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Running Head: INSTAGRAM INFLUENCERS, ENVY, AND PURCHASE INTENTION

Instagram Influencers’ Effect on

Envy and Purchase Intention

“The Effect of an Instagram Influencers’ Promoted Brand on Feelings

of Envy and Purchase Intention, and How Followers’ Instagram

Behaviour Influences Envy”

Julia E. P. M. Blauwhoff 11406399

Master Thesis

MSc. in Business Administration – Marketing Track

University of Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics and Business Supervisor: Dr. H. H. (Meg) Lee

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INSTAGRAM INFLUENCERS, ENVY, AND PURCHASE INTENTION

Statement of originality

This document is written by student Julia E. P. M. Blauwhoff who declares to take full responsibility for the contents of this document. I declare that the text and the work presented in this document is original and that no sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it.

The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the supervision of completion of the work, not for the contents.

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INSTAGRAM INFLUENCERS, ENVY, AND PURCHASE INTENTION

Abstract

This research examines the effect of Instagram influencers’ promotional posts (influencer brand versus sponsored brand) on envy and purchase intention. Besides, followers’ Instagram behaviour is taken into account as a possible effect on envy. Several important insights are identified, which contribute to the literature and provide managerial implications.

Instagram has developed from a way of sharing visual experiences to a marketing tool. Brands collaborate with Instagram influencers by sponsored products, thereby leveraging influencers powerful impact on followers in guiding consumers purchase intentions. Some influencers have become so influential, which enabled them to establish their own influencer brand. Due to the relatively new phenomenon of influencer brands, and the scarce literature investigating envy and purchase intention on Instagram, the aim of this study is to provide a profound knowledge and deepen the understanding of how this mechanism works.

This research was studied using a between-subject experimental design among 174 female Instagram users. Findings of this research show that promotional posts do not affect purchase intentions, and that envy does not mediate in this relationship. However, benign and malicious envy are significant predictors of purchase intentions. Moreover, the sponsored brand results in more malicious feelings of envy, whereas the influencer brand did not have an effect on benign envy. Furthermore, expected was that Instagram behaviour (low engagement and more time spent) would influence envy, however, only the contradictory was found – high engagement resulted in benign envy.

Key words: Instagram, influencers, benign envy, malicious envy, purchase intention, Instagram behaviour, social comparison.

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INSTAGRAM INFLUENCERS, ENVY, AND PURCHASE INTENTION

Acknowledgement

#Thesis #Done

Finally, the last – but fundamental – part of my master is finished. Since fashion and Social Media have always had my interest, the choice for combining these two topics was easily made. Thereby, I could encourage myself along the process, as the topic sparks my interest. During the process – with both ups and downs – I have felt that I developed necessary skills in order to complete this thesis. Thereby, enhancing my knowledge on how the mechanism of Instagram influencers might work in guiding consumers’ behaviour.

Without the support and help from some people, I could not have completed my thesis. First, I would like to thank my supervisor Meg Lee for her time and effort in coaching me during my thesis. She provided me with valuable advice and were necessary guided me in the right direction. Besides, I would like to thank my family and friends for being highly involved and for their support along the way.

Julia Blauwhoff

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Table of Contents

Statement of originality 2

Abstract 3

Acknowledgement 4

List of Tables and Figures 6

Introduction 7

Literature review 12

Influencers and purchase intention 12

Envy and purchase intention 14

Influencers’ promoted brand and envy 18

Followers’ Instagram behaviour and envy 20

Methodology 22 Research design 22 Pre-test 23 Stimuli development 25 Participants 25 Procedure 26 Measurements 27 Control variables 29 Data analysis 30 Results 33 Descriptive analysis 33 Correlation 34 Hypotheses testing 37 Discussion 46 Implications 49

Limitations and suggestions for future research 50

Conclusion 53

References 55

Appendices 63

Appendix I. Text Sincerely Jules 63

Appendix II. Instagram Sincerely Jules 64

Appendix III. Manipulation Instagram post 67

Appendix IV. Survey 70

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List of Tables and Figures

Figure 1. Conceptual model. 22

Table 1. Demographic statistics 31

Table 2. Descriptive statistics of variables 33

Table 3. Pearson's Correlation Matrix 34

Table 4. Regression Analysis Promotional Post on Purchase Intention 36 Table 5. Regression Analysis Promotional Post on Purchase Intention 37 Table 6. Envy as Mediator between Instagram Promotional Posts and Purchase Intention 38 Table 7. Regression Analysis of Benign and Malicious Envy on Purchase Intention 39 Table 8. Regression Analysis of the Promotional Brands on Benign and Malicious Envy 40 Table 9. Regression Analysis of Instagram Engagement on Benign and Malicious Envy 42 Table 10. Regression Analysis of Time Spent Instagram on Benign and Malicious Envy 44

Table 11. Summary Hypotheses Results 45

Table 12. EFA Benign and Malicious Envy 80

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Introduction

“One day when the queen asked her mirror: ‘Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who in this land is fairest of all?’ It answered: ‘You, my queen, are fair; it is true. But Snow White is a thousand times fairer than you.’ The queen took fright and turned yellow and green with envy. From that hour on whenever she looked at Snow White her heart turned over inside her body, so great

was her hatred for the girl. The envy and pride grew ever greater, like a weed in her heart,

until she had no peace day and night.”

[Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Little Snow White]

Envy is one of the seven deadly sins and depicts the feeling the queen experiences towards Snow White, which comes from comparing herself to Snow White. It can be defined as “a negative emotional response to another person’s superior quality, achievement or possession, in which the envier either desires the advantage or wishes that the envied person lacks it” (Lange & Crusius, 2015, p. 284). Envy is considered a negative emotion; however, recent studies have found that envy can occur in two different forms: malicious and benign envy (Smith & Kim, 2007; Van de Ven, Zeelenberg, & Pieters, 2009). Malicious envy is depicted as the negative form, resulting in the envier who wants to bring down the superior other – e.g. the form of envy the queen experiences. Benign envy, however, can be characterised as more positive and results in the envier to improve oneself by performing corresponding behaviour (Van de Ven et al., 2009).

Social comparison is the underlying theoretical framework that explains how envy occurs. When a person engages in social comparison the person compares him- or herself to another person, with regards to being superior or inferior (Festinger, 1954). Social comparison distinguishes two forms, namely upward and downward social comparison (Corcoran, Crusius, & Mussweiler, 2011). A person engaging in upward social comparison perceive someone else

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as better off, which leads to more negative feelings (Smith & Kim, 2007) – e.g. the queen – or the desire to improve oneself (Wood, 1989). When engaging in downward social comparison a person evaluates themselves in light of someone who is perceived to be worse off, which results in more positive feelings (Corcoran et al., 2011; Wills, 1981; Wood, 1989).

