The role of Benign Envy on Consumption - A Cross-Cultural Comparison in Social Networking Environment
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School of Business |
Bachelor's thesis
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Authors
Nguyen, Quan Tran Truc
Date
2019
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
(Mikkeli) Bachelor’s Program in International Business
Language
en
Pages
60 + 11
Series
Abstract
Objectives This thesis aims to investigate benign envy and purchase intentions of social media users in different cultures. To achieve this, Finnish and Vietnamese of all ages, who engaged in social media usage were sampled. As they represent the less and more collectivist sides of consumers, the difference in collectivism is employed to examine the variations in purchase intentions across cultures. Summary Despite being known for its negative impacts on personal and social well-being, envy possesses a subtype called benign envy, which constructively affects sales and economic development. Additionally, compared to malicious envy, benign envy is more common in social media settings. As the number of social media users increases substantially, this positive side of envy becomes a promising aspect for businesses to exploit. Previous studies connect benign envy with the motivation to obtain the same virtue or goods owned by the advantaged party. It is thus hypothesized that this pattern remains valid in online contexts. Moreover, because the intensity of benign envy and the need to conform with social norms are positively correlated to collectivism, collectivist nations are expected to have higher purchase intentions than individualists. 206 participants were engaged through a questionnaire to draw answers for these propositions. While the results support the first argument, they reject the second one since the impacts of envy and collectivism on purchase intentions are independent. Conclusions It could be concluded from this research that benign envy, regardless of offline or online settings, enhances the incentive to obtain the good of the comparable other. Nevertheless, collectivism does not have a significant role in this relationship. Social comparison, on the contrary, could increase envy-related consumption.Description
Thesis advisor
Paurav, ShuklaKeywords
marketing, social media, psychology, Finnish, Vietnamese