Master’s Thesis
Are Millennials All the Same? Unraveling the Millennial Stereotypes Graduate School of Communication
MSc Communication Science: Entertainment Communication Supervisor: Dr. Renske van Bronswijk
June 14th, 2017
Author: Anne Jagielka Student Number: 11175613
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to determine if there are differences within the Millennial generation in terms of their social media use and their motivations to use social media. These differences are researched by considering the life stages of Millennials, which are sometimes associated with emerging adulthood. Important life stages during emerging adulthood include changes in primary daily occupation and relationship status. Often a person’s occupation changes from student to working professional. Also, their relationship status goes from being single to in a relationship. An online survey of 268 Millennials indicated that single Millennials use social media more than Millennials in a relationship. Additionally, and unexpectedly, student Millennials do not use social media more than working professional Millennials. Moreover, results showed that student Millennials use social media for entertainment motivations less than working professional Millennials. Also, single Millennials are more likely to use social media for socializing motivations than Millennials in a relationship. Lastly, a Millennial’s relationship status and primary daily activity didn’t play a moderating role on the relationship between social media motivations and social media use. These findings suggest that for certain life stages, Millennials differ in terms of their social media use and their motivations to use social media. This is
important knowledge for any group that wants to engage Millennials, for example marketeers and media organizations, because it gives them a better understanding of how to successfully reach this generation.
Are Millennials All the Same? Unraveling the Millennial Stereotypes Introduction
Millennials - also known as Digital Natives, Generation Y and the Net Generation - are different from all older generations because of their exposure to digital technology from a young age (Kilian, Hennings, & Langner, 2012). For brands, Millennials are an important target group because of their important spending power. In the U.S, Millennials spend around $600 billion a year (Donnelly & Scaff, 2013). However, many factors are making it more difficult for
marketeers to target Millennials. First, the cultural changes in the Millennial generation have led to a decrease in brand loyalty (Kusek, 2016). Compared to older generations such as Generation X and the Baby Boomers, Millennials have different values and views in terms of religion, politics and marriage (Pew Research Center, 2014). Half of Millennials have grown up with divorced parents and in what we call today “modern families” (Kusek, 2016). Furthermore, racial diversity characterizes this generation (Pew Research Center, 2014).
Another factor that makes it difficult for marketeers to target Millennials is the
heterogeneity of this generation (Foscht, Schloffer, Maloles III, & Chia, 2009). Previous research conducted on Millennials’ various attitudes and behaviors, such as brand loyalty and media use, have demonstrated the importance of segmenting this generation. Some of this earlier research created sub-groups within Millennials based on a person’s age, life stage or media usage. The creation of sub-groups within Millennials allows for a better understanding of this generation (Kilian, Hennings, & Langner, 2012; Foscht, Schloffer, Maloles III, & Chia, 2009; Gurau, 2012). Increasingly, brands are seeing the value in creating multiple marketing strategies to target Millennials. Many brands have learned the importance of having more targeted advertising by
seeing their major campaigns fail terribly (Lynn, 2015). For example, Lutz (2015) described how Pizza Hut unsuccessfully targeted Millennials.
This study can contribute to research by adding to existing literature about the importance of sub-segmentation within a generation. It can also help to better understand the various
audiences within a generation and how a person’s life stages might affect their motivations and media use. Previous research by Gurau (2012) contrasted generational characteristics with life stages characteristics. The author compared the brand loyalty of Generation X and Millennial consumers by creating generational and life-stage segmentation.
This study has valuable practical implications for marketeers, media organizations, political organizations and any group that wants to engage Millennials. The aim of this study will be to examine differences within the Millennial generation, in terms of their social media use and motivations to use social media, considering the life stages of Millennials that coincide with emerging adulthood. The following research question will be answered:
How do the social-media uses, and motivations for social media use differ across the various life circumstances sometimes associated with emerging adulthood for the Millennial generation?
Theoretical Framework Millennials
A person’s age can reveal a lot about their characteristics in terms of attitudes and behaviors. First, the age of an individual tells you roughly at what life stage they are. In addition, a person’s age discloses the cohort to which they belong. Age cohort is a great way to learn about a person’s views of the world, which is influenced by age and experiences at a certain point in time (Pew Research Center, 2015). One way of analyzing age cohort is by creating generations. A generation usually spans across 15 to 20 years and is given specific characteristics
based on factors, such as demographics and historical events. Presently, the youngest adult generation is the Millennial generation (Pew Research Center, 2015). Not everyone agrees on the exact years when the Millennial generation begins and ends; according to Fry (2016), it’s
comprised of everyone born between 1981 and 1997.
There are, however, several negative stereotypes attributed to the Millennials: First, they’re characterized as being needy because of their high demands; whether at work or in a school setting, Millennials expect to be given constant feedback. Also, they’re considered disloyal mostly because of their frequent job change (Thomson & Gregory, 2012). Their disloyalty can also be seen in their purchasing trends; Millennials are not loyal to brands and prefer trying something new (Kusek, 2016). Furthermore, they’re perceived as being entitled because of their high self-esteem and unrealistic expectations. Finally, they’re portrayed as “casual” individuals, oftentimes attributed because of their need for an informal work
environment (Thomson & Gregory, 2012). The Millennial generation differs from their parents’ generation, either the Baby Boomers or Generation X, in terms of their life stages, which diverge from the traditional life stages. Millennials have kids at an older age and are less likely to marry (Pew Research Center, 2014).
