Emotional Attachment Influence on Service Perception among Opinion Leaders. Evidence from an Art Venue

Conventional opinion leadership theory has traditionally dealt with the characteristics of an opinion leader and the domains where this behavior appears. Art organizations agree on the importance of having influentials among their customer base to prescribe their services. This study empirically tests the moderation effect of opinion leadership on the perceived quality, overall satisfaction during the service experience. A survey-based questionnaire among 409 patrons was conducted to test the relationships, using SEM. Two segments of low and high opinion leaders were obtained to compare their differences. Strong opinion leaders give more importance to their satisfaction level as an antecedent of their future intentions. Emotional attachment act as a filter that influences the service attribute perception.