Opinion influence in online social media environments — U grey system theory and agent-based modeling approach

Abstract

The present paper aims to simulate an online environment in which both agents and consumers meet and exchange information related to certain types of goods (regular soft or durable goods, luxury soft of durable goods) on the purpose of establishing the number of agents a company need to “place” in the online environment in order to influence or change a person's opinion. On this purpose, a series of variables are defined using grey numbers and determined using a questionnaire and face-to-face interviews to sales managers. Based on them, an agent-based model is proposed.