Abstract
A study describes the development and validation of multiple-item self-report scales to measure opinion leadership and opinion seeking for specific product or service domains. The concepts of opinion leadership and opinion seeking are defined, previous attempts to measure them are critiqued, and the scale development process is described. Five separate studies using data from 1,128 student and adult respondents provide ample evidence for the unidimensionality, the reliability, and the construct and criterion-related validity of the resulting scales. Overall, these scales enable marketers to determine the effects of opinion leadership on the adoption of their products. When opinion leaders are important, they can be accurately and easily identified by the scales so that mangers can develop marketing efforts to persuade these influentials to lead other consumers to target brands. Similarly, the opinion seeking scale will allow the assessment of the effects of this variable on the success of marketing strategies.