Existing research on the Millennial generation focuses on the generation as a whole and assigns specific characteristics to the entire Millennial generation. One reason why common characteristics can be found among the Millennials is because of the use of college students in most research. College students are likely to follow similar patterns and have resembling characteristics (Gurau, 2012). In 2017, using only college students as the sample might not be a good representation of this generation. The generation’s current age range is from 20 to 36 years of age and is no longer comprised wholly of college students. Furthermore, various studies
suggest that Millennials are not a homogenous group and intra-generational segmentation should be considered (Foscht, Schloffer, Maloles III, & Chia, 2009; Gurau, 2012). Kilian, Hennigs and Langner (2012) clustered Millennials into three groups by looking at their media usage: the Restrained Millennials, the Entertainment-Seeking Millennials and the Highly Connected Millennials. Similarly, Geraci and Nagy (2004) created six segments within the Millennials based on their brand messaging needs. Another way of segmenting a generation is by their life stages (Gurau, 2012). The life-stage theory also known as Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development explains that there are eight focal stages in life that a human goes through, from infancy to maturity (Erikson & Erikson, 1998). Previous research has used this approach and separated its Millennial population into three groups: single college students, single young professional and married young professional (Gurau, 2012). Nevertheless, to the researcher’s knowledge, no previous studies have created segments within a generation in order to understand the use of social media and the motivations to use social media. For the purpose of this research, the following groups will be created: single, in a relationship, student and working professional. Emerging Adulthood
The term emerging adulthood was created in order to explain the period between
adolescence and adulthood. The creation of this period was necessary because of the changes in society’s view of marriage and parenthood, which have been delayed to a later time in one’s life. Also, during emerging adulthood, many pursue a higher education. Emerging adulthood lasts from around the late teens to the late 20s (Arnett, 2000). Emerging adults are not adolescents anymore; however, they haven’t fully become adults because many haven’t fully established their identity (Arnett, 2000). Emerging adulthood is a period devoted to exploring one’s identity in terms of love, work and worldwide views. It’s a time to explore one’s sexuality and get
involved in casual and/or serious relationships. Furthermore, during this period, many reflect on the type of job they want, which ultimately leads them to changing their job every couple of years. Lastly, while being exposed to various people in college or in other contexts, a person’s beliefs and values are being challenged and new ones are being formed (Arnett, 2000). Even though there are common characteristics associated with emerging adulthood, this period can differ from one person to another in accordance with a person’s cultural and socio-economic status (Arnett, 2006). Emerging adulthood partially corresponds to the Millennial generation and therefore can help better understand the various characteristics of Millennials, their life stages and their social media habits. However, Millennials who are in a longer-term relationship are no longer emerging adults, but have fully become adults (Arnett, 2004).
Social Media
Social media can be defined as “web-based services that allow individuals, communities, and organizations to collaborate, connect, interact, and build community by enabling them to create, co-create, modify, share, and engage with user-generated content that is easily accessible” (McCay-Peet & Quan-Haas, 2017, p. 17). Among Americans, Facebook is the most popular social media platform. Of all the Americans who engage in online activities, 79% of them use Facebook, which means that 68% of all Americans use Facebook. Of the Facebook users, 76% visit the platform on a daily basis. Other popular social media platforms include: Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Twitter (Greenwood, Perrin, & Duggan, 2016).
Millennials’ and emerging adults’ social media habits. With all the different types of media at their disposal, digital content is the most appealing to Millennials (Botterill, Bredin, & Dun, 2015). They engage with digital content either on their smartphone or on their computer. The highest adult users of social media are those between the ages of 18 and 29. Of all the 18-29
years of age active online users, 88% use Facebook, 59% use Instagram, 36% use Twitter, 34% use LinkedIn and 36% use Pinterest (Greenwood, Perrin, & Duggan, 2016). A reason why Millennials are higher users of social media is the fact that they were born during the era of the rise of the Internet and have grown up with a computer (Bolton et al., 2013).
Emerging adults’ most popular leisure activity is using media. They spend more time with media than with their friends or sleeping (Arnett, 2015). Today’s emerging adults were either born in the 80s or 90s, when the first search engines and web browsers were created. This means that from an early age, they were exposed to new media. Current emerging adults grew up watching movies on DVDs, listening to music on MP3 players and using the Internet (Arnett, 2015).
According to Bolton et al. (2013), when examining the Millennial generation, a person’s life stage might be a better indicator of social media use than age. Helsper (2010) found that there are two influential changes in a person’s life. First, their occupation changes from education to employment. When a person switches from being a student to a working
professional, their routine and role in society change. Being a student refers to someone whose main daily activity is education. A working professional is a person whose main daily activity is employment (Helsper, 2010). This study will focus on student Millennials and working
professional Millennials. The variable will be called “primary daily activity”. The second
influential change in a person’s life is their relationship development that goes from being single to in a relationship. When a person’s relationship status changes, their behavior and daily routine changes and this can potentially change their media habits (Helsper, 2010). For the purpose of this study, a person’s relationship status will be examined, more specifically if a person is single or in a relationship. The variable will be called “relationship status”.
