The Effect of Social Network Types On Conspicuous Consumption -Focused on Mediating Effect of desire for self-promotion and Moderating Effect of Consumer Susceptibility to Interpersonal Influence

Abstract

Social networking sites (SNS) are of great interest to academics and practitioners in marketing as they have become essential in consumers daily lives. Despite its growing global popularity and increasingly frequent usage, how the composition of ones network on SNS can affect one's behavior offline remains elusive. The present study argues that using SNS with a strangers-dominated network increases desire for self-promotion, which in turn, promotes a conspicuous consumption tendency more than using SNS with a friends-dominated network. However, such effects are moderated by consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence. In study 1, 96 participants were randomly assigned to either the friends or strangers condition and went through several tasks that were similar to real SNS activities in a simulated setting. Results showed that the relationship between social network types and conspicuous consumption is fully mediated by desire for self-promotion. In study 2, 125 participants were recruited for mediated moderation analyses, having consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence as a moderator. As a result, the effect of social network types on desire for self-promotion was only present with individuals with a relatively low susceptibility to interpersonal influence. On the other hand, this effect did not exist for individuals who were highly susceptible to interpersonal influence.