THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE PERCEPTION OF THE INFLUENCER'S SOCIAL POWER AND (A) THE PERCEPTION OF BEING INFLUENCED AND (B) THE SATISFACTION WITH THE INFLUENCER

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to find out the relationships between the six bases of social power (referent, expert, attraction, legitimate, reward and punishment) of the influencer in everyday life and the perception of being influenced by him and the satisfaction with him.The respondents were 179 university students, 31 businessmen and 19 housewives. First, they chose the person who is the most influential for them (Influencer I) and the second, most influential person (Influencer II), and then they evaluated the influencers about the three variables mentioned above.The main findings were as follows;1. According to the Hayashi's quantification method of the first type, the perception of being influenced was significantly related to referent power and punishment power, and also legitimate power (Influencer I) and expert power (Influencer II).2. The satisfaction with the influencer was significantly related to attraction power.3. Systematic differences among the influencers (Father, Mother, Husband, Friend, Superior in workplace, Senior member or a colleague in university's extracurricular activities club) were not found about the results in 1 and 2.4. According to the one-factor ANOVA, there were no significant differences among the influencers about referent power. Father, Mother and Husband had greater value on the perception of being influenced, and Friend and Colleague in university's extracurricular activities club had greater value on the satisfaction than any other influencers (p<. 05).