Leisure activities encompass a variety of activities such as watching television, playing video games and using social media (Lee & Bhargava, 2004). DePaulo (2014) looked at the difference in allocating time to leisure activities between single people and married people and found that single people spend significantly more time on leisure activities than married people. Single people spend more time (5 hours and 48 minutes/week) socializing, partaking in sports and leisure activities than married people (4 hours and 57 minutes/week) (DePaulo, 2014). These previous findings lead to the following hypothesis:
H1: Single Millennials use more social media than Millennials in a relationship.
College students are among the heaviest social media users with 97% of them using at least one type of social media platform (Wang, Niiya, Mark, Reich, & Warschauer, 2015; Knight-McCord et al., 2016). College age typically corresponds to the emerging adulthood period. The current emerging adults grew up using technology, which could explain their high social media usage (Arnett, 2015). When looking at the social media habits of professional workers, 77% of them use at least one social media platform (Olmstead, Lampe, & Ellison, 2016). According to Helsper (2010), when a college student graduates and starts working full-time, usually their responsibilities increase and they have less personal full-time, which might help explain why college students spend more time on social media than working professionals. However, it’s important to note that this finding is older and since then social media and its uses have changed. Considering that college students use social media more than workers, the
following hypothesis was created:
Uses-and-Gratifications Theory
The Uses-and-Gratifications theory (Katz, Blumer, & Gurevitch, 1973) can help explain why Millennials decide to engage with social media. The theory states that people seek certain media in order to satisfy certain needs and desires such as entertainment and escapism (Katz, Blumler, & Gurevitch, 1973; Rubin, 2009). The uses-and-gratifications theory distinguishes between gratifications sought and gratifications obtained. Gratifications sought are the
gratifications a person believes they’ll get before they engage with the medium. Gratifications obtained are the gratifications a person actually gets after they engage with the medium (Quan-Haase & Young, 2010).
A person’s eudaimonic and hedonic needs can help understand one’s social media use. Eudaimonic motivations explain that people use media in order to pursue truth and life’s meanings (Oliver & Raney, 2011). Emerging adulthood is a period of exploration in terms of one’s relationships, sexuality and more. Also, during this period, one’s identity is questioned and shaped. Emerging adults ask themselves questions regarding who they are and what they want out of life (Schwartz, Zamboanga, Luyckx, Meca, & Ritchie, 2013). Consequently, emerging adults might be motivated to use social media in order to fulfill their eudaimonic needs. Social media can help emerging adults ask questions or read about various subject matters, which can ultimately help shape their identity. Furthermore, hedonic motivations fulfill lighter needs: the need for pleasure and enjoyment. Previous research has shown that the social interaction found in social media fulfills a person’s hedonic needs (Ha, Kim, Libaque-Saenz, Chang, & Park, 2015). This might be justified by the decrease in boredom when interacting with other people, the enjoyment of playing games or the sharing of funny content on social media (Ha, Kim,
Libaque-Saenz, Chang, & Park, 2015). Similarly, Sledgianowski and Kulviwat (2008) found that the element of playfulness in social media fulfills a person’s hedonic needs.
When considering the motivations that Millennials might have for using social media, the most common approach is to examine McQuail’s (1983) initial development of motivations for media use (Lee & Ma, 2012; Park, Kee, & Valenzuela, 2009). Each of these motivations can fulfill one’s eudaimonic or hedonic needs. First, information seeking refers to a person’s need for information about one’s self, other people and general knowledge (Shao, 2009). Status seeking refers to the desire to attain a certain status among a person’s social circle. Socializing is the need to maintain one’s relationships and developing new relationships. Lastly, entertainment refers to the need to reduce one’s stress and having feelings of enjoyment (Lee & Ma, 2012).
A study conducted by Kilian, Hennings, and Langner (2012), created clusters of Millennials based on their motivations for media use. Of those who were in the cluster “Entertainment-Seeking”, which includes individuals who seek media for entertainment purposes, 62% were students and 26% were young professionals. As for the cluster “Highly-Connected” which includes the motivations to socially interact and integrate, 55% were students and 35% were working professionals. It’s important to note that many of the students from that cohort have since become young professionals. This means that the current percentage of young professionals who use social media for entertainment and socializing motivations could have increased. However, this might not be the case because a more recent research by Olmstead, Lampe and Ellison (2016), found relatively low numbers for workers seeking social media for entertainment and socializing purposes: 35% of workers use social media to take a break
(entertainment motivations), 27% of workers use social media to connect with friends and family and 24% use it to maintain professional connections (socializing motivations). Moreover, other
studies looked at social media use and found that college students’ main motivations for using Facebook are entertainment, information seeking, socializing and status seeking (Park, Kee, & Valenzuela, 2009). These findings show that more students seek social media for entertainment and socializing motivations than young professionals therefore the following hypothesis was created:
H3: Student Millennials are more likely to use social media for entertainment and socializing motivations than working professional Millennials.