Just as in the fairy tale, also in reality everyone compares him- or herself with others (Gibbons & Buunk, 1999) and experiences feelings of envy (Smith, Parrott, Diener, Hoyle, & Kim, 1999; Krasnova, Wenninger, Widjaja, & Buxmann, 2013). Increasingly popular platforms for social comparison are social network sites (SNS), such as Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest, which have increasing importance in people’s lives. Instagram is one of the most popular social platforms used nowadays. With over 800 million people who post, like and comment on pictures (Statista, 2017), it has become the place to share your story by the means of visual messages (Smith & Sanderson, 2015). Every day over 60 million pictures and videos are shared, liked and commented by people of the Instagram community. Connections on Instagram are nonreciprocal, meaning that following could be one-way (Hu Manikonda, & Krambhampti, 2014) and that users can follow and see posts from people unknown to them in real life (Hu et al., 2014). Instagram allows more and more people to be exposed to others’ lives, personal experiences and fashion styles. Thereby, followers are usually exposed to the more positive aspects of others’ lives (Lin & Utz, 2015), which might aggravate upward social comparison between the self and the person sharing their story (Krasnova, Widjaja, Buxmann, Wenninger, & Benbasat, 2015). These comparisons of oneself to another person on Instagram might elicit feelings of envy (Appel, Crusius, & Gerlach, 2016).

Over time Instagram has developed from a way of sharing visual experiences, to a marketing tool (McDowell, 2016). It is a revolutionized way in which brands can communicate and interact with their consumers (Ko, Phau, & Aiello, 2016; Balakrishnan, Dahnil, & Yi, 2014; Straker & Wrigley, 2016)), mostly through a Social Media influencer (influencer for short). A

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fashion influencer is someone on Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) who predominantly posts about fashion and personal lifestyle. They have a high number of followers (Uzunoğlu & Kip, 2014) and the power to influence their followers’ purchase decisions (Wiedmann, Hennigs, & Langner, 2012). They often promote brands or products on Social Media aimed at connecting with their followers, for which they might get paid by companies (Lu, Chang, & Chang, 2014). Such an influencer has his or her own Instagram page, updating followers with daily experiences about their personal style, new hotspots, etc. Influencers are creating a bridge between brands and their consumers (Straker & Wrigley, 2016). They are perceived as a credible source by consumers, thereby indicating that they are an important asset to influence consumers’ purchase intentions (Swant, 2016; Johnson & Kaye, 2009; Lee & Youn, 2009). For brands, it is proven that influencers are an essential element of an effective new marketing strategy to reach their consumers (Rocamora, 2011). By collaborating with an influencer that has a high fit with their brand, brands are able to leverage the influencer’s followers and thereby reach their consumers (Uzunoğlu & Kip, 2014). Usually such a collaboration comprises the sponsoring of products or a monetary benefit in return for a content related Instagram post (Lu et al., 2014). Thereby, the brand aims at increasing both brand awareness and ultimately sales.

Instagram influencers who have multiple collaborations with different brands have enjoyed this popularity and thereby established a wide network of followers. Some have become powerful influencers in their segment; nevertheless, it seems that these partnerships with brands only is not enough. Influencers are looking for other ways to develop themselves, which has led to some of them to establish their own brand. Examples of influencers and their established influencer brand are: Chiara Ferragni ‘The Blonde Salad’ with Chiara Ferragni Collection, Julie Sariñana ‘Sincerely Jules’ with Shop Sincerely Jules, Danielle Bernstein ‘We

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Wore What’ with Archive Shoes, Negin Mirsalehi with Gisou, and Shea Marie ‘Peace Love Shea’ with Same Swim.

Although their popularity, reach and impact is rapidly increasing, little research has been conducted about Social Media influencers, the brands they promote, the feelings they elicit and the results of their posts. Despite emotions have been explained with regards to influencers (Appel, Crusius, & Gerlach, 2015; Tandoc, Ferrucci, & Duffy, 2015), the theories examining the interaction of influencers and fashion brands are scarce. In addition, due to the relatively new phenomenon of influencer brands, no research is yet available that focuses on possible differences with sponsored brands. This difference is important to understand and study since the type of envy felt by followers could vary across the types of brands promoted. Moreover, there is a lack of studies examining the relation between envy and purchase intention on Instagram specifically, due to the relatively new popularity of Instagram compared to other platforms such as Facebook. The differences between Instagram and Facebook – for example Instagram is more visual and users are mostly female and often younger (Pittman & Reich, 2016; Statista, 2017) – could have a profound impact on consumer behaviour. Furthermore, followers’ behaviour has been studied in the context of Facebook; however, on Instagram no studies have examined this aspect. Since Instagram allows for non-reciprocal following, it might lead to different effects on users’ emotions (Chou & Edge, 2012; Lup, Trub, & Rosenthal, 2015).

Based on this research gap, the objective of this study is to examine if and how the promotion of influencers’ own brands might differ from sponsored brands with regards to purchase intention and envy, and how followers’ Instagram behaviour might affect their envy. Therefore, the research question is as follows: “What is the effect of Instagram influencers’ promoted brand on purchase intention, how is this effect mediated by envy, and how does

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This research question is answered by conducting a between-subject experimental design based on vignettes. Respondents were assigned to one of the three Instagram influencer posts; influencer brand post, sponsored brand post or non-promotional post. The manipulation was accompanied by a questionnaire in order to measure respondents Instagram behaviour, feelings of envy, purchase intention and social comparison behaviour.

Next to the theoretical contribution, this research also aims to provide practical contributions to the marketing field which marketers and influencers can utilize in their strategies. By examining the interaction between the promoted brand, emotions, and followers’ behaviour in the context of fashion and Instagram, a comprehensive understanding of these parameters can be established. This can give multiple opportunities for fashion companies and help them to direct their marketing strategies. First, this study will give insights in differences between influencer brands and sponsored brands, and their effect on envy and purchase intention. It will examine if there are differences between the brands promoted, which can result in strategies for both influencers and brands. For influencers, for example, it could provide insights in how effective it is to establish an own brand. For brands, this study could provide information on the direction of their strategies, for example that it might be effective to collaborate with influencers and thereby support them in the establishment of their own brand. Second, by studying envy as an emotion that is triggered by Instagram posts, it can show whether and which type of envy is effective to use to affect consumers’ behaviours. Subsequently, brands can incorporate this in their marketing strategy, thereby leveraging envy to stimulate followers’ purchase intentions. Furthermore, this research contributes to marketing by identifying different follower behaviours and their effect on envy. This could be useful for brands so they can identify a specific segment or target audience that is mostly affected by Instagram promoted brands. Thereby brands can leverage this knowledge and adjust their marketing strategy to this.

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As a start, this thesis will provide an extensive literature review giving insights in the main elements, including hypotheses and the conceptual framework. Then, an explanation will be given about the research design and methods used to analyse the data collected, after which the results will be clarified. Finally, the discussion section will follow, elaborating on the findings and limitations of this study.

