empirical-analysis KW - influential KW - leader KW - leadership KW - opinion KW - opinion-dynamics AU - Roch, Christine PY - 2005/02// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2508.2005.00310.x ER -