Innovativeness, exploratory behavior, market mavenship, and opinion leadership: An empirical examination in the Asian context

Abstract

The market maven construct, developed by Feick and Price (1987), has been used in empirical studies in the USA, South Africa, Germany, Poland, and Hungary. This study extends previous research by being the first to use the general mavenship concept in an Asian country (Israel). Furthermore, the study examines market mavenship and opinion leadership as outcome concepts arising from exploratory behavior or innovativeness tendencies. Additionally, the impact of a three-dimensional exploratory behavior concept is compared to the impact of a unidimensional innovativeness concept on opinion leadership and market mavenship. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test the two nomological models based on a sample of 142 adult Israeli consumers. Although both exploratory behavior and innovativeness affect market mavenship and opinion leadership, the impact of the former is stronger. Additionally, the impact of the "new brand trial" facet of exploratory behavior on market maven was comparable to that of innovativeness, whereas its impact on opinion leadership was weaker than the impact of innovativeness.

The baby boomer market maven in the United Kingdom: an experienced diffuser of marketplace information

“…First, it identifies and profiles an older market maven which is useful for practitioners who wish to target mature consumers. Second, the study adds to the relative paucity of UK-based maven research and therefore answers calls for more research in additional countries (Ruvio & Shoham, 2007). Finally, the current research contributes to the burgeoning international literature pertaining to mavens.…”

“…The baby boomers are an important cohort to study not only because of its size but because of the journey they have taken over their lives (Leach, Phillipson, Biggs, & Money, 2013). Yet, many empirical studies of market mavens fail to include anyone over age 50 years in their samples at all (Goldsmith, Flynn, & Clark, 2012;Goldsmith et al, 2003;Hwan, Leizerovici, & Zhang, 2012;Mooradian, 1996) or are biased towards younger aged respondents with average sample ages in the twenties (Geissler & Edison, 2005;Goldsmith, Clark, & Goldsmith, 2006) or thirties (Ruvio & Shoham, 2007). No previous maven study has concentrated solely on consumers over 50 years old.…”

“…Kontos et al's (2011) study is very relevant in the current context because it is one of the few pieces of maven research that incorporates a relatively large number of older respondents (71 respondents over 50 years old) and finds that people over 50 years old are among those groups who are particularly reliant on interpersonal sources for information. Generally, however, market maven knowledge emerges from studies of younger adults (Goldsmith et al, 2012;Mooradian, 1996;Ruvio & Shoham, 2007). Even samples that incorporate relatively wide age ranges tend not to include many respondents over 50 years old.…”

“…Originally identified in the United States , market mavens are now recognised in a variety of countries and cultures (Abratt et al, 1995;Chelminski & Coulter, 2002;Kwak et al, 2006;Martínez & Montaner, 2008;Ruvio & Shoham, 2007). However, the United Kingdom lags behind.…”

“…Of the two previous UK studies, one (Goodey & East, 2008) cast doubt on the existence of a British market maven, while the other (Sudbury & Jones, 2010) suggested they do exist. Clearly, further investigation is needed to ascertain the usefulness of the concept in the United Kingdom, particularly as cultural differences have emerged in previous studies Kontos, Emmons, Puleo, & Viswanath, 2011;Pornpitakpan, 2004;Ruvio & Shoham, 2007). Moreover, studies comprising a range of segments and markets have resulted in the identification of industrial mavens (Nataraajan & Angur, 1997), e-Mavens (Walsh & Mitchell, 2010), teen mavens (Belch, Krentler, & Willis-Flurry, 2005), man-mavens (Wiedmann et al, 2001) and even virtual world mavens (Barnes & Pressey, 2012).…”