Literature review

Influencers and purchase intention

Instagram is one of the most popular social platforms used nowadays. With over 800 million people who post, like and comment on pictures and videos (Statista, 2017), it has become the place to share your story by means of visual messages (Smith & Sanderson, 2015). Most users are female and between the ages of 18-29 (37%) and between 30-49 (17%) (Statista, 2017). Instagram almost exclusively builds on the sharing of visual media with a wide circle of followers, whereas platforms such as Twitter are more text-based (Pittman & Reich, 2016), which might result in a different impact on the users (Johnson & Knobloch-Westerwick, 2016).

On Instagram, individuals are exposed to others’ visual experiences and thereby create a high stimulus environment for people to compare themselves with others (Krasnova et al., 2015). Due to easy access to others’ profiles, people can easily be exposed to an abundance of posts of friends – or even strangers – about their social lives, fashion style, travel destinations and other – almost exclusively - positive life events (Appel et al., 2015). It is very common to connect with strangers on Instagram (Lup et al., 2015) since profiles are often public, which means that users can follow and see posts from strangers (Hu et al., 2014). Also, connections on Instagram are nonreciprocal, meaning that the following could only be one-way (Hu et al., 2014). Research has shown that users are affected in a different way depending whether they

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follow a friend or a stranger on Social Media and that this could lead to different effects on users’ emotions (Chou & Edge, 2012; Lup et al., 2015).

Instagram is today also more commonly used by micro-bloggers – e.g. fashion influencers (Statista, 2017). Micro-blogging originates from the former fashion blogs but is characterized by shorter stories than blogs; usually it consists only of one picture with a short caption, and it is easy to produce and read. Influencers have a large number of followers and can be seen as a form of opinion leaders (Haugtvedt, Machleit, & Yalch, 2005), having the ability to influence behaviours (Uzunoğlu & Kip, 2014).

Fashion Instagram influencers are increasingly becoming an important tool for modern fashion marketing strategies providing a new way to communicate with consumers (Halvorson, Hoffmann, Coste-Manière, & Stankeviciute, 2013; Stankeviciute, 2013) and hence shaping consumer perceptions and interactions (Wang, Hsu, Huang, & Chen, 2015). The distinct features of Instagram and the visual nature of this Social Media platform can result in triggering emotions with viewers, which can serve to drive certain behaviours. Also, the feature of hash tagging allows for more interactions and connections between followers, influencers and brands (Carah & Shaul, 2015). Due to these elements, the platform offers strategic marketing opportunities. Over time, Instagram influencers have proven to have a substantial influence on their followers, being a marketing tool companies can use to reach a wide array of consumers and influence consumers’ purchase intentions (Rocamora, 2011; Uzunoğlu & Kip, 2014).

A purchase intention can be characterized as a person’s objective plan to purchase a product within a certain time frame (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975; Dodds, Monroe, & Grewal, 1991). Multiple factors can influence a person’s purchase intention, such as past experiences (Barber, Kuo, Bishop, & Goodman, 2012), brand knowledge and loyalty (Khan, Ghauri, & Majeed, 2012), and influential sources – e.g. other consumers (Burnkrant & Cousineau, 2009). Literature shows that people value others’ opinions and rely on peer recommendations in their

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decision-making process. This means that consumers use other people’s reviews, thoughts and opinions as a source of information to guide their purchasing behaviour (Burnkrant & Cousineau, 1975). “Consumers are much more likely to positively perceive and react to a [product] message that comes from a trusted friend or person over a sponsored post that comes from a company” (Woods, 2016, p. 6). Moreover, Johnson and Kaye (2009) and Lee and Youn (2009) mention that influencers are perceived as a credible source by consumers, and that influencers are an important source of information to guide consumer’s purchasing behaviour (Swant, 2016). For these reasons, it can be expected that Instagram influencers’ posts will have a direct effect on purchase intention of the followers, and that a promotional post will result in higher purchase intention than a non-promotional post.

H1 Instagram influencers’ promotional posts have a direct effect on purchase intention.

Envy and purchase intention

Besides the fact that purchase intentions are influenced by other consumers, literature also suggests that emotions can impact certain consumer behaviours (Frijda, 1986), and that they can influence consumers’ decision-making process (Schiffman & Wisenbilt, 2015; Hoyer & MacInnis, 2001). It is even stated that consumers base their decision on emotions rather than using their rational behaviour (Howell, 2017). Envy is such an emotion which could activate certain behaviour in consumers’ decision-making process.

Envy is characterized by feelings of inferiority, hostility and resentment which are formed when a person wishes to attain a perceived desirable item or position that another person enjoys (Parrott & Smith, 1993). Envy and jealousy are two emotions that are often confused. They differ since envy involves only two people, whereas jealousy involves three. Envy is the feeling where one lacks something that is enjoyed by another. Jealousy on the other

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hand, is the feeling where one person has a fear of losing someone to another person (e.g. Parrott & Smith, 1993; Smith et al., 1999; Smith & Kim, 2007).

The literature often describes envy as a negative undesirable emotion, with hostile feelings. However, recent research found evidence that envy also can have a more positive side. Recent literature distinguishes between malicious envy – the negative emotion – and benign envy – the more positive one (Van de Ven et al., 2009). Malicious envy is characterized by hostile feelings and the desire to bring someone down (Van de Ven et al., 2009), while benign envy is a more positive form of envy with the desire to improve oneself to the level of the envy target (Van de Ven et al., 2009).

Feelings of envy can be relieved when one either shifts the desire away from what was envied (Van de Ven et al., 2009), takes the desired object away from the envied person or obtains what was envied (Hill & Buss, 2006). Therefore, in marketing envy is often elicited in order to create the desire for a certain product and thereby influence consumers’ purchase intentions (Belk, 2008). In such a way, the more motivational form (benign) of envy can result in a person striving for a certain product or status when feelings of envy have been elicited due to social comparison with another person.

Feelings of envy are provoked when someone compares oneself to another person with regards to their capacities, characteristics, possessions, status, social life, etc. This phenomenon can be explained by the social comparison theory as underlying framework. Social comparison is the evaluation of a person compared to another person in terms of being better or worse with respect to abilities and performance (Festinger, 1954). Social comparison is an unconscious and common process and impacts everyday lives (Wheeler & Miyake, 1992). It can impact a person’s self-assessments, target setting, feelings and relationships (e.g., Morse & Gergen, 1970; Brewer & Weber, 1994; Carver & Scheier, 2000; Van Yperen & Leander, 2014; Epsude & Mussweiler, 2009; Higgins, 1987; Dunn, Ruedy, & Schweitzer, 2012; Moran & Schweitzer,

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2008). In social comparison, own capacities and characteristics are evaluated relative to others’ in order to maintain an accurate and balanced self-understanding (Festinger, 1954). Social comparison requires that the comparison should be made with a similar other in order to provoke feelings of envy (Corcoran et al., 2011; Salovey & Rodin, 1984; Van de Ven et al., 2009).

