A field experiment testing frontline opinion leaders as change agents

Abstract

On the basis of previous studies of source credibility and opinion leadership, the authors hypothesized that opinion leaders would serve as effective agents to promote positive attitudes toward a service-quality initiative and increase service-quality effectiveness. The service effectiveness of tellers before and after a service-quality leadership training program was rated by customers, supervisors, and the tellers themselves across 3 matched bank branches. Service effectiveness was rated significantly higher in a branch using opinion leaders as service-quality leaders compared with a branch using randomly selected frontline leaders. Tellers in the latter branch showed greater improvements in service effectiveness than did counterparts in a branch using no frontline service quality leaders. This difference between types of leaders appeared to be mediated by tellers' behavioral beliefs about the service-quality program.