Personality factors and flow affecting opinion leadership in social media

•Openness, exhibitionism, and competence significantly increase opinion leadership.•Flow experience with social media increases opinion leadership behavior.•Exhibitionism is a critical predictor of opinion leadership among Generation X.•Generation Y have a greater flow experience with social media than Generation X.•Generation Y exhibit a higher opinion leadership propensity than Generation X.

This study examines the personality traits of people who tend to engage in social media as opinion leaders in the context of the travel industry. Specifically, we investigate the extent to which openness, exhibitionism, and competence in interpersonal relationships and flow experience affect the propensity of opinion leadership (OLP) and opinion leadership behavior (OLB). The proposed model was tested with two significant populations in social media, Generation X and Generation Y. The results indicate that openness, exhibitionism, and competence in interpersonal relationships significantly increase OLP. We also find that flow experience (i.e., playfulness and time distortion) strengthens the relationship between OLP and OLB. While the model holds true for both populations, the results show that the role of exhibitionism in OLP is more pronounced for Generation X than Generation Y.