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Compares the social comparison experience on young Japanese adults with a similar one on young Canadians. Reveals that satisfaction of the Japanese with their possessions did not change with the social comparison experience in the same way as it did with Canadians. Suggests the Japanese reaction was on a more general level of effect with possessions, rather than simply satisfaction as was the case in Canada. Observes an interaction between direction of social comparison and respondents’ gender that was considerably different in nature from that of Canadians. Suggests that Canadians had a stronger desire for more and better possessions, willingness to strive for more possessions, together with a high degree of how possessions contribute to self‐image.

As technology increasingly integrates into the restaurant industry, avatar servers present a promising avenue for promoting healthier dining habits. Grounded in the halo effect theory and social comparison theory, this study aims to delve into the influence of avatars' appearance, humor and persuasion on healthier choices and customer satisfaction.

This paper comprises three experimental studies. Study 1 manipulates avatar appearance (supermodel-looking vs normal-looking) to examine its effects on perceived attractiveness, warmth and relatability. These factors influence customer satisfaction and healthy food choices through the psychological mechanisms of social comparison and aspirational appeal. Studies 2 and 3 further refine this theoretical model by assessing the interplay of appearance with humor (presence vs absence) and persuasion (health-oriented vs beauty-oriented), respectively.

Results suggest that avatars resembling supermodels evoke stronger aspirational appeal and positive social comparison due to their attractiveness, thus bolstering healthier choices and customer satisfaction. Moreover, humor moderates the relationship between appearance and attractiveness, while persuasion moderates the effects of appearance on social comparison and aspirational appeal.

This research bridges the halo effect theory and social comparison theory, offering insights enriching the academic discourse on technology’s role in hospitality.

The findings provide actionable insights for managers, tech developers and health advocates.

Despite its significance, avatar design research in the hospitality sector has been overlooked. This study addresses this gap, offering a guideline for crafting attractive and persuasive avatars.

This study aims to explore the connection between travel content consumption in social networks and social comparison, envy as well as travel intention. It analyzes whether tourists’ travel intention is affected by travel content consumption in social networks, and more importantly, whether social comparison and envy play a mediating role in this process.

Data was collected through intercept in four popular tourist spots in Guangzhou and Zhuhai in South China. A self-administered questionnaire was used. A total of 400 participants were recruited, and 291 valid questionnaires were obtained. Bias-corrected nonparametric percentile bootstrap mediation variable test method was used to test hypotheses.

The study yielded three results. First, travel content consumption in the social networks positively influences travel intention. Second, travel content consumption in social networks indirectly affects travel intention through social comparison and envy. Third, the control variables, such as gender, age, education and income, mainly affect envy.

This study constructs a theoretical framework of stimulus–cognitive appraisal–emotion–behavioral responses. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first study to reveal that the internal psychological mechanism of travel content consumption affects travel intention. It also discloses that envy of seemingly negative emotions can encourage positive behaviors in certain situations.

Meetings are conducted by increasingly age-diverse participant groups as the workforces in most industrialized economies are aging due to demographic change. There are at least three reasons why meetings constitute a particularly interesting environment to study intergenerational learning processes, defined as individuals’ joint construction of knowledge through an exchange of information with one or more individuals from different age groups. First, meetings allow us to observe a wide variety of interactions that may foster or inhibit intergenerational learning. Second, the interactions taking place in meetings reflect general organizational practices as well as social exchange and age norms. As such, meetings offer a view through the magnifying glass at the age-inclusive or age-discriminating organizational culture which is interwoven with the engagement of different generations in intergenerational learning processes. Third, organizational members use meetings as an arena for strategic interactions to negotiate their current and future status by positioning themselves in relation to their colleagues through social comparisons. This chapter particularly focuses on the latter topic and develops a conceptual model outlining the motivational and emotional coˇnsequences as well as antecedents that link social comparison processes in meetings to intergenerational learning outcomes of participants from different age groups.

This paper examines the impact of social comparisons on fundraising and charitable contributions. We present results from a field experiment involving contribution to a public radio station. Some callers are told of the contributions decisions of others, and other callers are given no such information. We find that providing ambitions (high) social comparison information can significantly increase contributions.

As social media use rises, the impact of social media influencers on customer buying decisions increases, due to customers viewing influencers as ideal role models who they try to imitate. Nevertheless, this phenomenon is still under-researched. This study examined the impact of the imitation of influencers on customer buying intention toward endorsed products, which is mediated by social comparison, materialism and the fear of missing out (FOMO).

An online survey of 243 respondents was conducted via Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform. This study employed structural equation modeling to test for direct and indirect effects among the constructs.

The results revealed that imitation of influencers has a significant impact on social comparison, materialism and FOMO, which affect buying intention toward endorsed products. The analysis results highlight the critical role of FOMO in explaining buying intention toward endorsed products in the context of social media influencers.

This study proposes a new theoretical model and empirically tests the power of influencers to affect consumer buying intention for endorsed products. It also explains the influencers' effects through FOMO, which have hardly been examined in earlier research although it is an important factor in understanding customer behavior. The implications are discussed for the academic literature and for online marketing strategies in marketing and advertising management.

Previous research has linked upward social comparison on social network sites (SNSs) to depressive symptoms; however, the mechanism underlying this relationship remains unclear. The purpose of this paper is to explore the roles of envy and self-efficacy in the relationship between upward social comparison on SNSs and depressive symptoms.

Based on the social comparison theory and previous related literature, a moderated mediation model integrating upward social comparison on SNSs, depressive symptoms, envy and self-efficacy was developed and empirically examined based on the data collected from 934 Chinese high school students.

