Explicating Opinion Leadership: Nonpolitical Dispositions, Information Consumption, and Civic Participation

What are the sources of opinion leadership? Do opinion leaders seek informational media, and if so, how do they consume it? Are opinion leaders active in civic life, or is it that those who are active think of themselves as opinion leaders? Is opinion leadership a cause or a consequence of political efficacy? To answer these questions, we use data from two large national surveys: a cross-sectional study conducted in 1998 and a panel study conducted in 1999 and 2000. Our cross-sectional analysis shows that opinion leadership is largely explained by nonpolitical dispositions such as self-assuredness, innovativeness, and sophistication. These opinion leaders, spurred by an interest in politics, tend to seek out informational content on television, newspapers, and the Internet, likely as a way to maintain their environmental surveillance and structural influence. All of this helps explain why opinion leadership is linked to civic participation, both directly and indirectly. Further analysis of panel data indicates that opinion leadership is a consequence rather than a cause of civic participation, lending support to the causal structure advanced in our model. These data also reveal a reciprocal relationship between opinion leadership and political efficacy, indicative of a mutually reinforcing cycle of relational dispositions and political competence. Implication for political communication, civic participation, and democratic theory are discussed.