Personality, flow, and opinion leadership in social media

What is it about?

This study examines the personality traits of people who tend to engage in social media as opinion leaders in the context of the travel industry. Specifically, we investigate the extent to which openness, exhibitionism, and competence in interpersonal relationships and flow experience affect the propensity of opinion leadership (OLP) and opinion leadership behavior (OLB). The proposed model was tested with two significant populations in social media, Generation X and Generation Y. The results indicate that openness, exhibitionism, and competence in interpersonal relationships significantly increase OLP. We also find that flow experience (i.e., playfulness and time distortion) strengthens the relationship between OLP and OLB. While the model holds true for both populations, the results show that the role of exhibitionism in OLP is more pronounced for Generation X than Generation Y.

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Why is it important?

Although companies recognize the impact of consumer-to-consumer information exchanges in social media, they have not made much effort to understand who are more likely to serve as opinion leaders in this space. This study addresses this issue by investigating the personality traits that increase the propensity of opinion leadership (OLP) and the role of flow experience in the relationship between the propensity of opinion leadership (OLP) to opinion leadership behavior (OLB). Further, we test if these relationships differ between two significant generational participations in social media: Generations X and Y.