To the researcher’s knowledge there is no previous research that found evidence that student Millennials are more likely to use social media for information-seeking and status-seeking motivations than professional Millennials. However, based on the research found to support H3, the following research question can be formulated.
RQ1: What is the relation between studying or working and using social media for information-seeking and status-information-seeking motivations?
Emerging adulthood is a period of exploration during which many people decide to stay single or engage in casual dating (Arnett, 2015). Social media is a way for single Millennials to socialize by maintaining relationships with their friends and familly and/or creating new
relationships (Subrahmanyam, Reich, Waechter, & Espinoza, 2008). Moreover, many single Millennials use social media to socialize with potential love interests (Duggan, 2013). Many new social media platforms, such as Tinder, have been created specifically for singles to socialize (Strubel & Petrie, 2017). Millennials who are in a relationship don’t have the need to use social media to find a potential boyfriend or girlfriend. Furthermore, married people partake in fewer socializing activities than single people; therefore they might be less likely to use social media for socializing needs (DePaulo, 2014).
People seek entertainment in order to relax, feel happy or escape their problems (Kilian, Hennings, & Langner, 2012). There are leisure activities that people can partake in, in order to seek entertainment. According to DePaulo (2014), single people spend more time on leisure activities than married people. Furthermore, previous studies have shown that when couples partake in leisure activities together they’re more satisfied in their relationship. The best activities for couples are those where they can engage and communicate with each other, for example playing games (Johnson, Zabriskie, Hill, 2006). As for single people, since they don’t have a significant other, they might have more alone time, therefore more moments when they feel bored. Seeking social media for entertainment motivations can decrease one’s boredom and fulfill a person’s hedonic needs (Ha, Kim, Libaque-Saenz, Chang, & Park, 2015; Sledgianowski & Kulviwat, 2008). With this information, the following hypothesis was derived:
H4: Single Millennials are more likely to use social media for entertainment and socializing motivations than Millennials in a relationship.
To the researcher’s knowledge there is no previous research that found evidence that single Millennials are more likely to use social media for information-seeking and status-seeking motivations than Millennials in a relationship. However, based on the research found to support H4, the following research question can be formulated.
RQ2: What is the relation between being single or in a relationship and using social media for information-seeking and status-seeking motivations?
Previous research found that a person’s life stage can have an effect on the intensity of social media use and can play a moderating role (Bolton et al., 2013; Helsper, 2010). Helsper (2010) found that the life stages of a person play a moderating role on gender differences in Internet use. More specifically, the moderators that the author examined were occupation and
marital status. The author found that there are differences in Internet use according to one’s gender and that these differences vary according to the person’s occupation and marital status.
As previously discussed, there are reasons to believe that student and single Millennials are more likely to seek social media for entertainment and socializing motivations than working professionals and Millennials in a relationship (Park, Kee, & Valenzuela, 2009; Olmstead, Lampe, & Ellison, 2016; Subrahmanyam, Reich, Waechter, & Espinoza, 2008; DePaulo, 2014; Johnson, Zabriskie, Hill, 2006). Furthermore, knowing that the life stages of a Millennial can play a moderating role on the media use of a person, the following hypotheses were created: H5: Seeking social media for entertainment motivations leads to increased social media use among student Millennials, but not so much for working professional Millennials.
H5a: Seeking social media for socializing motivations leads to increased social media use among student Millennials, but not so much for working professional Millennials.
H6: Seeking social media for entertainment motivations leads to increased social media use among single Millennials, but not so much for Millennials in a relationship.
H6a: Seeking social media for socializing motivations leads to increased social media use among single Millennials, but not so much for Millennials in a relationship.
To the researcher’s knowledge there is no previous research that found evidence that seeking social media for information and status motivations leads to increased social media use among student Millennials and single Millennials, but not so much for professional Millennials and Millennials in a relationship. However, based on the research found to support H5, H5a, H6, H6a the following research questions can be formulated.
RQ3: What is the relation between seeking social media for information motivations and increase in social media use among student Millennials and working professional Millennials?
RQ3a: What is the relation between seeking social media for status motivations and increase in social media use among student Millennials and working professional Millennials?
RQ4: What is the relation between seeking social media for information motivations and increase in social media use among single Millennials and Millennials in a relationship? RQ4a: What is the relation between seeking social media for status motivations and increase in social media use among single Millennials and Millennials in a relationship?
Methodology Participants
In order to participate in the online survey, the participants had to have been born between 1981 and 1997. Convenience and snowball sampling were used because of time constraints and the challenge of reaching a large number of people in a short time. A
disadvantage of convenience and snowball sampling is the impossibility of generalizing because of the non-random nature of the sample (Bryman, 2012). The survey was posted on the
researcher’s Facebook account and LinkedIn profile from March 30th to April 19th, 2017. Two reminders throughout that period were posted on the researcher’s Facebook page. The researcher sent a private Facebook message to 15 of her closest friends and asked them to share it with their friends, siblings and colleagues. In addition, the researcher’s Facebook post was “shared” on Facebook by 6 friends. In the post, the researcher described the aim of the study and specified the required age to complete the survey. Lastly, participants were informed that upon the completion of the survey they could enter a prize draw to win a €10 Amazon eGift card. The name of the winner was drawn on April 20th and received his prize via email.
