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 journalArticlepeer-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 languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)703-708
    Number of pages6
    JournalCyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking
    Volume25
    Issue number11
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 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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