Followers' problematic engagement with influencers on social media: An attachment theory perspective

Farivar, Samira; Wang, Fang; Turel, Ofir

doi:10.1016/j.chb.2022.107288

Cited by 47 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…However, to fully understand the psychosocial impact of influencers on their followers, future research should study other variables, such as sense of belonging, loneliness, and envy, which often appear in the social networking addiction literature (Apaolaza et al, 2013; Jin & Ryu, 2020; Pittman & Reich, 2016; Tandoc et al, 2014). Farivar et al (2022) demonstrated that the physical attractiveness of influencers leads to negative affective responses from followers, such as problematic engagement. Leveraging these findings and our results, additional research could analyze whether showing up in genuine ways reduces such negative responses.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

To be real or not to be real? The effect of genuine (vs. nongenuine) depictions of social media influencers on followers' well‐being and brand purchase intention

Claeys,

Charry,

Tessitore

2023

Psychology and Marketing

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Criticized for the idealized lives portrayed on social media (e.g., Instagram), a growing number of social media influencers are now embracing genuineness, showcasing unfiltered and less sophisticated pictures of themselves. The current research investigated this trend by examining how genuine (vs. nongenuine) visual self‐presentations by influencers affect their followers' purchase intention and, importantly, their well‐being. With an experiment (n = 171) and a quasi‐experiment with an ex‐post facto design (n = 154), we demonstrate that influencers' genuineness (vs. nongenuineness) not only benefits promoted brands but also followers' well‐being. Specifically, genuine (vs. nongenuine) influencers induce fewer upward comparisons, which, in turn, increases followers' self‐esteem, well‐being, and purchase intention. Investigating the role of gender, we show that, while males also tend to purchase more products when recommended by genuine (vs. nongenuine) male influencers, the mediating process through social comparison does not occur. Combining psychosocial and marketing perspectives, this study expands various streams of research on social media influencers and offers pragmatic contributions that reconcile managers, social media influencers, and public policymakers. More genuineness in pictures, using fewer filters and beauty artifices, provides benefits for all. Finally, we suggest future research directions as ways to further reconcile these two perspectives.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

To be real or not to be real? The effect of genuine (vs. nongenuine) depictions of social media influencers on followers' well‐being and brand purchase intention

Claeys,

Charry,

Tessitore

2023

Psychology and Marketing

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“…Globally, on average, those who belong to Generation Z (i.e., those born in the late 1990s until early 2010s) have reported spending approximately three hours per day on SM, which is, on average, 45 minutes more than Millennials (i.e., those born in 1981Millennials (i.e., those born in until 1996, and double the time spent on social media by Generation X (i.e., those born in 1965until 1980Statista, 2022a). Excessive and addictive SM use can be due to numerous social pressures (Osatuyi & Turel, 2018), such as SM influencers, as influencers try to increase engagement of their followers by persuading them to participate on their SM page(s) and/or with their posts (Farivar et al, 2022). Thus, participants who spend more time on SM, have been active on SM longer, and use more SM sites may be more likely to want to be SM influencers due to high exposure to SM influencers.…”

Section: Media Watch 14(2)mentioning

confidence: 99%

An Exploration of Social Media Users’ Desires to Become Social Media Influencers

et al. 2023

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With increased social media (SM) use, users are becoming frequently more exposed to SM influencers. This study aimed to explore SM influencer aspirations among young adults, specifically investigating the desire and rationale to become a SM influencer. Moreover, aspirations of becoming a SM influencer were explored by perceptions of SM influencers and SM use. The sample included 769 young Canadians (aged 16–30) who were mainly women ( n = 599, 79%). Overall, 29 (4%) participants considered themselves to be SM influencers, whereas 579 (75%) participants reported that they wanted to ( maybe or yes) become a SM influencer. The top three reasons for wanting to be an influencer were money, the opportunity to try new products or services, and it’s fun work. In addition, having certain perceptions of SM influencers (e.g., knowing an influencer, or having been influenced) significantly predicted the desire to be a SM influencer ( p < 0.001). Moreover, certain SM usage patterns (e.g., time spent on SM) significantly predicted the desire to be a SM influencer ( p < 0.001). These findings could help researchers understand the impact of SM influencers on their followers and the potential reasons why SM users aspire to become SM influencers themselves.

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“…Following influencers has become one of the most popular activities (Farivar et al , 2022) that users can participate in on social media in recent years. In a competitive social media influencer market in which countless influencers attract people’s attention regularly, a critical issue is how to maximize followers’ stickiness and keep followers from switching (Hu et al , 2020) to other influencers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent studies have begun to pay attention to the impact of social media influencers (and celebrities) on followers’ psychological benefits or disadvantages (Farivar et al , 2022; Hu et al , 2020; Kim and Kim, 2020). These studies mainly addressed a user’s emotional outcomes from a relationship-building perspective.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…First, this study extends the current understanding of transformative service research on user well-being into the influencer’s context by highlighting the role of stickiness. Second, the effects of followers’ stickiness measured by duration and retention on their well-being, including both hedonic and eudaimonic dimensions of well-being, are investigated to contribute to the growing literature on followers’ stickiness to influencers and followers’ well-being (Farivar et al , 2022; Hu et al , 2020; Kim and Kim, 2020) by incorporating the perspective of influencers’ characteristics. Finally, our study provides preliminary insights into the linkages between source credibility theory and followers’ stickiness in the influencer context.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How do influencers’ characteristics affect followers’ stickiness and well-being in the social media context?

Chen

2023

JSM

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Purpose Drawing on source credibility theory, this study aims to explore the relationship between influencers’ characteristics and followers’ well-being through followers’ stickiness to influencers’ channels or posts. Design/methodology/approach The authors gathered data through an online survey of 450 followers. The proposed hypotheses were examined using structural equation modeling. Findings Results reveal that trustworthiness and physical attractiveness positively affect followers’ stickiness to influencers, while the influence of expertise is not evident. Stickiness has positive impacts on both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. The findings also show that stickiness mediates the relationships between physical attractiveness and trustworthiness toward both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first to explore the impact of influencers’ characteristics on followers’ stickiness to influencer webpages. The findings contribute to transformative service research and the theory of stickiness by deepening the understanding of how influencer characteristics contribute to followers’ well-being through the effect of users’ stickiness.

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Followers' problematic engagement with influencers on social media: An attachment theory perspective

Cited by 47 publications

References 84 publications

To be real or not to be real? The effect of genuine (vs. nongenuine) depictions of social media influencers on followers' well‐being and brand purchase intention

To be real or not to be real? The effect of genuine (vs. nongenuine) depictions of social media influencers on followers' well‐being and brand purchase intention

An Exploration of Social Media Users’ Desires to Become Social Media Influencers

How do influencers’ characteristics affect followers’ stickiness and well-being in the social media context?

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