Silver lining of envy on social media? The relationships between post content, envy type, and purchase intentions

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the prevalence of benign and malicious envy on social media, and to examine the relationships between shared content (experiential vs material purchases), envy type (benign vs malicious), and purchase intention (toward the same vs a superior object). Design/methodology/approach Three studies (N=622) were conducted to ask participants to recall the last time they experienced envy due to browsing social media, report an envy-triggering post about either an experiential or a material purchase shared by others and read a post about a friend’s newly bought MacBook in either an experiential or a material phrasing. The degrees of benign and malicious envy were measured, as well as the future purchase intentions toward the same and a superior object. Findings The results showed that most of the envious emotions were actually benign envy. Although there was no main effect of purchase type on envy type, both experiential purchases and phrasings were less likely to be perceived as showing off, and therefore triggered less malicious envy. Furthermore, benign envy was positively associated with the purchase intention of the same envied purchase, and malicious envy was positively associated with the purchase intention of something even superior. Originality/value As browsing other’s social news sometimes evokes envy, people were concerned about the negative effects of envy on consumers. However, this paper addressed the positive effects of envy which comes along with a motivation of moving up. This positive motivation can also be utilized for social media advertising.

If You Travel, I Travel: Testing a Model of When and How Travel-Related Content Exposure on Facebook Triggers the Intention to Visit a Tourist Destination

“…Recently, R. Y. Lin (2018) discovered that consumers who feel benign envy are more likely to buy the same object possessed by their SNS friends. Similarly, Meier and Schäfer (2018) found that benign envy elicited in response to social comparison on Instagram leads to inspiration.…”

More Experience, Less Loneliness? Exploring the Effect of Experiential Purchases on the Alleviation of Loneliness

“…For example, Carter and Gilovich (2010) claimed that material purchases are more comparable and thus more likely to trigger jealousy than experiential purchases. Lin (2018) also documented experiential purchases are more likely to trigger benign envy than material purchases and beneficial to the purchase intention of the envied object. Addressed to the stream of research on experiential purchases associated with negative emotion, our finding provides new strategies on how to cope with the negative impact of loneliness.…”

“…However, experiential purchases may also serve an important role for negative emotions. Lin (2018) found that experiential purchases and phrasing were less likely to be perceived as showing off on social media and thus may triggered more benign envy (motivates individuals to improve themselves and achieve the same success as others) than malicious envy (harm and belittling others and leads to negative social comparisons). Rosenzweig and Gilovich (2012) claimed that experiential purchase decisions are more likely to lead to regrets of inaction (missed opportunities that could have been done but was not), while material purchase decisions are more likely to generate regrets of action (remorse of a buyer that has not been done, but has done).…”

#I Envy, Therefore, I Buy! #: The Role of Celebgram Trustworthiness and Para-Social Interactions in Consumer Purchase Intention

“…Glamorous photos of celebgrams posted on the Instagram tend to be more powerful in triggering follower envy . Furthermore, and Jin and Ryu (2020) state that celebgram trustworthiness as seen in Instagram photos is stronger narcissistically in generating consumer jealousy or envy and capable of leading to envy which in turn increases purchase intention (Lin, 2018).…”

“…Theoretically, envy has a positive relationship with consumer purchase intention and tends to compete evolutionarily either intraexually or intersexually (Buunk & Massar, 2012). In the context of celebgram influencer-based marketing, narcissistic and glamorous photos can evoke envy and in turn increase consumer purchase intention (Milovic, 2014;Lin, 2018). Based on these theoretical and empirical reasons, the following hypothesis is proposed: H5: Possession envy has a positive effect on consumer purchase intention.…”