Cognitive complexity and the prediction of opinion leadership communication behavior.
Item
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Title
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Cognitive complexity and the prediction of opinion leadership communication behavior.
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Identifier
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AAI9029936
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identifier
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9029936
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Creator
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Greene, Joel N.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Gary F. Soldow
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Date
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1990
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Business Administration, Marketing | Psychology, Personality
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Abstract
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This dissertation explores the relationship of cognitive personality theory and opinion leadership communication behavior.;Cognitive complexity, based on the personal construct psychology theories of Kelly (1955) and Bieri (1955), provided the framework for predicting the identity of opinion leaders within small group discussions of product-related issues. Cognitive complexity was also viewed within this framework as a cardinal trait, in accordance with Allport's (1937) personality classification scheme.;A number of variables related to cognitive structure, including abstract thinking, empathy, ambiguity tolerance, and expressiveness were also investigated. In addition, product knowledge and product interest were studied as possible moderating variables. An analysis of log linear models, Spearman rank order correlations, and "hit ratios" of group member classifications provided strong support for the hypotheses for three of the independent variables: cognitive complexity, abstract thinking, and expressiveness. Product knowledge and interest appeared to moderate the communication behavior of non-expressive individuals who were cognitively simple and concrete, apparently providing them with information which may compensate for the absence of the personality variables indicated above.;Both confirmatory factor analyses, using Lisrel, and a computation of John and Roedder's (1981) beta coefficients, suggested that a number of dimensional problems existed in the measurement instruments associated with empathy and ambiguity tolerance.;A content analysis of the group discussions provided a process measure of opinion leadership. Using Bales' interaction matrix approach, this measure consisted of the total number of comments initiated and received by each group member. Convergent, discriminant and nomological analyses for three methodologically different approaches of measuring opinion leadership, e.g. the process measure, a self-designating scale, and a sociometric measure, provided a substantial degree of construct validation for the process measure of opinion leadership.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
