Opinion Leadership in Green Consumption: An Exploratory Study

Explored how interpersonal communication functions in the domain of green consumption. Data were collected by means of a self-administered questionnaire to 99 women (aged 20-74 yrs) at a business related meeting. 20% of Ss perceived themselves to be opinion leaders in green consumer behavior, while 80% felt they were non-leaders on this issue. Results indicate that opinion leadership is at work in the market for ecologically correct products in terms of influencing other people to perform certain behaviors such as buying environmentally safer products and cutting down on the use of natural resources. Opinion leaders believed they knew more about ecological issues than non-leaders, were more likely to write to politicians or avoid companies they felt were unfriendly to the environment, and were willing to pay more for green products.