In total, 295 people participated in the survey, however 24 participants had to be excluded because they didn’t finish the survey. In addition, three participants were excluded
because they weren’t born between 1981 and 1997. The final sample was composed of 268 respondents. About 1/3 of the participants (36.6%) were male and the mean age was 27.41 (SD = 3.25) ranging from 20 to 36 years of age. Of the total participants, 43.7% lived with a partner, 27.6% lived on their own and the rest lived with their parent(s) or roommate(s)/friend(s). More than half of the participants were from Canada (57.5%).
Design
The online survey was created using the Qualtrics. Before sending out the survey, it was pre-tested by two of the researcher’s peers. The first page of the survey described the purpose of the survey, guarantee of anonymity, length of survey in minutes and the researcher’s and thesis supervisor’s contact information. The second page included the formal consent where the participants had to check a box if they understood the terms and agreed to partake in the survey. Also, the contact details of the University of Amsterdam’s ethical committee were provided. The survey had a total of 10 questions including open-ended and closed-ended questions. The final page of the survey thanked the participant and included the researcher’s and thesis supervisor’s contact information. Also, participants could provide their email address if they wanted to be entered in the prize draw. See Appendix A for the full survey.
Measures
Relationship status. To find out the participant’s relationship status, the following question was asked: “Which of the below best describes your current situation?” (“Single”, “In a relationship (for at least 3 months), “Other”). The “Other” option was an open-ended question and allowed participants who were neither single nor in a relationship to answer the question. The participants who chose “Other” were asked to specify their relationship status. For “In a relationship (for at least 3 months)”, the minimum number of months was specified because
three months is usually the threshold to establish that someone is officially in a relationship (Meier & Allen, 2009). 35.4% of the participants were single and 64.6% were in a relationship.
Student v. working professional. To learn about the participant’s main daily activity, the following question was asked: “Which of the below best describes your current situation?” (“Primarily student”, “Primarily working professional”, “Other”). The “Other” option was an open-ended question that allowed participants who were neither a student nor a working professional to answer the question. Those who chose “Other” were asked to specify their primary daily activity. One third of the respondents (34.7%) were primarily students and 64.2% were primarily working professionals. There were three respondents who didn’t fit those categories (stay-at-home mom, on sabbatical and unemployed) and were excluded from the analysis of H2, H3, RQ1, H5, H5a, RQ3, RQ3a.
Social media use. Social media use was measured in two parts. First, the participants were asked the following question: “From the list below, please select all social networks that you use (you can select more than one)” (“Facebook”, “Instagram”, “Pinterest”, “LinkedIn”, “Twitter”). These five social media platforms were chosen because they’re the most used by Millennials (Greenwood, Perrin, & Duggan, 2016). Participants had the option of choosing more than one because people use multiple social media platforms. The most popular social media platforms were Facebook (97%), LinkedIn (76.5%) and Instagram (76.1%).
The intensity of social media use was measured with the following question: “Compared to others, how would you rate your social media use?” (“None to very light”, “Moderate”,
“Average”, “Heavy”, “Very heavy”). By comparing themselves to others, participants could more easily estimate their social media usage. 42.5% of the respondents rated their social media use as
average compared to others, 29.5% rated their social media use as heavy and 21.3% rated as moderate.
Motivations for social media use. To measure the motivations of Millennials for social media use, a measure from Lee and Ma’s (2012) research on intentions of news sharing in social media was slightly modified and used. A 5-point Likert scale was used to rate the participants level of agreement with the following statement: “I use social media for the following reasons.” (1= “Strongly Agree” to 5= “Strongly Disagree”). Three items were used to measure each of the motivations. An example of one item is: “To keep in touch with people”. A factor analysis was conducted, which explained 69.98% of the variance showing four components related to the dimensions of social media motivations. As expected the items loaded on their corresponding factors except for one item in “information seeking” (To keep up to date on the latest news and events), which was excluded from the analysis. The item loaded on entertainment (r = .43) and information seeking (r = .43). By eliminating this item, the total variance improved and was 73.99%. The two items in “information seeking” were strongly correlated (r = .64, p < .001). The items of the dimensions were used to compute the indexes “socializing” (M = 2.02, SD = 0.67, α = .65), “entertainment” (M = 2.34, SD = 0.81, α = .74), “status seeking” (M = 3.58, SD = 0.94, α = .89) and “information seeking” (M = 2.52, SD = 0.93).
Results
The relationship status groups significantly differed in age (t(263) = -3.73, p < .001). The group of singles (M = 26.39, SD = 3.10) was younger than the group of those in a relationship (M = 27.91, SD = 3.19). Furthermore, the primary daily activity groups significantly differed in age (t(263) = -6.37, p < .001). The group of primarily students (M = 25.76, SD = 3.02) was younger
than the group of primarily working professionals (M = 28.24, SD = 3.02). No significant differences were found regarding gender.
