The Dark Side of Upward Social Comparison for Social Media Users: An Investigation of Fear of Missing Out and Digital Hoarding Behavior
The digital age has seen a rise in digital hoarding behavior, which is defined as the behavior of accumulating digital files, resulting in stress and disorder. However, little is known about the causes and psychological mechanisms of digital hoarding. To address this research gap, this study propose...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Social Media + Society |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051221150420 |
| _version_ | 1828048549603966976 |
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| author | Haixia Wang Peng Miao Huiyuan Jia Kaisheng Lai |
| author_facet | Haixia Wang Peng Miao Huiyuan Jia Kaisheng Lai |
| author_sort | Haixia Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The digital age has seen a rise in digital hoarding behavior, which is defined as the behavior of accumulating digital files, resulting in stress and disorder. However, little is known about the causes and psychological mechanisms of digital hoarding. To address this research gap, this study proposed and empirically tested a moderated mediation model of social networking site (SNS) users’ causes of and psychological motivation for digital hoarding behavior using an online questionnaire method. We surveyed a total of 556 SNS users online. The results revealed that social comparison of this sort increased individuals’ digital hoarding behaviors and that fear of missing out (FoMO) mediated this effect. In addition, dispositional greed moderated the relationship between this comparison and FoMO as well as the relationship between FoMO and digital hoarding behavior such that these relationships were stronger for SNS users with high dispositional greed. Our research improves our understanding of the operative psychological mechanisms and boundary conditions in the relation between upward comparison via SNSs and digital hoarding behavior. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T18:57:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-79bbbf9ef4d141c7b11919eaddfdb679 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2056-3051 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T18:57:58Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Media + Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-79bbbf9ef4d141c7b11919eaddfdb6792023-01-31T15:33:23ZengSAGE PublishingSocial Media + Society2056-30512023-01-01910.1177/20563051221150420The Dark Side of Upward Social Comparison for Social Media Users: An Investigation of Fear of Missing Out and Digital Hoarding BehaviorHaixia Wang0Peng Miao1Huiyuan Jia2Kaisheng Lai3Jinan University, ChinaBeijing Normal University, ChinaCapital University of Economics and Business, ChinaJinan University, ChinaThe digital age has seen a rise in digital hoarding behavior, which is defined as the behavior of accumulating digital files, resulting in stress and disorder. However, little is known about the causes and psychological mechanisms of digital hoarding. To address this research gap, this study proposed and empirically tested a moderated mediation model of social networking site (SNS) users’ causes of and psychological motivation for digital hoarding behavior using an online questionnaire method. We surveyed a total of 556 SNS users online. The results revealed that social comparison of this sort increased individuals’ digital hoarding behaviors and that fear of missing out (FoMO) mediated this effect. In addition, dispositional greed moderated the relationship between this comparison and FoMO as well as the relationship between FoMO and digital hoarding behavior such that these relationships were stronger for SNS users with high dispositional greed. Our research improves our understanding of the operative psychological mechanisms and boundary conditions in the relation between upward comparison via SNSs and digital hoarding behavior.https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051221150420 |
| spellingShingle | Haixia Wang Peng Miao Huiyuan Jia Kaisheng Lai The Dark Side of Upward Social Comparison for Social Media Users: An Investigation of Fear of Missing Out and Digital Hoarding Behavior Social Media + Society |
| title | The Dark Side of Upward Social Comparison for Social Media Users: An Investigation of Fear of Missing Out and Digital Hoarding Behavior |
| title_full | The Dark Side of Upward Social Comparison for Social Media Users: An Investigation of Fear of Missing Out and Digital Hoarding Behavior |
| title_fullStr | The Dark Side of Upward Social Comparison for Social Media Users: An Investigation of Fear of Missing Out and Digital Hoarding Behavior |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Dark Side of Upward Social Comparison for Social Media Users: An Investigation of Fear of Missing Out and Digital Hoarding Behavior |
| title_short | The Dark Side of Upward Social Comparison for Social Media Users: An Investigation of Fear of Missing Out and Digital Hoarding Behavior |
| title_sort | dark side of upward social comparison for social media users an investigation of fear of missing out and digital hoarding behavior |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051221150420 |
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