Research On The Impact Mechanism Of Consumption Sharing Types,Benign Envy,and Malicious Envy On Purchase Intention In Social Media

With the continuous development of internet technology,people are spending more and more time on social media,which has become an indispensable medium for information and communication.When people browse through consumption information shared by users similar to themselves on social media,they inadvertently engage in social comparison,which can trigger feelings of envy.Envy is an important factor in social media marketing.Therefore,understanding the social comparison,envy,behavior,and influence of social media users is not only crucial for social media marketers and advertisers to improve marketing efficiency and optimize promotion combinations,but also provides important recommendations for social platform providers to maintain user relationships.Previous research has shown that experiential consumption sharing is more likely to trigger envy among social media users than material consumption sharing,that is,different types of consumption sharing cause different levels of envy.Although envy is a frustrating emotion,it also has its positive side(benign envy).However,few scholars have studied the direct relationship and boundary conditions between different consumption types and the two types of envy(benign envy and malicious envy).As the positive aspect of envy,benign envy can motivate individuals to work hard,challenge themselves,and obtain the products or services they desire,thereby significantly influencing consumers’ purchase intentions.In contrast,malicious envy as the negative aspect of envy can lead individuals to engage in destructive behavior,trying to make the comparison object lose its advantage,while also promoting consumers to purchase higher-end products.Therefore,studying the relationship between consumer types,benign envy,malicious envy,social comparison tendency,text content description,and purchase intention not only has important theoretical significance,but also has practical significance for social media marketers,advertisers,and social platform providers.This article aims to explore the mechanism of the impact of consumption types on benign envy,malicious envy,and purchase intention,and to study their performance as mediating variables on Micro-blog and We Chat,two social platforms.Based on social comparison theory and envy classification theory,this article proposes that experiential consumption sharing may cause higher levels of benign envy than material consumption sharing,thereby increasing consumers’ purchase intentions.In contrast,material consumption sharing may cause higher levels of malicious envy than experiential consumption sharing,thereby increasing consumers’ purchase intentions for higher-end products.In addition,to explore the boundary conditions,this article proposes that social comparison tendency will moderate the impact of consumption types on benign envy.At the same time,text content description will also moderate the impact of consumption types and social comparison tendency on benign envy.This article reviews literature on consumption sharing,envy,purchase intention,social comparison tendency,and textual content description from both domestic and international sources.Based on this review,a research model is constructed and research hypotheses are proposed.This article used mature scales from domestic and international sources and distributed questionnaires to students and corporate employees.Finally,we obtained 261(Study 1)and 459(Study 2)valid data.Based on the sample data,we used SPSS26.0 and AMOS24.0 for descriptive analysis,confirmatory analysis,and correlation analysis,and tested the research hypotheses through regression analysis.The results show that:(1)experiential consumption sharing causes higher levels of benign envy than material consumption sharing;(2)material consumption sharing causes higher levels of malicious envy than experiential consumption sharing;(3)benign envy plays a complete mediating role between consumption types and purchase intention;(4)malicious envy plays a complete mediating role between consumption types and purchase intention for higher-end products;(5)social comparison tendency moderates the relationship between consumption types and benign envy.In the case of high social comparison tendency,experiential consumption sharing causes higher levels of benign envy than material consumption sharing;(6)text content description moderates the relationship between consumption types,social comparison tendency,and benign envy.When the text content description is subjective emotional description,experiential consumption sharing causes higher levels of benign envy among individuals with high social comparison tendency than material consumption sharing;(7)benign envy mediates the interaction between consumption types,social comparison tendency,and text content description on consumers’ purchase intentions.Moreover,only when the text content description is subjective emotional description and the individual is a user with high social comparison tendency,experiential consumption sharing will cause higher levels of benign envy than material consumption sharing,thereby causing higher consumer purchase intentions.Finally,the main conclusions of this study are summarized,corresponding management suggestions are proposed,and the shortcomings and prospects of this study are discussed.