To test H1, an independent t-test was conducted with relationship status as the independent variable and social media use as the dependent variable. The independent t-test showed significant effect of relationship status on social media use (t(266) = 2.98, p = .003). Single participants had a significantly higher social media use (M = 3.22, SD = 0.91) than participants in a relationship (M = 2.89, SD = 0.85). We can conclude that the two groups differ in their social media use therefore H1 is accepted.
To test H2, an independent t-test was conducted with primary daily activity as the independent variable and social media use as the dependent variable. The independent t-test showed no significant effect of primarily daily activity on social media use (t(263) = 0.29, p = .776). We can conclude that the two groups don’t differ in their social media use therefore H2 is rejected.
To test H3, H4, RQ1 and RQ2, a two-way MANOVA was conducted. Furthermore, age was included as a covariate because the groups differed in age. Primary daily activity and relationship status as independent variables and social media use motivations as dependent variables.
Significant main effect of primary daily activity was found on entertainment motivations (F (1, 257) = 5.51, p = .020, partial η2 = .021). No significant effects were found for the
following motivations: information seeking, status seeking and socializing. Looking at the means of entertainment motivations, students (M = 2.45, SD = 0.83) use social media for entertainment motivations less than working professionals (M = 2.27, SD = 0.77). We can conclude that H3 is
rejected. Also, there is no relation between studying or working and using social media for information-seeking and status-seeking motivations (RQ1).
Significant main effect of relationship status was found on socializing motivations (F (1, 257) = 6.22, p = .013; partial η2 = .023). No significant results were found for all the other motivations (entertainment, information seeking and status seeking). Single Millennials (M = 1.84, SD = 0.61) use social media for socializing motivations more than Millennials in a
relationship (M = 2.11, SD = 0.68). We can conclude that H4 is partially accepted. Also, there is no relation between being single or in a relationship and using social media for information-seeking and status-information-seeking motivations (RQ2).
Furthermore, no significant interaction was found between the effects of primary daily activity and relationship status with regards to all the motivations.
To test H5, H5a, H6, H6a, a moderation model was calculated using Hayes’ PROCESS tool (Hayes, 2013, Model 1). For H5, the dependent variable was social media use, the
independent variable was entertainment motivations, and the moderator was primary daily activity. The results of the moderation test showed that the interaction effect of primary daily activity with entertainment motivations wasn’t significant (b = 0.09, SE = .16, t = 0.58, p = .557). The effect of entertainment motivations on social media use was significant for student
Millennials (b = -0.37, SE = .13, t = -2.88, p < .001). The effect of entertainment motivations on social media use was significant for working professional Millennials (b = 0.27, SE = .09, t = -2.88, p < .001). These results show that there was no moderation therefore H5 is rejected.
For H5a, the dependent variable was social media use, the independent variable was socializing motivations, and the moderator was primary daily activity. The results of the moderation test showed that the interaction effect of primary daily activity with socializing
motivations wasn’t significant (b = 0.25, SE = .18, t = 1.37, p = .171). The effect of socializing motivations on social media use was significant for student Millennials (b = 0.60, SE = .15, t = -3.90, p < .001). The effect of socializing motivations on social media use was significant for working professional Millennials (b = -0.35, SE = .10, t = -3.63, p < .001). These results show that there was no moderation therefore H5a is rejected.
For H6, the dependent variable was social media use, the independent variable was entertainment motivations, and the moderator was relationship status. The results of the moderation test showed that the interaction effect of relationship status with entertainment motivations wasn’t significant (b = 0.12, SE = .15, t = 0.78, p = .434). The effect of
entertainment motivations on social media use was significant for single Millennials (b = -0.41, SE = .12, t = -3.53, p < .001). The effect of entertainment motivations on social media use was significant for Millennials in a relationship (b = -0.30, SE = .09, t = -3.22, p < .001). These results show that there was no moderation therefore H6 is rejected.
For H6a, the dependent variable was social media use, the independent variable was socializing motivations, and the moderator was relationship status. The results of the moderation test showed that the interaction effect of relationship status with socializing motivations wasn’t significant (b = 0.27, SE = .17, t = 1.57, p = .118). The effect of socializing motivations on social media use was significant for single Millennials (b = -0.60, SE = .14, t = -4.17, p < .001). The effect of socializing motivations on social media use was significant for Millennials in a relationship (b = -0.32, SE = .10, t = -3.25, p < .001). These results show that there was no moderation therefore H6a is rejected.
To test RQ3, RQ3a, RQ4, RQ4a, a moderation model was calculated using Hayes’ PROCESS tool (Hayes, 2013, Model 1). For RQ3, the dependent variable was social media use,
the independent variable was information-seeking motivations, and the moderator was primary daily activity. The results of the moderation test showed that the interaction effect of primary daily activity with information-seeking motivations wasn’t significant (b = 0.14, SE = .13, t = 1.06, p = .289). The effect of information-seeking motivations on social media use was significant for student Millennials (b = -0.40, SE = .11, t = -3.70, p < .001). The effect of information-seeking motivations on social media use was significant for working professional Millennials (b = -0.26, SE = .07, t = -3.49, p < .001). These results show that there was no moderation therefore there is no relation between seeking social media for information motivations and increase in social media use among student Millennials and working professional Millennials.
