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In this chapter, we examine social influence in groups by considering three distinct aspects of the complex process: the force, the source, and the message. The force instantiates the internal drivers that are activated to change group members' public and private positions. These drivers relate to a desire for accuracy (i.e., informational influence) or a desire for group harmony (i.e., normative influence). The source of social influence includes influence attempts from a majority or a minority of group members. Finally, influence messages can contain evidence in support of a position (i.e., informational statements) or group member preferences (i.e., normative statements). These aspects are frequently conflated with informational influence strongly linked to minorities and informational statements and normative influence similarly linked to majorities and normative statements. We review research consistent with this position. However, we argue that each aspect should be considered separately. Thus, we also explore how majorities and normative statements generate informational influence and how minorities and informational statements lead to normative influence.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a scale to measure normative and informational influence in online traveler reviews.

Through proper scale development techniques and a two-sample validation process, the resulting 2-factor, 11-item scale yields a valid and reliable measure of social influence.

The resultant scale provides a tool for researchers to investigate the process whereby different characteristics of online reviews influence travel decisions.

Customer reviews are prevalent and powerful sources of influence on travel decisions. However, it is unclear how social influence manifests in today’s online purchasing environment. For several decades, the domain of social influence has played an important role in the advancements of consumer behavior and hospitality/tourism research. In particular, normative and informational influences are applicable, since online reviews contain numerous informational and normative cues. These principles were formulated under much different conditions than today’s purchasing environment. This research provides a way to measure normative and informational influence in the online review environment, thus enhancing the understanding of how reviews influence purchase decisions.

This cross‐cultural study examines inter‐relationships between values (using the list of values), collective self‐esteem (CSE), and consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence (CSII).

Data were collected through surveys administered to 783 university students in four countries (Australia, English‐speaking Canada, Korea, and Norway).

Results indicate that external and interpersonal values are positively related to the normative component of CSII, while internal values are negatively related to the normative component of CSII. The CSE subscale measuring importance of the group to one's identity is positively related to normative CSII, while the CSE subscale of membership esteem is negatively related to normative CSII. Normative CSII was substantially higher among Korean participants than among participants from the other countries.

This research was limited to a sample of university students in Canada, Australia, Norway, and Korea. Future research could expand the sample to include a more representative adult sample, in order to ensure the generalizability of the results.

CSII may be an important factor in many consumer purchases that relate to self‐image. The relationship of values and collective self‐esteem to CSII provides valuable insights to managers regarding consumer purchasing behavior.

Given that values, consumer self‐esteem, and country explain a large degree of the variation in consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence, managers can benefit from this knowledge when developing advertising content and marketing interventions.

Because of its omission of social influences, conventional animosity research has failed to sufficiently consider consumption context. To address this limitation, this research constitutes two interrelated parts: (a) investigating how normative influences (value-expressive and utilitarian influences) shape consumers’ animosity attitudes and purchase intentions; and (b) building on the normative influence perspective and separating consumption context into purchase (online vs. offline) and usage (private vs. public) contexts. The goal was to examine under the condition of preference conflict, how consumption contexts with different degrees of behavioral exposure affect purchase decisions.

One pretest, one survey and one experiment were conducted to empirically validate the proposed research model.

In an international crisis, consumers’ attitudes and behaviors were socially determined. Moreover, the online purchase with private usage (offline purchase with public usage) condition resulted in the highest (lowest) level of purchase intention.

This research pioneers in the animosity literature to identify the possibility of preference conflict in a situational international crisis, and to more delicately separate the conventional consumption context into purchase and usage contexts.

This study aims to determine the causality of herding which was traced down to social and normative influences from first-home buyers represented by undergraduate students.

The Perception Alignment Hypothesis was used in this experimental research, and was conducted on a sample of 125 undergraduates studying finance representing first-home buyers. The experiment provides the subjects property brochures in Surabaya to appraise a value that they see fit for purchase. The subjects were given both social- and normative-induced treatments separately using information cascade, and their valuation shifts were recorded. Their valuations were then divided into three sections under the treatment groups, consisting of initial, “social’ and “normative’ valuations.

In contrast to previous findings, the results showed that first-home buyers succumbed to both social and normative influences, causing them to herd. Further analysis of the credibility of information was conducted and it showed that the undergraduates were only prone to social influence, whereas other aspects regarding normative influences must be further researched.

The decline of homeownership on a global scale is concerning, especially when 60% of the market represents young adults under the age of 35. This implies that both the government and property developers may need to enact strict measures to regulate property purchases.

This is the first experimental study on herding of Surabaya, Indonesia, mainly focusing on human behavior and information cascade. Thus, this study could be a viable reflection to future policies in Indonesia being made to answer actual demands in the residential market.

