Examination of the Effect of Social Comparison Tendency on Conspicuous Consumption in Terms of Problematic Social Media Use

This study examines the impact of social comparison tendency on conspicuous consumption, while testing the moderating role of problematic social media usage. Furthermore, it investigates the influence of problematic social media usage on conspicuous consumption based on the frequency of social media use. Using quantitative design, research data were obtained using an online survey with purposive sampling. A total of 256 data is used for analysis. The results reveal that social comparison tendency directly influences conspicuous consumption, and this effect diminishes as problematic social media usage increases. Additionally, problematic social media usage significantly affects conspicuous consumption, with a ranking of impact by social media platform as follows: TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and Snapchat. In the case of Facebook, no significant effect of problematic social media usage on conspicuous consumption was found. These findings suggest that the relationship between social comparison and conspicuous consumption is affected by problematic social media use and that problematic social media use has different effects on conspicuous consumption across different platforms. Findings also offer important marketing implications. Marketers need to adopt responsible marketing practices that foster healthy engagement and reduce the risk of exacerbating comparison tendencies.