Opinion leaders in the domain of consumer electronics and their use of external search channels

This study proposes and tests a number of hypotheses about opinion leaders in the domain of consumer electronics and their use of external search channels. Based on the results of a survey among 1872 consumers, opinion leaders in the domain of consumer electronics are found to most likely be young working males without children. The use of different search channels by opinion leaders is related to the degree of opinion leadership through an inverted U-shape. This study shows that these relationships are in fact explained by the respondents’ knowledge about the product category. Finally, the theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.