This cross-disciplinary, empirical study aims to examine the phenomenon of organizational opinion leadership. Extant research concerning social capital and both referent and expert power suggests that informal opinion leaders within an organizational setting have the ability to influence their co-workers. This study focuses on the transformational leadership characteristics of idealized influence-attributed (charisma) and -behavior (role modeling). The social exchange aspects of the opinion leader–seeker relationship process are examined through an application of dyadic concepts found within leader–member exchange (LMX) theory. This study examines potential outcomes of opinion leader influence, specifically, opinion-seeker perceived organizational support (POS), affective commitment and normative commitment.

This study examines the dynamics of organizational opinion leader (OOL)–organizational opinion seeker (OOS) relationship to determine whether OOLs influence OOSs through role modeling and charisma, captured through the idealized influence aspect of transformational leadership. The OOL–OOS relationship is examined through the lens of LMX, commonly used to examine supervisor–subordinate exchange relationships. This study also examines whether OOLs’ idealized influence and OOL–OOS exchange relationships are related to OOSs’ perceived organizational support (POS) and both affective and normative commitment, and whether POS mediates their influence. Hypotheses are offered and survey data collected from a heterogeneous sample of 646 individuals is examined using structural equation modeling.

The results suggest that idealized influence consistently positively influences the outcomes. LMX-affect, -loyalty and -professional respect influence OOS perceptions of POS. Idealized influence and POS influence OOS affective and normative commitment. LMX-affect influences OOS affective and normative commitment, while LMX-loyalty influences normative commitment. LMX-professional respect slightly influenced OOS affective commitment negatively, suggesting that respect does not engender positive feelings and had no influence on normative commitment.

This interdisciplinary study integrates concepts found within marketing, political science and organizational literature works to shed new light on the informal influence organizational members have on one another, which furthers our understanding of both shared leadership and opinion leadership. This research provides another frame for the concept of shared leadership, suggesting that OOL influence occurs horizontally and vertically within organizations. The overall findings suggest that both the characteristics of opinion leaders and the quality of OOL–OOS relationships matter.

This research highlights the importance of recognizing and enabling organizational members whose opinions are sought by their peers. Organizational opinion leadership exists within organization and influences organizational members’ attitudes and perceptions. Therefore, it is a necessity that organizations understand the phenomenon and guide it, much as organizational culture is guided, so that it produces positive organizational outcomes.

Very little research exists concerning organizational opinion leadership. This study breaks new ground by developing theory, applying accepted constructs to the phenomenon and empirically testing the impact of opinion leadership.

The purpose of this study is to elucidate the relationship between perceived employee influence and organizational commitment by applying a multidimensional approach that includes influence perceived to stem from the individual and the team, as well as affective and normative commitment.

A total of 526 out of a population of 732 employees (72 percent reply rate) from four Danish companies in different industries and with different types of teams participated in the questionnaire study.

Results of bootstrapping mediation analyses reveal that a relationship between perceived influence of the team and affective commitment is fully mediated by perceived individual influence. Results of multiple regression analyses show a positive relationship between team and individual influence, and that normative commitment moderated the relationship negatively. The results are to suggest that influence of the team may stimulate employees’ individual influence, and in turn their affective commitment, if their normative commitment is not very high.

Generalization of the results to cultures, which are dissimilar to the Danish should be cautiously considered and further studies are needed to elucidate causality between the variables.

The identification of normative commitment as a variable that can potentially hinder that employees experience their teams to enhance their individual freedom elucidates the conditions that may be behind different current findings in the literature. The finding that suggests that employees need to perceive that they benefit from their team's influence in order to feel more affective committed to their organization adds to knowledge about team work's possible effects for employee attitudes.

This paper builds on previous research in information systems (IS) project management by focusing on key antecedents proposed to play important roles in influencing normative commitment within the IS project environment. The study also further investigates the influence of normative commitment on intentions to continue.

To collect data for this study, a field survey was administered online, and individuals were selected for participation by a member of upper management from Fortune 500 companies located in the United States. Two-hundred and thirty two (232) survey responses were collected. The model was analyzed using PLS-SEM.

The results indicated that personal investment, personal responsibility, voluntariness, project-specific self-efficacy and problem-solving competency were all significantly related to normative commitment. Project-specific self-efficacy, problem-solving competency and normative commitment directly influenced intention to continue. Additionally, problem-solving competency moderated both the relationships of project-specific self-efficacy to normative commitment and project-specific self-efficacy to intention to continue. The resulting model explains 63% of intention to continue and 58% of normative commitment.

The findings from this study contribute to commitment theory and enhance one’s understanding of IS project environments by exploring specific antecedents related to developing normative commitment. Additionally, the impact of normative commitment on intention to continue was enhanced by examining key moderating relationships to the model.

