مکانیسم انباشت ارتباطات تعامل اجتماعی میان رهبران عقیده در جوامع مجازی: شواهد تجربی از چین Accumulation mechanism of opinion leaders’ social interaction ties in virtual communities: Empirical evidence from China

1. Introduction With the development of information technology and increased opportunities for Internet access, communication and information technology is becoming increasingly diverse. Through the use of computers and networks, online forums and social websites have extended people’s traditional social contexts and their personal learning networks (PLNs). Online communication has improved the scope of people’s interactions; and contributed to knowledge sharing, people’s learning (Trust, Krutka, & Carpenter, 2016) and the dissemination of important information. For example, people who have similar interests or goals often enjoy interacting and sharing knowledge with each other, and with the help of online forums, their personal relationship networks have expanded into cyberspace and resulted in the formation of different types of virtual communities (VCs). The increasing use of VCs has also attracted considerable attention and created a new educational platform for academic researchers (Cheng & Guo, 2015). Although one of the important features of VCs is delayering, some studies show that there still exist differences on the status among members of VCs (Mutter & Kundisch, 2014). For example, some Facebook users who have millions of followers are undoubtedly much more influential than those who have only a few. In the field of social network studies, the most influential members in communities are often called opinion leaders (Trusov, Bodapati, & Bucklin, 2010). Many studies suggest that opinion leaders can influence others a lot (Cheng, Xiong, & Xu, 2016). They have more power on influencing other people’s opinions because of their expertise, or position in society (Chen, Glass, & Mccartney, 2016), and along with that they can also guide the purchasing behavior of consumers (Cho, Keum, & Shah, 2015). In the online context, opinion leaders usually have the features of high trust and reputation (Chiregi & Navimipour, 2016). Some studies indicate that opinion leaders play an important role in the formation of public opinion in VCs (Luarn, Yang, & Chiu, 2014), and it is their superior status, leadership, and social prestige that enables them to influence followers (Li, Ma, et, al., 2013). Therefore, it is of great significance for the field of virtual community studies to understand the development mechanism of opinion leaders within virtual communities. As opinion leaders play a critical role in the dissemination of information according to an increasing number of contemporary studies that have analyzed the issue of opinion leaders in VCs. However, most studies on opinion leader in VCs take it as a static concept, suggesting that most studies have focused on the identi- fication of opinion leaders in VCs and on their influence over others in this context (Eck, Jager, & Leeflang, 2011; Momtaz, Aghaie, & Alizadeh, 2011). Unlike formal organizations, opinion leaders in virtual communities are not formally appointed. On the contrary, they are usually identified or developed through the process of interacting with various members of VCs. In this sense, the formation and development of opinion leaders in virtual communities are dynamic processes, and with the development of VCs, some members have gradually become the opinion leaders among their followers. That said, being an opinion leader does not necessarily mean the individual will hold that status forever. With the development of virtual communities, some opinion leaders may continue to be opinion leaders within their social groupings, while others may become common members of the community again (Lazarsfeld, Berelson, & Gaudet, 1994). However, few studies have studied the mechanisms that underlie the development of opinion leaders in VCs.