University of SaskatchewanHARVEST
  • Login
  • Submit Your Work
  • About
    • About HARVEST
    • Guidelines
    • Browse
      • All of HARVEST
      • Communities & Collections
      • By Issue Date
      • Authors
      • Titles
      • Subjects
      • This Collection
      • By Issue Date
      • Authors
      • Titles
      • Subjects
    • My Account
      • Login
      JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
      View Item 
      • HARVEST
      • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      • View Item
      • HARVEST
      • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      • View Item

      Opinion Leaders as Brand Advocates in the Medical Industry – How Medical Professionals Perceive Source Credibility and Company Affiliations

      Thumbnail
      View/Open
      MUELLER-THESIS-2020.pdf (1.377Mb)
      Date
      2020-06-05
      Author
      Mueller, Alexander
      ORCID
      0000-0001-8650-6077
      Type
      Thesis
      Degree Level
      Masters
      Metadata
      Show full item record
      Abstract
      Opinion leaders are experts in their domain of interest that share their experience with others. Opinion seekers, on the other hand, value the opinion leader’s knowledge and use them as a source of information to form an opinion about a service or a product. Marketers in the healthcare industry have recognized this information flow and have begun to use leading experts as a valuable third party who can take over the role of brand advocates or endorsers of a particular product. This research examines the marketing concept of opinion leaders advocating a product and persuading medical professionals. In two experimental studies, the influence of opinion leaders on medical students and practicing physicians and their perceived credibility of the message, as well as their attitude towards the company, is examined. The second focus of this research is how medical professionals cope with this form of persuasion attempt and whether their persuasion knowledge is activated. The influence on medical students and physicians through a peer expert - a skilled expert without any public recognition – represents the point of comparison in both studies. The results demonstrate that there are no significant differences in terms of perceived credibility between peer experts and opinion leaders, and that there are no differences regarding their influence on message credibility or attitude toward the company either. Moreover, disclosing company affiliations lead to the correction of attitudes toward the company. However, disclosing conflicts of interest can also be beneficial as it boosts the credibility of the source and helps to increase the perceived credibility of the corporation.
      Degree
      Master of Science (M.Sc.)
      Department
      Edwards School of Business
      Program
      Marketing
      Supervisor
      Delbaere, Marjorie
      Committee
      Bourrassa, Maureen; Sarghie, Monica; Murphy, William; Schmidt, Joseph
      Copyright Date
      May 2020
      URI
      http://hdl.handle.net/10388/12877
      Subject
      Opinion leadership
      Persuasion knowledge
      Healthcare marketing
      Source credibility
      Disclosure
      Collections
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      University of Saskatchewan

      University Library

      © University of Saskatchewan
      Contact Us | Disclaimer | Privacy