The Influence Of Social Exclusion On Conspicuous Consumption In Social Media Scene

With the popularity of the Internet and smart phones, people's daily lives can not go on increasingly without social media which implicitly becomes our important "organs of the body. "At the same time, people can easy to express their love and don't like, accept and don't acceptin the social media scene. These expressions will form a phenomenonof social exclusion.Social exclusion was a kind of direct, attentive and targeted social phenomenon in social media environment, some research find that there is no significant effect of clear and direct social exclusion on conspicuous consumption, but another research find that there is significant effect of clear and direct social exclusion on conspicuous consumption. The purpose of this research was to classify the inconsistent results of previous research. And this research proposes that the effect of social exclusion on conspicuous consumption was moderated by three variables, which were relationship orientation, power state and self-construal. And these three variables play moderating effect on the relationship between the social exclusion and conspicuous consumption respectively. Thus, the specific hypotheses, method, and resultsare as follows:First, based on social identity theory, theory of relationship orientation and compensatory consumption motive theory. This research put forward that relationship orientation moderated the effect of social exclusion on conspicuous consumption, and the influence of social exclusion on conspicuous consumption was different when consumer was in exchange or communal relationship orientation, and which self-esteem plays mediating effect. Two experiments which were manipulating in social media scene were used to verify the hypotheses, and the results show that when the consumers were in social exclusion, compared to social inclusion, who were in communal relationship orientation will have more conspicuous consumption behavior. But when consumers were in exchange relationship orientation, regardless of whether in social exclusion or social inclusion, there was no significant difference of the influence on conspicuous consumption.Second, based on power promoting and inhibiting theory, compensatory motivation theory and self-efficacy theory.We propose that power state was taken as a boundary condition between social exclusion and conspicuous consumption. And the influence of social exclusion on conspicuous consumption was different when the consumer was in high and low power state, and which efficacy need plays mediating effect. Three experiments which were manipulating in social media scene were used to verify the hypotheses, and the results show that when the consumers were in social exclusion, compared to social inclusion, who was in low power state will have more conspicuous consumption behavior. But when consumers were in high power state, regardless of whether in social exclusion or social inclusion, there was no significant difference of the influence on conspicuous consumption.Finally, based on self-construal theory, self-improving motivation theory and compensatory consumption motive theory, This research put forward that self-construal moderated the effect of social exclusion on conspicuous consumption, and the influence of social exclusion on conspicuous consumption was different when consumer was in independent and dependent self-construal, and which self-worth plays mediating effect. Three experiments which were manipulating in social media scene were used to verify the hypotheses, and the results show that when the consumers were in social exclusion, compared to social inclusion, who was in independent self-construal will have more conspicuous consumption behavior. But when consumers were in dependent self-construal, regardless of whether in social exclusion or social inclusion, there was no significant difference of the influence on conspicuous consumption.The contributions of this research lie in:This paper was to further clarify the inconsistent results about the impact of social exclusion on conspicuous consumption of the previous research. Based on related theories and literatures, this research proposes that the influence of social exclusion on conspicuous consumption was moderated by three variables, which were relationship orientation, power state and self-construal. And these variables moderated the effect of social exclusion on conspicuous consumption separately.