The Psychological Consequences of Envying Influencers on Instagram

Jung Ah Lee; So Young Lee; Yuhosua Ryoo; Woo Jin Kim; Yongjun Sung

doi:10.1089/cyber.2022.0001

The Psychological Consequences of Envying Influencers on Instagram

Jung Ah Lee, So Young Lee, Yuhosua Ryoo, Woo Jin Kim, Yongjun Sung

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study examines how being envious toward social media influencers (SMIs) relates to users' affective well-being. An online survey was conducted in which 305 U.S. participants viewed to 20 posts of an SMI and subsequently measured their affective well-being, envy, and inspiration toward the SMI, and self-esteem levels. The results revealed a direct negative relationship between envy and affective well-being, but a positive indirect effect through inspiration. Furthermore, individuals' self-esteem moderates the relationship such that the positive relationship between envy and affective well-being through inspiration is stronger among those with high levels of self-esteem. Moreover, inspiration varies between different influencer categories, that is, participants who viewed fitness influencers reported the greatest amount of inspiration, followed by fashion, beauty, and entertainment influencers.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	703-708
Number of pages	6
Journal	Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking
Volume	25
Issue number	11
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2022.0001
Publication status	Published - 2022 Nov 1

Keywords

envy
inspiration
Instagram
self-esteem
social media influencers
well-being

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Social Psychology
Communication
Applied Psychology
Human-Computer Interaction
Computer Science Applications

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10.1089/cyber.2022.0001

Cite this

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The Psychological Consequences of Envying Influencers on Instagram

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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