Social comparison can be both upward as well as downward (Corcoran et al., 2011); a person engaging in social comparison first agrees whether he or she is better or worse off than the person they compare with (Dijkstra, Gibbons, & Buunk, 2010; Festinger, 1954). Upward comparison occurs when someone compares himself to a person who they perceive is better off (Buunk, Groothof, & Siero, 2007; Myers & Crowther, 2009; Tiggemann & Polivy, 2010; Wood, 1989). This leads to an increase in negative perceptions due to frustration (Dijkstra et al., 2010; Aspinwall & Taylor, 1993), resentment (Dijkstra et al., 2010) and it can lead to life-dissatisfaction (Emmons & Diener, 1985), depressions (Wheeler & Miyake, 1992) and other negative feelings such as envy (Smith & Kim, 2007). However, it can on the contrary also create the desire to improve in terms of self-enhancement or self-improvement (Wood, 1989). Downward comparison happens when someone compares himself to a person who they perceive is worse off, thereby they can create and maintain a positive self-image (Corcoran et al., 2011; Wills, 1981; Wood, 1989) and it increases a person’s positive feelings (Dijkstra et al., 2010; Collins, 1996; Emmons & Diener, 1985; Festinger, 1954; Salovey & Rodin, 1984).

Research has shown that Social Media increases upward comparison, which leads to the perception that others are better off, which elicits negative emotions – e.g. overall well-being, depression, frustrations - rather than positive emotions (Appel et al., 2016; Dijkstra et al., 2010; Wheeler & Miyake, 1992). Therefore, Social Media is clearly a platform for envy to occur (e.g. Burke, Marlow, & Lento, 2010; Chou & Edge, 2012). Several studies confirm that by consuming others’ information or by following others’ profiles on SNS is one of the causes

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of envy (Burke et al., 2010; Krasnova et al., 2013). Besides, users on Social Media tend to post the more positive aspects of their lives (Lin & Utz, 2015; Qiu, Lin, Leung, & Tov, 2012; Reinecke & Trepte, 2014). Literature reports that users of Instagram will engage in social comparison when they see Instagram influencers’ posts (Appel et al., 2016). Due to positively biased posts (Lup et al., 2015), it might trigger the tendency to make upward social comparisons rather than downwards comparisons and thereby elicit feelings of envy (Krasnova et al., 2013). Research also states that there is a relationship between envy and an influencer’s post (Marwick, 2015). Engaging in social comparison with an Instagram influencer has been a positive predictor for envy (Chae, 2017).

To satisfy these feelings of envy, consumers will want to obtain the product that evoked these envious feelings by acquiring the desired object, i.e. purchasing the product (Hill & Buss, 2006). Therefore, it can be expected that when a follower sees an Instagram influencer promotional post, they will engage in upward social comparison, thereby feelings of envy will be elicited and in order to relieve these envious feelings the intention to purchase the item will arise (Frijda, 1986).

H2 The effect of Instagram influencers’ promotional posts on purchase intention is mediated by envy.

As described above, research shows that when a person perceives feelings of envy their intention to purchase the product increases in order to relieve their feelings of envy (Hill & Buss, 2006; Belk, 2008; Milovic, 2014). However, the type of envy – benign versus malicious – might result in a different effect on the decision-making process of consumers, and thereby the purchase intention depends on which type of envy the consumer experiences (Van de Ven et al., 2009; Milovic, 2014).

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Van de Ven, Zeelenberg, & Pieters (2010) found that a person with feelings of benign envy will lead to an increased intention to purchase the product and even to pay a premium price for the product. Feelings of malicious envy, on the other hand, will not lead to a higher purchase intention, instead it leads to the intention to purchase a similar product from another brand, thereby decreasing the intention to purchase the brand (Van de Ven et al., 2010). Therefore, it is expected that benign envy will increase purchase intention and malicious envy will decrease purchase intention in this Instagram context.

H2a Benign envy will increase purchase intention. H2b Malicious envy will decrease purchase intention.

Influencers’ promoted brand and envy

If there is a difference in benign and malicious feelings of envy and the effect on purchase intention, then it is also important to understand what elicits which form of envy. Therefore, this part looks at the difference of influencer brands and sponsored brands in their effect on benign and malicious envy. Brands nowadays often collaborate with influencers, since they are seen as a more credible and trusted source and they have great power in engaging with consumers (Lange-Faria & Elliot, 2012; Booth & Matic, 2011). These collaborations usually consist of the promotion of a new product or service, for which the influencer often receives a monetary reward or gets the promoted products for free (Lu et al., 2014).

Besides promoting for a sponsored brand, some fashion influencers have become so popular in the past years that they have established their own fashion brand. Thereby they have been able to leverage their already existing followers to create awareness and promote their products. Examples are Chiara Ferragni ‘The Blonde Salad’ with Chiara Ferragni Collection, Julie Sariñana ‘Sincerely Jules’ with Shop Sincerely Jules, Danielle Bernstein ‘We Wore What’

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with Archive Shoes, Negin Mirsalehi with Gisou, and Shea Marie ‘Peace Love Shea’ with Same Swim. Julie Sariñana even won the Revolve Award 2017 for best influencer brand with her brand Shop Sincerely Jules. She started in February 2009 with compiling her everyday inspiration, reflections and pictures of her personal fashion style. After a while she developed into a top international fashion influencer (with over 4.7 million followers) and launched her own clothing line. By creating gorgeous content, she strives to inspire her followers to achieve their personal goals. Her motto is ‘Dream, Believe, Achieve’ (Sincerely Jules, 2018).

Influencers who created their personal brand could be perceived as deserving their success more than other influencers, as they are considered to have invested time and effort to establish and maintain the brand. On the other hand, followers might perceive an influencer promoting a sponsored brand as deserving her success less, since she gets paid for the promotion or receives the products for free without putting as much effort into the company itself. This difference in appreciation could impact which form of envy is evoked (Van de Ven, Zeelenberg, Pieters, 2011). This assumption is based on research of Van de Ven et al. (2011) who argue that perceived merit is a key factor in distinguishing benign from malicious envy. Benign envy would be generated when the situation is believed to be deserved, whereas malicious envy would be evoked when the situation is perceived to be unfair (Van de Ven et al., 2011). Other research also confirms this (Feather, 1994, 1996, 1999) and Feather and Sherman (2002) also provide evidence that a situation perceived as undeserved triggers negative emotions. Van de Ven et al. (2011), Belk (2011) and Smith, Parrott, Ozer, and Moniz (1994) state that malicious envy is generated or even exacerbate when a situation or possession is felt as unjustified.