Information and communications technology (ICT) offers enormous opportunities for individuals, businesses and society. The application of ICT is equally important to economic and non-economic activities. Researchers have increasingly focused on the adoption and use of ICT by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as the economic development of a country is largely dependent on them. Following the success of ICT utilisation in SMEs in developed countries, many developing countries are looking to utilise the potential of the technology to develop SMEs. Past studies have shown that the contribution of ICT to the performance of SMEs is not clear and certain. Thus, it is crucial to determine the effectiveness of ICT in generating firm performance since this has implications for SMEs’ expenditure on the technology. This research examines the diffusion of ICT among SMEs with respect to the typical stages from innovation adoption to post-adoption, by analysing the actual usage of ICT and value creation. The mediating effects of integration and utilisation on SME performance are also studied. Grounded in the innovation diffusion literature, institutional theory and resource-based theory, this study has developed a comprehensive integrated research model focused on the research objectives. Following a positivist research paradigm, this study employs a mixed-method research approach. A preliminary conceptual framework is developed through an extensive literature review and is refined by results from an in-depth field study. During the field study, a total of 11 SME owners or decision-makers were interviewed. The recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed using NVivo 10 to refine the model to develop the research hypotheses. The final research model is composed of 30 first-order and five higher-order constructs which involve both reflective and formative measures. Partial least squares-based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is employed to test the theoretical model with a cross-sectional data set of 282 SMEs in Bangladesh. Survey data were collected using a structured questionnaire issued to SMEs selected by applying a stratified random sampling technique. The structural equation modelling utilises a two-step procedure of data analysis. Prior to estimating the structural model, the measurement model is examined for construct validity of the study variables (i.e. convergent and discriminant validity).

The estimates show cognitive evaluation as an important antecedent for expectation which is shaped primarily by the entrepreneurs’ beliefs (perception) and also influenced by the owners’ innovativeness and culture. Culture further influences expectation. The study finds that facilitating condition, environmental pressure and country readiness are important antecedents of expectation and ICT use. The results also reveal that integration and the degree of ICT utilisation significantly affect SMEs’ performance. Surprisingly, the findings do not reveal any significant impact of ICT usage on performance which apparently suggests the possibility of the ICT productivity paradox. However, the analysis finally proves the non-existence of the paradox by demonstrating the mediating role of ICT integration and degree of utilisation explain the influence of information technology (IT) usage on firm performance which is consistent with the resource-based theory. The results suggest that the use of ICT can enhance SMEs’ performance if the technology is integrated and properly utilised. SME owners or managers, interested stakeholders and policy makers may follow the study’s outcomes and focus on ICT integration and degree of utilisation with a view to attaining superior organisational performance.

This study urges concerned business enterprises and government to look at the environmental and cultural factors with a view to achieving ICT usage success in terms of enhanced firm performance. In particular, improving organisational practices and procedures by eliminating the traditional power distance inside organisations and implementing necessary rules and regulations are important actions for managing environmental and cultural uncertainties. The application of a Bengali user interface may help to ensure the productivity of ICT use by SMEs in Bangladesh. Establishing a favourable national technology infrastructure and legal environment may contribute positively to improving the overall situation. This study also suggests some changes and modifications in the country’s existing policies and strategies. The government and policy makers should undertake mass promotional programs to disseminate information about the various uses of computers and their contribution in developing better organisational performance. Organising specialised training programs for SME capacity building may succeed in attaining the motivation for SMEs to use ICT. Ensuring easy access to the technology by providing loans, grants and subsidies is important. Various stakeholders, partners and related organisations should come forward to support government policies and priorities in order to ensure the productive use of ICT among SMEs which finally will help to foster Bangladesh’s economic development.

This study embraces the call for exploring the determinants of continuous intention in TikTok. Taking the perspective of social influence, this study not only tries to explore the contextual sources of two types of social influence but also aims to unveil the influence mechanism of how social influence affects TikTok viewers’ continuous intention.

This study empirically analyzes how TikToker attractiveness, co-viewer participation, platform reputation and content appeal affect informative and normative social influence and then lead to the continuous intention of TikTok. Based on 547 valid survey data, this study adopts a mixed analytical approach for data analysis by integrating structural equation modeling (SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA).

SEM results unveil that content appeal is the most critical antecedent of informational social influence, while the TikToker attractiveness and platform reputation have no effect on it. Differently, all four external sources positively lead to normative social influence. Among them, content appeal and co-viewer participation influence the most. The influences of both two types of social influence on continuous intention are demonstrated. FsQCA results reveal seven alternative configurations that are sufficient for influencing continuance intention and further complement and reinforce the SEM findings.

Addressing the critical contextual elements of TikTok, this study explores and confirms the sources which may engender social influence. The authors also demonstrate the critical role of social influence in affecting TikTok viewers’ continuous intentions by the hybrid analytical approach, which contributes to existing academic literature and practitioners.