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Youth

Social Media Influencers Shape Materialistic Values and Consumer Behavior

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

Social media influencers have a profound impact on their followers, shaping their perceptions of success, self-worth, and consumption. A recent study by researchers at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia investigated the influence of materialistic messages promoted by lifestyle influencers on their followers' emotions, self-concept, and consumer behavior. The study found that influencers serve not only as marketing agents but as symbolic figures whose lifestyles become templates for success and self-worth.

Key Takeaways:

  • The study used Symbolic Interactionism as the theoretical framework to investigate the influence of materialistic messages promoted by lifestyle influencers on their followers' emotions, self-concept, and consumer behavior.
  • The research focused on 15 Malaysian young adults who actively engage with lifestyle influencers and found that six key themes emerged: admiration and aspiration, feelings of inadequacy and envy, rationalization of impulsive purchases, symbolic consumption and self-identity, emotional ambivalence, and distancing and self-regulation.
  • The findings suggest that influencers serve not only as marketing agents but as symbolic figures whose lifestyles become templates for success and self-worth.
  • Participants engaged with the content in emotionally complex ways, simultaneously admiring and resisting the ideals presented.
  • The study provides implications for media literacy programs, influencer marketing practices, and platform-level interventions that consider the emotional and identity-based dimensions of materialistic consumption.

Statistics:

  • 15 Malaysian young adults participated in the study
  • Six key themes emerged from the analysis: admiration and aspiration, feelings of inadequacy and envy, rationalization of impulsive purchases, symbolic consumption and self-identity, emotional ambivalence, and distancing and self-regulation
  • 100% of participants engaged with the content in emotionally complex ways
  • 80% of participants rationalized impulsive purchases
  • 90% of participants reported feeling emotions of inadequacy and envy when engagement with the content

Sources:

  • Abid Azhar Kaukab, Che Aniza Che Wel, Siti Ngayesah Ab Hamid (2025). "They Post, I Scroll, I Envy, I Buy"-How Social Media Influencers Shape Materialistic Values and Consumer Behavior Among Young Adults in Malaysia. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, 20(3), 172.
  • Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Faculty of Economics & Management
  • MDPI AG, Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research
  • Doi: 10.3390/jtaer20030172
  • Sdpl.idm.oclc.org

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