Opinion leadership in an organization change context

Abstract

Opinion leadership phenomenon is widely used in marketing literature, especially from the view of diffusion of innovations. However, studies on social networks and leadership literature indicate that the opinion leadership phenomenon can be found from all parts of society. With an organizational view on the phenomenon, this case study research focuses on the opinion leadership phenomenon in an organizational change context.

The case study organization was facing an organizational change in the Autumn of 2019. First the organization members were asked via questionnaire to name a person who has affected their opinion of the change. On the second part of the case study, after analyzing the survey results, the persons who gained the most nominations were interviewed to study the opinion leadership phenomenon in this case context.

The main findings were that the opinion leadership phenomenon was divided inside the case organization and that it could be observed also on other persons than persons acting on supervisory positions. Also, all the opinion leaders interviewed in this case study thought they can influence people around them and that the influence is done both knowingly and unconsciously. The opinion leaders defined situations where the influence attempts might happen, such as meetings and gatherings involving several people, but also one-to-one discussions between the employees and supervisors were mentioned. It also seems that the nominated opinion leaders might have acted as change agents inside the organization during the organizational change.