Shifting social norms through endorsements

Abstract

The attitude of individuals towards prevailing social norms can change over time. When these changes are not observable, norm abidance can remain high due to social costs. We study how an opinion leader with private information about the societal change can influence norm abidance. We show that the opinion leader can affect abidance when she is neither too ideologically sided in favor of the norm violation nor too popularity concerned. The opinion leader has a stronger impact on society when social costs are higher, the societal change is more uncertain, and citizens interact more often with like-minded individuals.