Based on previous research, specifically by Van de Ven et al. (2011), it is expected that after viewing an Instagram influencer’s post promoting her own brand, followers are more likely to conclude that this influencer worked hard to establish her brand. This, in turn, will

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result in followers feeling that she deserves her success which will lead to more benign feelings of envy. On the other hand, an Instagram influencer posting about a sponsored brand, might result in followers to conclude that the influencer either received the products for free or even gets paid for the promotion. This will result in followers perceiving the promotion of the sponsored brand as undeserving and thereby will lead to more malicious feelings of envy. In other words, the effect of the promotional post of an Instagram influencer is moderated by the type of brand she promotes. An influencer brand will increase benign feelings of envy, whereas a sponsored brand will increase malicious feelings of envy.

H3 The effect of Instagram influencers’ promotional posts on envy is moderated by type of promoted brand

H3a A promotional post of an influencer brand will increase benign envy. H3b A promotional post of a sponsored brand will increase malicious envy.

Followers’ Instagram behaviour and envy

Besides brands that might elicit different types of envy, research also shows that feelings of envy are common on Social Media, but that envious feelings might differ per user on Social Media (Krasnova et al., 2013). Even though most people commonly perceive envious feelings, it can differ per individual to which extent they feel it and how sensitive they are in feeling envy (Smith et al., 1999; Krasnova et al., 2013). It is suggested that there might be a difference between active and passive users of Social Media, which results in a different experience of envy (Krasnova et al., 2013).

Previous research has identified several types of users on Social Network Sites, which are classified in terms of their behaviour and motivations to use Social Media. (Krasnova et al., 2013). Active users are people who actively engage in Social media, thereby posting, liking

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and commenting on content (Krasnova et al., 2013). Passive users can be classified as people who have a low engagement and simply browse through Social Media. These passive users – low engagers - only look at the content, thereby not actively participating (Krasnova et al., 2013). The study of Krasnova et al. (2015) suggested for future studies to take different types of Social Media users into account, as they might have a different impact on the effect of certain emotions. Moreover, the frequency with which Social Media is used differs per person, thereby resulting in different emotions of users. Besides, how intense people use Facebook is positively related to how often they compare themselves to others (Lee, 2014). Also, it is proven that time spent on Facebook is directly associated with envy (Tandoc et al., 2015). Therefore, this study also takes the amount of time into account in determining the effect of viewing Instagram influencers on envy of followers.

It can be expected that behaviour of followers on Instagram influences the feelings of envy of followers. Hereby, low engagement – passive use - of Instagram is expected to increase feelings of both malicious and benign envy and high engagement - active use - will initially not be expected to affect envious feelings. Furthermore, it can be expected that time spent on Instagram will positively influence feelings of envy.

H4 Level of Instagram engagement of followers has a direct effect on envy, so that low engagement will increase both benign and malicious envy compared to high engagement.

H5 Time spent on Instagram has a direct effect on envy, so that more time spent will increase both benign and malicious envy.

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Figure 1. Conceptual model.

Methodology

Research design

This study focuses on examining the effect of the promotional post on the purchase intention of followers and how envy mediates between these two variables. Hereby, the Instagram behaviour of followers is taken into account. To test the research question and the corresponding hypotheses, this research makes use of a between-subject experimental design based on vignettes. The main objective of this study is to examine the effect of the hypothetical presented promotional post on several main constructs, which is best measured through a

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vignette study and a questionnaire. A vignette study is useful to identify respondents’ opinions and feelings in the presented scenario. Hence, it is possible to enhance the understanding of their decision-making behaviours (Alexander & Becker, 1978). This experiment is accompanied with a questionnaire in order to measure the constructs of Instagram behaviour, feelings of envy, purchase intention and social comparison. By combining a vignette study with a questionnaire, the limitations of classical experiments and surveys are overcome (Atzmüller & Steiner, 2010). The vignette in this study is the manipulation of the Instagram post, more specifically manipulating the caption presented. Three scenarios were presented, namely promotional (influencer brand or sponsored brand) or non-promotional (no brand).

The Instagram influencer has been chosen using an influencer that has both influencer-brand partnerships as well as an own fashion influencer-brand. A pre-test has been conducted to decide which Instagram influencer and brand to use for the manipulation. This test has also controlled for individual attitudes towards the Instagram influencer and the brand. After the pre-test, the survey was pilot tested by 30 respondents in order to ensure that all questions were clear and comprehensible and that the structure of the survey was logic. Besides, the pilot test examined the time to complete the survey, which was at least 5 minutes. Feedback from the pilot test had been taken into account in improving the actual survey.

Pre-test

The pre-test has been conducted based on qualitative interviews with 15 Dutch female Instagram users between 22 and 28 years old. The goal of the pre-test was to identify an Instagram influencer (with her own brand) and a sponsored brand that would be accurate stimuli for the main study. First, the opinion of respondents was asked regarding which fashion influencer they follow on Instagram, towards whom they had more positive or negative feelings, etc.

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Second, a list of 5 Instagram influencers that were nominated for the Revolve Awards 2017 for best influencer brand were presented, to find out which one they preferred most and why. In this way, fashion Instagram influencer Julie Sariñana – Sincerely Jules – had been selected since all of the 15 interviewees were familiar with her and they did not have any negative feelings towards her. Twelve of the respondents already followed her, the other 3 – who were familiar with her but did not follow her yet – were asked to have a look at her Instagram page. When scrolling through her Instagram page and talking about Sincerely Jules common phrases all respondents mentioned were: “Oh, I just love her style” and “She is really beautiful”. In this way, it was clear that they had rather positive than negative feelings towards her. Due to the familiarity of all respondents with Sincerely Jules and their positive attitudes towards her and her fashion style, she was chosen as the Instagram influencer in the manipulation.

Besides, for the manipulation of the promoted brand, the respondents were asked at which brand they prefer to shop and why. Most of the respondents answered that they shop at mid-segment stores like Zara, H&M, Topshop and Bershka. Since Zara and Bershka do not use influencers that much, the choice was made between H&M and Topshop. Topshop is the brand that collaborates with fashion influencers the most compared to H&M who collaborates more with luxury brands, such as their annual collaboration with brands like BalmainxH&M. Besides, according to the respondents Topshop adopts the new fashion trends faster than H&M and therefore the choice for the sponsored brand was to use Topshop. However, due to the small pre-test, questions were included in the main study to control for individual differences in attitudes both towards the influencer as towards the brand. These attitudes will be taken into account as control variables in the main study.

