Vaccine Mavens or Health Mavens?

Although topic-focused opinion leaders have been studied for decades, it remains unclear whether they are best conceptualized based on a narrow topic (vaccines) or a broader topic (health). Two studies were conducted to contribute to this discussion. The first (N = 397) examined the issue in terms o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Southern communication journal 2024-01, Vol.89 (1), p.79-89
Main Authors: Carpenter, Christopher J., Rahman, Md Shahedur, Kotowski, Michael R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Leadership
Mavens
opinion leadership
superdiffusers
Topics
Vaccines
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Summary:Although topic-focused opinion leaders have been studied for decades, it remains unclear whether they are best conceptualized based on a narrow topic (vaccines) or a broader topic (health). Two studies were conducted to contribute to this discussion. The first (N = 397) examined the issue in terms of vaccine knowledge, tendency to promote vaccines, and trust in science. Results favored the vaccine maven over the health. The second study (N = 400) studied the issue by looking at self-other congruence in terms of perceptions of opinion leadership and advice seeking. Study 2 results were consistent with the validity of both types.
ISSN:1041-794X
1930-3203
DOI:10.1080/1041794X.2023.2277432