For RQ3a, the dependent variable was social media use, the independent variable was status-seeking motivations and the moderator was primary daily activity. The results of the moderation test showed that the interaction effect of primary daily activity with status-seeking motivations was significant (b = -0.29, SE = .13, t = -2.27, p = .024). The effect of status-seeking motivations on social media use wasn’t significant for student Millennials (b = -0.10, SE = .11, t = -0.96, p = .339). The effect of status-seeking motivations on social media use was significant for working professional Millennials (b = -0.39, SE = .07, t = -5.73, p < .001). These results show that there was a moderation therefore there is a relation between seeking social media for status motivations and increase in social media use among student Millennials and working professional Millennials.
For RQ4, the dependent variable was social media use, the independent variable was information-seeking motivations, and the moderator was relationship status. The results of the moderation test showed that the interaction effect of relationship status with information-seeking
motivations wasn’t significant (b = 0.11, SE = .13, t = 0.85, p = .395). The effect of information-seeking motivations on social media use was significant for single Millennials (b = -0.38, SE = .11, t = -3.51, p < .001). The effect of information-seeking motivations on social media use was significant for Millennials in a relationship (b = -0.27, SE = .07, t = -3.61, p < .001). These results show that there was no moderation therefore there is no relation between seeking social media for information motivations and increase in social media use among single Millennials and Millennials in a relationship.
For RQ4a, the dependent variable was social media use, the independent variable was status-seeking motivations, and the moderator was relationship status. The results of the
moderation test showed that the interaction effect of relationship with status-seeking motivations wasn’t significant (b = -0.03, SE = .12, t = -0.25, p = .804). The effect of status-seeking
motivations on social media use was significant for single Millennials (b = 0.26, SE = .10, t = -2.60, p = .010). The effect of status-seeking motivations on social media use was significant for working Millennials in a relationship (b = -0.29, SE = .07, t = -3.96, p < .001). These results show that there was no moderation therefore there is no relation between seeking social media for status motivations and increase in social media use among single Millennials and Millennials in a relationship.
Discussion
The aim of this study was to examine differences within the Millennial generation by analyzing the sample’s social media use and considering their life stages and motivations to use social media. This study also gives insight into what is characteristic for Millennials, and what is characteristic for a specific life stage, in terms of social media use and motivations to use social media. For the purpose of this research, the following groups were created: single, in a
relationship, student and working professional. By creating these four groups, there might have been individuals omitted, for example, people with a lower education or with a lower income. The results of this study showed that single Millennials use more social media than Millennials in a relationship (H1). Also, student Millennials don’t use more social media than working professional Millennials (H2). Furthermore, student Millennials use social media for
entertainment motivations less than working professional Millennials. Also, student Millennials are not more likely to use social media for socializing motivations than working professional Millennials (H3). Moreover, we asked if there is a relation between studying or working and using social media for information-seeking and status-seeking motivations and found no relation (RQ1). Furthermore, single Millennials are more likely to use social media for socializing motivations than Millennials in a relationship; however, the same cannot be said for
entertainment motivations (H4). We also asked if there is a relation between being single or in a relationship and using social media for information-seeking and status-seeking motivations and found no relation (RQ2). In addition, primary daily activity and relationship status didn’t play a moderating role on the relationship between entertainment, socializing motivations and social media use (H5, H5a, H6, H6a). Moreover, we questioned the relation between seeking social media for information motivations and increase in social media use among student Millennials and working professional Millennials and no relation was found (RQ3). We asked about the relation between seeking social media for status motivations and increase in social media use among student Millennials and working professional Millennials and found a relation (RQ3a). Finally, we asked about the relation between seeking social media for information and status motivations, and increase in social media use among single Millennials and Millennials in a relationship and found no relation (RQ4, RQ4a). To answer the research question, for certain life
stages, Millennials differ in terms of their social media use and their motivations to use social media.
In line with previous research, this study created sub-groups within the Millennial generation (Gurau, 2012; Kilian, Hennings, & Langner, 2012). Similar to this study, Gurau (2012) created intra-generational segmentation based on a person’s life stage and found significant effects: Generation X and Millennials consumers in the same life stage have high similarities in their brand loyalty behavior. Furthermore, Kilian, Hennings and Langner (2012) found clusters within the Millennial generation based on a person’s media usage. This study, in addition to previous research, shows that a generation isn’t homogenous and generational characteristics can be contrasted with life-stages characteristics.
Previous studies found that single people spend more time on leisure activities than married people (Lee & Bhargava, 2004; DePaulo, 2014). The results of this study are aligned with previous findings. One explanation for this finding might be that not having a significant other regularly present in a person’s life might lead to a person having more free time for leisure activities. Also, browsing on social media could fulfill a single person’s hedonic needs by decreasing their boredom when they’re alone (Ha, Kim, Libaque-Saenz, Chang, & Park, 2015).
