Narcissism, activity on Facebook, and conspicuous consumption among young adults
Małgorzata Niesiobędzka1, Karol Konaszewski1
1Faculty of Education, University of Bialystok, Bialystok, Poland.
Background:
The purpose of the study was to explore relationships between narcissistic strategies, self-oriented activity on Facebook, and conspicuous consumption.
Participants And Procedure:
The sample consisted of 323 young Polish adults. Participants completed the Conspicuous Consumption Scale (CCS), the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire (NARQ), and questions regarding Facebook use.
Results:
Empirical support was found for the assumption that conspicuous consumption was predicted by narcissistic rivalry. Although the direct impact of narcissistic admiration on conspicuous consumption was non-significant, this strategy influenced status consumption through self-verified behaviours on social media, the strongest predictor of conspicuous consumption.
Conclusions:
This shows that narcissistic rivalry directly affects the propensity to conspicuous consumption and narcissistic admiration is related to self-verified activity on Facebook. The involvement of Facebook usage in this manner increases the acquisition and display of expensive, glamorous products as external signals of status.
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