Do I Deserve to Spend? Online Social Support and Spending Pleasure

Abstract

Despite evidence of people posting their consumption experiences to online social networks to fulfill the needs of social support, an understanding of how online social support affects post-consumption spending behaviors remains elusive. This research aims to examine how online social support from online social network friends and the firm influence perceptions of self-deservingness and spending pleasure. Across two studies, this research provides evidence that social support gained through online social networks influences consumers’ spending pleasure through perceptions of their own deservingness. Notably, this study reveals that people obtain social support in online social networks from two sources: social networks friends and firms through receiving “Likes” and “Comments” on their post. This study also explores boundary conditions for when online social support is more effective on spending pleasure. The findings not only broaden the social support literature but also address the benefit to the service industry by understanding how social support can enhance spending pleasure.

The gateway bug to edible insect consumption: interactions between message framing, celebrity endorsement and online social support

“…As the internet is ingrained in everyday life, it is an imperative channel for facilitating social support (Liang et al, 2011). Social support can be provided in online contexts through the "like," "share" and "follow" buttons (Kim and Baker, 2021). A "like" has a similar meaning to non-verbal communication and "comments" can serve as a critical tool to deliver support (Scissors et al, 2016).…”

“…There is a lack of literature that examines the connection between social value and online networks (Luna-Cortés et al, 2019), especially related to potential consumption behavior. While research has investigated online social support in terms of information sharing (Tajvidi et al, 2018), it has not been studied in terms of how social support affects purchase intentions (Kim and Baker, 2021). As posting food experiences on social media is common, examining how online support affects consumer's behaviors may be of great value in addressing these gaps in theory and practice.…”

“…Three items (e.g. "in this scenario, a lot of my Facebook friends liked and commented on my post") are used to test manipulation of social support (M low = 3.76, M high = 5.60, t = 14.38, p < 0.001, a = 0.91) (Kim and Baker, 2021;Xu et al, 2015).…”

“…Fourth, social support from friends and acquaintances is powerful in food edibility normalization (Shelomi, 2015). However, there is a lack of empirical research available around social support and purchasing behavior (Kim and Baker, 2021). Given that today's information acquisition is mostly via social media, understanding the effects of online social support broadens our understanding of information dissemination and increases the accuracy of the theoretical predictions.…”

“…Therefore, based on the gaps surrounding message framing (Berger et al, 2018), online social support (Kim and Baker, 2021;Tajvidi et al, 2018) and celebrity endorsement (Van der Veen and Song, 2014), this research examines these variables concurrently. Specifically, this study conducts a 2 (message framing: hedonic vs utilitarian) Â 2 (celebrity endorsement: present vs absent) Â 2 (online social support: low vs high) between-subjects experimental design study to test the casual effects on consumers' restaurant advocacy (RA) and experience satisfaction.…”