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Stimuli development

During the survey respondents were asked to read a short text about Sincerely Jules, with regards to her fashion inspiration and her brand Shop Sincerely Jules (Appendix I). After they were presented a section of her Instagram page and they could scroll through this in order to have an idea of her fashion and lifestyle (Appendix II). For the manipulation of the Instagram post, a picture of Sincerely Jules was used that she posted on Instagram. The manipulation included all content that an actual Instagram post has, including the number of likes and comments. Number of likes was copied from an existing Instagram post of Sincerely Jules and the comments were copied as well. The manipulation in the three conditions is the caption presented (Appendix III). For the influencer brand the caption was: “Finally, my new collection is here. Don’t miss out and shop this outfit at Shop Sincerely Jules @shop_sincerelyjules”. For the sponsored brand, the caption was: “Finally, Topshop launched its new collection. Don’t miss out and shop this outfit at Topshop @topshop”. For the non-promotional post, the caption was: “Casually hanging around in the city. I’m just in love with this wall, how about you guys?”. To control for the manipulation, the survey included a question to ensure that respondents were paying attention. This question controlled whether they remembered which brand they saw: “Did Sincerely Jules promote a brand in her Instagram post? If yes, which brand did she promote?”.

Participants

The sample for this study were female Instagram users in the Netherlands. They have been selected using a non-probability, convenience sampling technique. The respondents should at least have an Instagram account in order to measure their Instagram behaviour. Besides, this study only took female Instagram users into account. This choice was made since the presented Instagram post features a female Instagram influencer and that literature states that social

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comparison occurs with a similar person. Therefore, it is more likely that female Instagram users will compare with a female Instagram influencer than male Instagram users will.

In total, 189 respondents completed the survey. Nine of the respondents were deleted since they did not have an Instagram account and therefore were directly re-directed to the end of the survey. Six respondents filled out the survey in less than 5 minutes, which indicates that they speeded through the survey since the pilot test showed that at least a respondent needs 5 minutes to fill out the survey. Therefore, 174 respondents eventually were taken into the analysis of this research. These respondents were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions; n = 58 for the influencer brand, n = 57 for the sponsored brand, and n = 59 for the non-promotional post.

Procedure

The survey (Appendix IV) was built with the program Qualtrics and it was distributed through Facebook and email. First of all, respondents were presented the introduction page with brief information about the research, instructions to fill out the survey and contact information regarding any questions. After, they proceeded to the first part of the questionnaire which asked questions related to their Instagram behaviour, such as if respondents follow a fashion influencer, how often they watch, like or comment on other’s pictures and how often they post a picture by themselves. Thereby, this part ensured that respondents’ level of engagement on Instagram could be measured. The second part proposed a short text about Sincerely Jules, her Instagram feed and one of the three conditions. Respondents were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions and after seeing the Instagram post questions were asked regarding their feelings of envy and their intention to purchase the fashion items shown in the Instagram post. The third part asked control questions regarding respondents’ social comparison behaviour.

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Besides, demographics of the respondents (e.g. age, gender and education level) were asked as control questions in this section.

Measurements

Instagram influencer post

The independent variable is manipulated in this experiment, divided in three conditions. Respondents were either shown the Instagram influencer promoting Shop Sincerely Jules, Topshop or the non-promotional post.

Instagram behaviour

Followers’ Instagram behaviour was measured by asking respondents the average frequency they spend using Instagram per day and by asking how often they performed certain behaviours, thereby measuring their Instagram engagement. For the time spent on Instagram, one question was asked: “In the past week, how much time per day have you spent on Instagram on average?”. For the level of Instagram engagement respondents answered on an 8-item scale, ranging from never to several times a day (9-point scale). Questions like “How often do you post a picture on Instagram” and “How often do you comment on others’ pictures on Instagram” represented the active behaviour. Whereas questions such as “How often do you check Instagram” and “How often do you look at others’ Instagram story” represented the more passive behaviour.

The respondents were assigned to one of the two groups to analyse the engagement behaviour. High engagement - active behaviour – is classified as scoring high on active items only, or those who scored high on both the active and passive items. Low engagement - passive behaviour – is classified as scoring high on passive items only, or those who scored low on both active and passive items. Therefore, respondents who scored one standard deviation above

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the mean on active behaviour questions and who simultaneously scored one standard deviation above the mean on passive items were classified as active followers. On the other hand, the respondents who scored one standard deviation above the mean on passive behaviour and simultaneously scored one standard deviation below the mean on active questions were classified as passive followers. Finally, respondents who scored one standard deviation below the mean for both active as well as passive behaviour were allocated to the passive group, since this confirms that they use Instagram passively. This resulted in n = 32 for high engagement and n = 142 for low engagement.

Envy towards Instagram influencer

The mediator in this study is the envy of followers towards the Instagram influencer post, which can be the total envy or the benign and malicious feelings of envy. Total envy was measured using a 14-item scale adapted from validated scales from Cohen-Charash & Mueller (2007), Appel et al., (2015) and Lange & Crusius (2015), with Cronbach’s alpha .847. For benign and malicious envy, the total envy scale included 7 items measuring benign envy and 7 items measuring malicious envy. Cronbach’s alpha were respectively .894 and .822. All items were measured using a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. To measure benign envy questions like “I would like to change roles with her” and “I feel inspired by her” were asked. To measure malicious envy questions like “I felt bitter when I saw the Instagram post” and “I feel some hatred towards her” were asked.

Purchase intention

The dependent variable in this study is the follower’s purchase intention. Purchase intention was measured using a 3-item scale of Putrevu & Lord (1994) to measure future purchase intention. Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient of this scale is .91. Respondents answered on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. To measure

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purchase intention questions like “I will purchase this outfit (or one of the items) the next time I need new clothes” were asked.

Control variables

Social comparison

Social comparison was measured as a control variable, since it is the underlying framework of this research. The shortened 6-item scale of Gibbons & Buunk (1999) was used to measure this construct. Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient of this scale is .84. Respondent answered on a 7-point scale, ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Respondents were asked questions like “I often compare myself to others with respect to what I have accomplished in life” and “I always pay a lot of attention to how I do things compared with how others do things”.

Attitude to Instagram influencer and brand

Both attitude towards the Instagram influencer and the brand promoted were measured using 5-point semantic differential scale adapted from Reijmersdal et al. (2016). Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient of this scale is .86. Respondents scored their attitude towards the influencer and the brand on negative-positive, uninteresting-interesting, unattractive-attractive, and bad/good.

Other

Besides, other question regarding demographic information about the respondents was asked. These questions included their age, gender, nationality and education level. These factors will be taken into account in the correlation matrix to identify if they will be included in the main study as control variables.

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Data analysis

Missing values and counter-indicative items

The first preliminary step was to check the data on missing values. However, due to the function of forcing responses everyone who completed the survey had filled in every question. Therefore, no missing values were present. After, the variables were inspected on counter-indicative items. Social comparison was the only scale that contained a negatively-keyed item and this one should therefore be recoded to ensure that other analyses can be performed correctly.