The structural equation modeling analysis shows that envy partially mediates the relationship between upward social comparison on SNSs and depressive symptoms, whereas self-efficacy moderated both the direct effect of upward social comparison on SNSs on depressive symptoms and the mediating effect of envy in the relationship between upward social comparison on SNSs and depressive symptoms.

The findings offer interesting implications for guiding adolescents to use SNSs properly. This study found that envy and self-efficacy act as a mediator and moderator, respectively, between upward social comparison on SNSs and depressive symptoms, indicating that reducing envy and enhancing self-efficacy should be feasible to alleviate the negative effect of SNSs use.

In order to alleviate the negative effect of SNSs use, parents and educators should direct adolescents to view others’ achievements and happiness properly and manage to improve self-efficacy among adolescents with poor self-efficacy through effective training.

Through building and examining a moderated mediation model integrating envy and self-efficacy into the relationship between upward social comparison on SNSs and depressive symptoms, the present study advances our understanding of how and when upward social comparison on SNSs augments the risk of depressive symptoms among adolescents.

The purpose of this paper is to confirm the causal relationship, in an upward social comparison, of envy, loneliness and subjective well-being (SWB). Particularly, the authors address the mediating roles, each, of benign envy (BE) and malicious envy (ME) as different types of envy. In addition, the authors explore the grandiosity of users, in terms of narcissistic personalities, and whether it has discriminatory impacts on this causal relationship.

The authors re-enacted a situation that users confront on Facebook as a quasi-experiment to determine if there is an effectual relationship among variables in the path of upward comparison, envy, loneliness and SWB. First, the authors divided envy into BE and ME to examine its mediating role in the path of upward comparison and loneliness. Second, the authors examined the differentiated effects of both kinds of envy and loneliness on SWB. Finally, the authors determined if users’ grandiose, narcissistic behaviour has moderating effects on the path of each variable.

The results revealed that upward comparison has a positive effect on both kinds of envy; however, in the path of loneliness, only ME operated and played a mediating role. Furthermore, grandiosity had a partially significant moderating effect.

This study has the following theoretical implications. The mediating effect of envy was identified in the path of upward comparison, loneliness and SWB. Research limitation is as follows: this study could not effectively reflect individual differences. It is necessary to include individual difference variables in later research, including characteristics of social comparison.

This study has the following practical implications. Social comparison on Facebook poses a more serious problem than it does offline; therefore, users need to protect their own SWB. If users can actively cope with the information of others and selectively choose their upward comparison targets, they can reduce their loneliness and improve their SWB as expected in the hypotheses.

The “unfriending” events that occur on Facebook may be explained by the mediating phenomenon of ME. The research showed that the excessive narcissism of users on Facebook is an inconsistent information with real selves of users, thus triggering the ME, which causes avoidance from other Facebook users.

The authors have proven that social comparison and envy emotion are the causes of the loneliness, while the authors are on Facebook. Especially, the mediation role of BE and ME are discussed in a distinguished manner. Also, the authors confirmed that the influence of narcissism could further aggravate the problem of loneliness. Finally, the authors found that the variables of the study also affect the SWB of the Facebook user.

The purpose of this paper is to explore Chinese adolescents' engagement in social comparison of material possessions using qualitative inquiries.

In total, 64 Chinese adolescents aged 13‐17 were face‐to‐face interviewed. They were asked whether they engaged in social comparison of possessions with direct and vicarious role models such as media celebrities. Characteristics of role models and products involved in social comparison were inquired.

The research found that adolescents in Hong Kong frequently engaged in upward social comparison with friends and classmates. The products involved in social comparison were branded public goods that can be used to communicate ideal social self‐image. There was a strong link between social comparison and peer communication about consumption. Adolescents less often engaged in social comparison with media celebrities. This can be attributed to lack of resources, understanding of product sponsorship, and difficulties in identifying with the media celebrities. Role models of the same sex and similar age were often used for social comparison. Social comparison is used mainly for self‐enhancement, rather than self‐evaluation.

The study was from a convenient sample of adolescents in Hong Kong, a Chinese city with high advancement in terms of economic and advertising development when compared with most other Chinese cities.

This is the first qualitative study on Chinese adolescents' engagement in social comparison of material possessions.

This paper aims to examine whether social comparison in a prior, nonconsumption circumstance (e.g. in an academic setting) affects consumers’ materialism and subsequent spending propensity, and explores the incidental feeling of envy as the underlying mechanism.

Four experiments have been conducted to test these hypotheses. Study 1 manipulated social comparison in an academic domain, and measured undergraduate students’ materialism after they compared themselves to a superior student or to an inferior student. Study 2 used a recall task to manipulate social comparison and examine the mediating role of envy. Study 3 examined which of the two types of envy (benign or malicious) affected materialism. Study 4 examined the downstream consequences on spending propensity in both public and private consumption contexts.

The results suggest that consumers place greater importance on material goods and are more likely to spend money on publicly visible products after making upward social comparisons than after making downward social comparisons or no comparisons. Furthermore, envy acts as the mediator for the observed effect of incidental social comparison on materialism.

First, this study improves our understanding of the consequences of social comparison and envy by demonstrating that incidental envy (both benign and malicious) experienced in a prior, unrelated social comparison can motivate materialistic pursuits. Second, the present research contributes to the compensatory consumption literature by revealing that, in a social comparison context, envy is the affective underpinning that gives rise to the motivation to engage in compensatory consumer behavior. Third, the findings also enrich materialism research by exploring an important situational antecedent in driving materialistic orientation.