To examine the opinion leadership phenomenon as an element of a change strategy for agricultural education, a means of identifying personal and social characteristics of teachers identified as opinion leaders was developed. Chi square, t test, and Spearman's rank-order correlation were used to analyze data obtained by group interviews from 272 of the 279 vocational agriculture teachers in South Carolina. Individuals nominated four or more times by their peers as sources of advice and information were identified in 11 areas of the vocational agriculture program and were considered to be opinion leaders. Twenty-one of the 51 opinion leaders identified were influential in more than one area of the vocational agriculture program; 72 percent of the opinion leaders selected other opinion leaders as their source of advice and information; 35 percent of vocational agriculture teachers selected other teachers as the source from which they got advice and information. The personal and social characteristics of opinion leaders found to be significant indicated that they tended to be older, had taught longer, had attained a higher educational level, had a higher salary and held a greater number of educational offices than their fellow teachers. ED 023 858 is a related document. (D-)