Exploratory Factor Analysis

For the scale measuring benign and malicious envy an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted, since the scale was adapted from three other scales. The EFA checked on factorability to ensure that the underlying constructs of envy fundamentally differ from each other. As expected, the items measuring benign envy loaded high on the same factor, whereas the items measuring malicious envy, loaded high on the other factor. Therefore, it could be concluded that these two types of envy were significantly different in measuring two different underlying structures.

Since the Instagram behaviour of followers was measured without an existing validated measurement scale, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted to see whether the active and passive items measured two different underlying structures. One item was eliminated since it had a cross-loading on both low and high engagement. The final EFA included the remaining seven items. As expected, the items measuring high engagement loaded high on the same factor, whereas the items measuring low engagement loaded high on the other factor. Therefore, it could be concluded that the engagement types were significant in measuring

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different underlying structures. The full exploratory factor analyses and interpretations are presented in Appendix V.

Reliability

Subsequently, the reliability of the scales used could be measured. The Cronbach’s alpha has been identified to see whether the items are internally consistent, which tests if the items used in the scales measure the same or if some items should be deleted for the analysis. In this research, all Cronbach’s alpha were α >. 70, so the scales used indicate a high level of internal consistency. Table 1 presents the Cronbach’s alpha for the item scales of envy towards the influencer, purchase intention, social comparison, attitude towards influencer and attitude towards brand.

Table 1.

Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability Coefficient

Variable Cronbach’s Alpha

Total envy .847

Benign envy .894

Malicious envy .822

Purchase intention .917

Social comparison .867

Attitude towards influencer .854

Attitude towards brand .905

New variables

After, new variables were created based on the items of each scale, thereby calculating the mean of all items used, which enables the further analysis. The new variables created were:

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Tot_Envy, Tot_Ben_Envy, Tot_Mal_Envy, Tot_Purch_Int, Tot_SC, Tot_SJ_Att, Tot_BR_Att.

For the promotional versus non-promotional Instagram post, a dummy variable was created to enable further analysis. Also, for the moderation of the promoted brand, the influencer brand and the sponsored brand were transformed into dummies. Besides, for the level of Instagram engagement a dummy variable was created.

Normality check

For all variables used a normality check was conducted in order to see if the data was normally distributed. The test of normality (Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk) indicated that the variables were not normally distributed, p < .05. There were some outliers identified; however, none of them belonged to extreme outliers. Also, the histograms showed that the data was not normally distributed, which would mean that for further analyses non-parametric tests should be used. Nevertheless, when looking at the Q-Q plots of the variables, the non-normally distributed data did not look that dispersed. The observed values all match or are close to the line, there are some exceptions. Also, when n > 30 it is allowed to make the assumption that the data is normally distributed. Based on the fact that all conditions have more than 30 respondents and on the fact that the Q-Q plots are good, the decision is made to proceed with the use of parametric tests.

Manipulation check

Before the analyses of the main study, first the manipulation of the different conditions was checked. A question regarding whether Sincerely Jules promoted a brand in her Instagram post, and if yes which one, was included in the questionnaire in order to check if the respondents paid attention to the post and remembered the brand promoted. The manipulation question was answered correct by all respondents, so therefore further analysis could proceed with all data.

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Results

Descriptive analysis

First, the descriptive information is presented, to provide an overview of the participants in this study. Their mean, standard deviation or percentage, and number of participants is presented in Table 2 below. The final number of respondents in this study was 174, of which all were female respondents. The average age of participants was 23.28 years (SD = 4.46). Mostly Dutch people filled out the survey, namely 85.2 % compared to 9.8% other nationalities (British, German, Belgium, etc.). Almost half of the participants had a HBO level of education (44.3%), followed by WO (37.2%) and MBO was the smallest group (13.7%).

Table 2. Demographic statistics Variables M (SD) / % n Age 23.28 (4.46) 174 Nationality Dutch 85.2 156 Other 9.8 18 Education 25 MBO 13.7 25 HBO 44.3 81 WO 37.2 68

The descriptive information of the main variables is presented in Table 3 on the next page. The mean, standard deviation or percentage, and number of participants of each variable is indicated.

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Table 3.

Descriptive statistics of variables

Variables M SD n

Total envy 3.161 0.867 174

Benign envy 3.991 1.339 174

Malicious envy 2.331 0.873 174

Purchase intention 3.264 1.607 174

Time spent on Instagram 2.98 1.454 174

Social comparison 4.510 1.156 174

Attitude towards influencer 5.516 1.056 174

Attitude towards brand 5.223 1.034 174

Correlation

To see whether the variables correlate with each other, Pearson’s correlation measurement has been used (Table 4). From this correlation matrix, it is visible that the promotional versus non-promotional condition correlate with the sponsored (r = .500, p < .001) and the influencer brand (r = .506, p < .001). The matrix also shows that total envy correlates with purchase intention (r = .417, p < .001). Besides, benign envy and purchase intention strongly correlate (r = .544, p < .001). Malicious envy, however, does not correlate with purchase intention (r = -.007, p > .05). Nevertheless, malicious envy correlates with the sponsored brand (r = .211, p < .001) and malicious envy and benign envy correlate with each other (r = .194, p < .05). With regards to the Instagram engagement of followers, it can be stated that this correlates with benign envy (r = .149, p < .05). Time spent using Instagram only correlates with the influencer brand (r = .230, p = <.001), benign envy (r = .150, p < .05) and the Instagram engagement (r = .355, p < .01).

When looking at the control variables, the correlation matrix presents that social comparison positively correlates with total envy (r = .455, p < .001), benign envy (r = .373, p < .001), malicious envy (r = .331, p < .001), and purchase intention (r = .311, p < .001). Attitude

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towards the influencer strongly correlates with total envy (r = .373, p < .001), benign envy (r = .556, p < .001), purchase intention (r = .374, p < .001), and social comparison (r = .239, p < .001). Attitude towards the brand also correlates with total envy (r = .278, p < .001). benign envy (r = .418, p < .001), purchase intention (r = .412, p < .001), social comparison (r = .178, p < .05), and with attitude towards the influencer (r = .503, p < .001). Age only correlates

education (r = .363, p < .001). However, since this is another control variable, this control variable will not further be taken into account in the main study. Nationality has been found to correlate negatively with total envy (r = -.171, p < .05) and benign envy (r = -.175, p < .01). Education only correlated with other control variables, age (r = .363, p < .001) and nationality (r = .207, p < .001). However, education did not correlate with any of the main variables, therefore this control variable will not be taken into account in the further analyses. Therefore, social comparison, attitude towards the influencer and brand, and nationality will be considered as control variables in the further analyses.

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Table 4.

