Opinion Leadership and Information Seeking Scale

Name: Opinion Leadership and Information Seeking Scale
Published: 1971
License: https://psychometricscales.com/methodology.html

OL-ISOpinion leadership reflects the extent to which individuals give information about a topic and the extent to which information is sought from them by others. Information seeking captures the complementary tendency to actively seek out advice from others when making purchase decisions. Both are product/domain-specific rather than global constructs, and are key determinants of word-of-mouth influence in the diffusion of new products and services.

8 items 1971 α split-half 0.79 (OL); 0.73 (IS) Free Reynolds, F.D. & Darden, W.R.

What it measures

An early domain-specific operationalisation of opinion leadership and information seeking validated in a sample of 300 housewives using clothing as the product domain. The two-factor structure (OL and information seeking) was confirmed via factor analysis. Correlational validity supported across multiple chi-square tests. The OL factor is consistent with King & Summers (1970) conceptualisation but uses Likert-format items adaptable to any product category. Information seeking items capture the demand side of interpersonal influence — the tendency to actively solicit advice — complementing the supply-side OL construct. Useful for studies of dyadic influence, WOM networks, and social diffusion.

Response format

5-point Likert (1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree); 5 opinion leadership items summed; 3 information seeking items summed. Used clothing as the focal product category in original study.

Scale items

Opinion Leadership — 5-point Likert (strongly disagree to strongly agree). Replace 'clothing fashions' / 'clothes' with target product category.

My friends and neighbors often ask my advice about clothing fashions.
I sometimes influence the types of clothes my friends buy.
My friends come to me more often than I go to them for information about clothes.
I feel that I am generally regarded by my friends and neighbors as a good source of advice about clothing fashions.
I can think of at least two people whom I have told about some clothing fashion in the last six months.

Information Seeking — 5-point Likert (strongly disagree to strongly agree)

I often seek out the advice of my friends regarding which clothes I buy.
I spend a lot of time talking with my friends about clothing fashions.
My friends or neighbors usually give me good advice on what brands of clothes to buy.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Items are domain-specific — replace 'clothing fashions' / 'clothes' with the relevant product category. Split-half reliability only (0.79 OL; 0.73 IS) — coefficient alpha not reported. The two subscales should be scored and interpreted separately. Information seeking (3 items) is the shorter and less reliable subscale. This scale predates and is related to the Flynn et al. (1996) OL & OS Scale (id:467), which offers better psychometrics.

Recommended companion scales

Opinion Leaders and Opinion Seekers ScaleMarket Maven ScaleOpinion Leadership Scale

Citation

Reynolds, F.D., & Darden, W.R. (1971). Mutually adaptive effects of interpersonal communication. Journal of Marketing Research, 8(4), 449–454.

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Keywords

#opinionleadership#informationseeking#wordofmouth#interpersonalinfluence#socialinfluence#diffusion#clothing#fashion#individualdifferences

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