TY - JOUR

T1 - Understanding envy and users’ responses to envy in the context of social networking sites

T2 - A literature review

AU - Wenninger, H.

AU - Cheung, C.M.K.

AU - Chmielinski, M.

PY - 2021/6/1

Y1 - 2021/6/1

N2 - Envy is an ancient theme of interest and various academic disciplines researched the topic in the last decades. With the advance of technologies and the popularity of social networking sites (SNSs), there is a need to comprehend what is new and unique about envy in the SNS environment. To contribute to an improved understanding of this phenomenon, we investigate academic research on envy in the context of SNSs. Particularly, in this work, we review and clarify the concept of envy in the SNS context and how users respond to envy they experienced in an SNS environment. This allows us to (1) better comprehend the conceptualization and theorization of envy in the SNS context, and to (2) identify particularities of users’ responses to envy. Based on our analysis, we observe that there exists a need to contextualize definition, operationalization and theorization further. Responses to SNS-induced envy mirror findings from the offline context with purchase intentions as an interesting and relevant behavioral response for the SNS context, since most revenues are generated by advertisement on these sites. We provide directions for future investigations on the phenomenon of SNS-induced envy.

AB - Envy is an ancient theme of interest and various academic disciplines researched the topic in the last decades. With the advance of technologies and the popularity of social networking sites (SNSs), there is a need to comprehend what is new and unique about envy in the SNS environment. To contribute to an improved understanding of this phenomenon, we investigate academic research on envy in the context of SNSs. Particularly, in this work, we review and clarify the concept of envy in the SNS context and how users respond to envy they experienced in an SNS environment. This allows us to (1) better comprehend the conceptualization and theorization of envy in the SNS context, and to (2) identify particularities of users’ responses to envy. Based on our analysis, we observe that there exists a need to contextualize definition, operationalization and theorization further. Responses to SNS-induced envy mirror findings from the offline context with purchase intentions as an interesting and relevant behavioral response for the SNS context, since most revenues are generated by advertisement on these sites. We provide directions for future investigations on the phenomenon of SNS-induced envy.

KW - Literature review

KW - Responses to envy

KW - SNS-induced envy

KW - Social media

KW - Social networking sites

KW - Upward social comparison

KW - Social sciences computing

KW - Academic research

KW - Behavioral response

KW - Contextualize

KW - Literature reviews

KW - Off-line context

KW - Purchase intention

KW - Social networking sites (SNSs)

KW - Social networking (online)

U2 - 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102303

DO - 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102303

M3 - Journal article

VL - 58

JO - International Journal of Information Management

JF - International Journal of Information Management

SN - 0268-4012

M1 - 102303

ER -