Pearson’s Correlation Matrix

Correlations Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 1. Promotional posts - 2. Influencer brand .506** - 3.Sponsored brand .500** -.494** - 4.Total envy .098 .055 .044 - 5.Benign envy .038 .118 -.080 .870** - 6.Malicious envy .137 -.073 .211** .653** .194* - 7.Purchase intention -.021 -.005 -.016 .417** .544** -.007 - 8.Instagram engagement .058 .199** -.142 .114 . 149* -.003 .119 -

9.Time spent on Instagram .131 .230** -.099 .124 .150* .016 .110 .355** - 10.Social comparison .109 .024 .086 .455** .373** .331** .311** .039 .079 - 11.Attitude influencer -.015 .085 -.101 .373** .556** -.112 .374** -.025 .070 .239** - 12.Attitude brand -.054 -.002 -.053 .278** .418** -.088 .412** -.052 -.030 .178* .503** - 13.Age -.029 .088 -.118 -.146 -.098 -.139 -.010 -.096 -.095 -.050 -.081 -.006 - 14.Nationality .044 .040 .004 -.171* -.175* -.070 -.127 -.015 -.125 -.041 -.059 .009 -.042 - 15.Education -.078 .024 -.055 -.028 .016 -.080 .092 -.020 -.035 .092 .068 .036 .363** .207** - Note: *p < .05, **p < .01

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Hypotheses testing

To test the hypotheses, this study mostly made us of regression analysis. Regression analysis allows to understand which of the independent variables predict the dependent variable. This analysis is used for hypothesis 1, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4, and 5. To test hypothesis 2, this study used the mediation analysis of Andrew F. Hayes (2012) where model 4 of PROCESS was used.

Effect promotional posts on purchase intention

Hypothesis 1 stated that Instagram influencers’ promotional posts have a direct effect on purchase intention. To test this hypothesis a regression analysis was conducted in order to test the effect of promotional posts on purchase intention. The test showed that that the model explains 26.4% of the variance (R2 = .264, F (5, 168) = 12.053, p < .001). Promotional posts

compared to non-promotional posts were not found to be a significant predictor of purchase intention (p = .784). However, social comparison (β = .217, p = .002), attitude towards the influencer (β = .171, p = .029), and attitude towards the brand (β = .287, p < .001) did significantly predict purchase intention, with attitude towards the brand being the highest predictor. Nevertheless, the promotional posts did not have a significant effect on purchase intention, therefore, hypothesis 1 is not supported (Table 5).

Table 5.

Regression Analysis Promotional Post on Purchase Intention

Dependent variable purchase intention B SE β t p Constant -1.178 .817 -1.442 .151 Promotional posts -.073 .226 -.021 -0.321 .748 Social comparison .301 .096 .217 3.148 .002** Attitude influencer .261 .119 .171 2.198 .029*

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INSTAGRAM INFLUENCERS, ENVY, AND PURCHASE INTENTION Attitude brand .446 .120 .287 3.724 .000** Nationality -.575 .350 -.109 -1.645 .102 R2= .264 F (5,168) = 12.053, p < .001 Note: *p < .05, **p < .01

Mediation envy between effect promotional posts and purchase intention

Hypothesis 2 stated that the effect of Instagram influencers’ promotional posts on purchase intention is mediated by envy. The Process model 4 was used in order to discover whether there is an indirect effect of the promotional post on purchase intention with envy as a mediator. However, the mediation of envy in this relationship was not found to be significant. This can be concluded from the bootstrapping method, which indicates that the indirect effect is not statistically different from zero, since the 95% BC bootstrap confidence interval includes zero. Therefore, hypothesis 2 is not supported, there is no mediation effect of envy on the relationship between Instagram influencers’ promotional post and purchase intention (Table 6).

Table 6.

Envy as Mediator between Instagram Promotional Posts and Purchase Intention

Indirect effect of X on Y with M total envy

Effect Boot SE Boot LLCI Boot ULCI

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Effect of benign and malicious envy on purchase intention

Hypothesis 2a stated that benign envy will increase purchase intention. Hypothesis 2b stated that malicious envy will decrease purchase intention. Both hypotheses are tested by means of a regression analysis.

When looking at the result on purchase intention it is visible that the model explains 36,7% of variance (R2 = .367, F (4,165) = 16.121, p < .001). Both benign envy and malicious

envy are found to be significant predictor of purchase intention. Benign envy (β = .427, p < .001) is the highest predictor of purchase intention compared to malicious envy (β = -.132, p = .058†). Social comparison (β = .162, p = .022) and attitude towards the brand (β = .205, p = .006) were also found to be significant control predictors of purchase intention. Hence, it is significant that benign envy results in higher purchase intention and malicious envy results in a decrease of purchase intention, therefore, hypothesis 2a and 2b are supported (Table 7).

Table 7.

Regression Analysis of Benign and Malicious Envy on Purchase Intention

Dependent variable purchase intention B SE β t p Constant -.365 .814 -0.449 .654 Benign envy .512 .099 .427 5.167 .000** Malicious envy -.243 .127 -.132 -1.913 .058† Social comparison .225 .097 .162 2.318 .022* Attitude influencer -.025 .125 -.023 -0.282 .778 Attitude brand .319 .114 .205 2.800 .006** Nationality -.304 .331 -.058 -0.918 .360 R2= .367 F (4,165) = 16.121, p < .001 Note: *p < .05, **p < .01, p < .10; one-tailed.

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Promotional brand as moderator on benign and malicious envy

Hypothesis 3 stated that the effect of Instagram influencers’ promotional posts on envy is moderated by type of promoted brand, further divided in H3a and H3b. Hypothesis 3a stated that a promotional post of an influencer brand will increase feelings of benign envy. Hypothesis 3b stated that a promotional post of a sponsored brand will increase feelings of malicious envy. Both hypotheses are tested using a regression analysis.

When looking at the results of benign envy it is visible that the model explains 41,9% of variance (R2 = .419, F (4,167) = 20.049, p < .001). However, the promotional brands are

found to have an insignificant effect on benign envy, influencer brand (p = .248) and sponsored brand (p = .854). All control variables are found to have significantly predict benign envy, where attitude towards the influencer has the highest effect (β = .392, p < .001). Nevertheless, from this analysis it is clear that there is no significant effect of the influencer brand on benign envy, therefore, hypothesis 3a is not supported.

When looking at the results of malicious envy it can be stated that the model explains 18.2% of variance (R2 = .182, F (4,167) = 6.202, p < .001). The sponsored brand is found to be

a significant predictor of malicious envy (β = .170, p = .039) and social comparison is the only control variable that influences malicious envy (β = .362, p < .001). Hence, it is significant that the sponsored brand has an effect on malicious envy and, therefore, hypothesis 3b is supported (Table 8).

Table 8.

Regression Analysis of the Promotional Brands on Benign and Malicious Envy

Dependent variable benign envy B SE β t p

Constant -.567 .608 -0.934 .352

Influencer brand .224 .193 .079 1.159 .248

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