Previous research found that student Millennials spend more time on social media than working professional Millennials (Wang, Niiya, Mark, Reich, & Warschauer, 2015; Olmstead, Lampe, & Ellison, 2016; Knight-McCord et al., 2016). The same wasn’t found in this study. One reason for this might be that some of the students surveyed in the previous studies are today’s working professionals and haven’t made many changes to their social media habits. Also, a lot of jobs nowadays require using social media and therefore many working professional Millennials might use social media for personal and professional use.
Previous studies found that students are more likely to use social media for entertainment and socializing motivations than working professionals (Park, Kee, & Valenzuela, 2009;
Olmstead, Lampe, & Ellison, 2016). This study found opposing results when looking at entertainment motivations: students use social media for entertainment motivations less than working professionals. This discrepancy might be explained by the need of working
professionals to relax after a day of work therefore they might use social media for entertainment purposes. Also, there could be a difference between how students and working professionals define the notion of entertainment. Additionally, in the study conducted by Kilian, Hennings, and Langner (2012), the working professionals must have been relatively young. This could mean that they were possibly from a poorer background and lower education, which means that they maybe had less access to social media and therefore used it less for entertainment purposes. Furthermore, the fact that students don’t use social media for socializing motivations more than working professionals might be because of the different types of reasons for socializing. Students might use Facebook to maintain their friendships and working professionals might use LinkedIn to network.
In line with previous research (DePaulo, 2014; Sledgianowski & Kulviwat, 2008), single Millennials in this study use social media for socializing motivations more than Millennials in a relationship. One reason for this might be that single Millennials might want to fill their void of not having a significant other. Also, for single Millennials, social media could be a good way to socialize in order to meet a significant other (Duggan, 2013). As for entertainment purposes, there were no significant results and this could be explained by the fact that social media can be used for different entertainment motivations. For example, single Millennials might use it to
combat boredom from being alone and Millennials in a relationship might use it to relax, or both out of habit.
Previous research has found that the life stages of a person play a moderating role on gender differences in Internet use (Helsper, 2010). This study didn’t find the life stages of a Millennial to play a moderating role on the relationship between social media motivations and social media use. The life stages of a person and Internet use might have changed since Helsper’s study (2010). These changes might have caused the conflicting findings already suggested. Furthermore, in 2017, most highly-educated Millennials use social media frequently, out of habit, and therefore their life stages might not have an impact on the relationship between social media motivations and use.
Limitations and Future Research
Some limitations of this study might have impacted the results. An important number of the researcher’s friends who participated in the survey work in marketing or in related fields. For many of them, their job entitles managing their company’s social media accounts. Consequently, an important number of respondents might have answered that they use social media heavily since they use it for personal and professional reasons. Furthermore, another limitation of this study is the improper phrasing of one of the items for “information seeking”, which could have impacted the respondents’ comprehension. The item in question is the following: “To keep up to date on the latest news and events”. First, it was a double-barreled question. Second, the
statement’s meaning might have changed since its creation. When the statement was first used in 2012 by Lee and Ma, the word “event” probably had the meaning of “something that happens or is regarding as happening; an occurrence, especially one of some importance” (Event, 2017).
Nowadays, the word “event” in the social media context is often used when referring to an upcoming social gathering.
The results of this study showed that students use less social media for entertainment motivations than working professionals. Future research should investigate more closely the reasons why working professionals would use more social media for entertainment purposes than students. Are working professionals bored at work and use social media to decrease their
boredom? Moreover, this study surveyed Millennials with a higher education; it would be interesting to look at the motivations to use social media by Millennials of a poorer background and lower education.
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Appendix A Questionnaire 1.What is your year of birth? _____________
2. What is your gender? a) Male
b) Female
3. Which of the below best describes your current living situation? a) Living on your own
b) Living with parent(s)
c) Living with roommate(s)/friend(s) d) Living with partner
4. Do you carry partial or primary responsibility for a minor? a) Yes
b) No
5. Which country have you lived in most of your life? _______________ 6. Which of the below best describes your current situation?
a) Single
b) In a relationship (for a least 3 months) c) Other (please specify): _______________
7. Which of the below best describes your current situation? a) Primarily student
b) Primarily working professional
c) Other (please specify): _______________
8. From the list below, please select all social networks that you use (you can select more than one): a) Facebook b) Instagram c) Pinterest d) LinkedIn e) Twitter
9. Compared to others, how would you rate your social media use? a) None to very light
b) Moderate c) Average d) Heavy e) Very heavy
10. Motivations for Social Media Use
Rate your level of agreement with the following statements:
1. Strongly Agree 2. Agree 3. Neutral 4. Disagree 5. Strongly Disagree
I use social media for the following reasons: (Information Seeking)
1. It helps me to store useful information
2. It is easy to retrieve information when I need to 3. To keep up to date on the latest news and events (Socializing)
4. I can interact with people 5. To keep in touch with people
6. It is effective to exchange ideas with other people (Entertainment)
7. It helps me pass time 8. To combat boredom 9. It helps me to relax (Status Seeking)
10. It helps me feel important 11. It helps me gain status 12. It makes me look cool
