Upward social comparison and Facebook users’ grandiosity. Examining the effect of envy on loneliness and subjective well-being
| Date | 12 August 2019 |
| Pages | 635-652 |
| Published date | 12 August 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-04-2017-0137 |
| Author | Myungsuh Lim,Yoon Yang |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
Upward social comparison and
Facebook users’grandiosity
Examining the effect of envy on loneliness
and subjective well-being
Myungsuh Lim
Department of Business Administration,
Sangji University, Wonju, The Republic of Korea, and
Yoon Yang
Department of Psychology,
Ewha Womans University, Seoul, The Republic of Korea
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to confirm the causal relationship, in an upward social comparison, of
envy, loneliness and subjective well-being (SWB). Particularly, the authors address the mediating roles, each,
of benign envy (BE) and malicious envy (ME) as different types of envy. In addition, the authors explore the
grandiosity of users, in terms of narcissistic personalities, and whether it has discriminatory impacts on this
causal relationship.
Design/methodology/approach –The authors re-enacted a situation that users confront on Facebook as a
quasi-experiment to determine if there is an effectual relationship among variables in the path of upward
comparison, envy, loneliness and SWB. First, the authors divided envy into BE and ME to examine its mediating
role in the path of upward comparison and loneliness. Second, the authors examined the differentiated effects of
both kinds of envy and loneliness on SWB. Finally, the authors determined if users’grandiose, narcissistic
behaviour has moderating effects on the path of each variable.
Findings –The results revealed that upward comparison has a positive effect on both kinds of envy; however,
in the pathof loneliness,only ME operated andplayed a mediatingrole. Furthermore,grandiosity hada partially
significant moderating effect.
Research limitations/implications –This study has the following theoretical implications. The
mediating effect of envy was identified in the path of upward comparison, loneliness and SWB. Research
limitation is as follows: this study could not effectively reflect individual differences.It is necessary to include
individual difference variables in later research, including characteristics of social comparison.
Practical implications –This study has the following practical implications. Social comparison on
Facebook poses a more serious problem than it does offline; therefore, users need to protect their own SWB. If
users can actively cope with the information of others and selectively choose their upward comparison
targets, they can reduce their loneliness and improve their SWB as expected in the hypotheses.
Social implications –The “unfriending”eventsthat occur on Facebook maybe explained by the mediating
phenomenonof ME. The research showedthat the excessive narcissism of users on Facebook is an inconsistent
informationwith realselves of users, thus triggering the ME, whichcauses avoidancefrom other Facebookusers.
Originality/value –The authors have proven that social comparison and envy emotion are the causes of the
loneliness, while the authors are on Facebook. Especially, the mediation role of BE and ME are discussedin a
distinguished manner. Also, the authors confirmed that the influence of narcissism could further aggravate
the problem of loneliness. Finally, the authors found that the variables of the study also affect the SWB of the
Facebook user.
Keywords Loneliness, Subjective well-being, Envy, Grandiosity, Upward comparison
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
People tend to compare themselves socially with others when faced with others’information
(Tesser, 1988). Through the use of Facebook, we become comfortable experiencing social
comparison in an easy and fast way. However, through this process, we are also likely to feel
Online Information Review
Vol. 43 No. 4, 2019
pp. 635-652
© Emerald PublishingLimited
1468-4527
DOI 10.1108/OIR-04-2017-0137
Received 30 April 2017
Revised 14 May 2018
Accepted 3 February 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1468-4527.htm
This research was supported by Sangji University Research Fund, 2018.
635
Examining the
effect of envy
on loneliness
depression, inferiority and, more often, damage to our self-esteem (Appel et al., 2015). There
are several reasons why social comparisons are a frequent occurrence within Facebook.
First, with the help of technology (e.g. news feed and profile) that has been applied through
Facebook, the users of Facebook significantly reduce the required time and cost to gain
access to another person’s information (Lee, 2014). Second, there are drivers of supply and
demand of personal information on Facebook. Users voluntarily supply their personal
information to expose themselves, based on exhibitionism, as well as demanding other
users’information to search or browse, based on voyeurism (Mäntymäki and Islam, 2016).
In spite of the many advantages of Facebook in maintaining human relationships, the
reason we mention the negative effects of the medium to our well-being is that Facebook
causes an upward comparison rather than a downward comparison with ease (Krasnova
et al., 2013), which enhances negative emotions. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to
confirm the causal relationship, in an upward social comparison, of envy, loneliness and
subjective well-being (SWB). Particularly, we address the mediating roles, each, of benign
envy (BE) and malicious envy (ME) as different types of envy. In addition, we explore the
grandiosity of users, in terms of narcissistic personalities, and whether it has discriminatory
impacts on this causal relationship.
Theoretical background
Social comparison on Facebook
Those Facebook users who conduct more social comparison tend to use the social network
more often (Lee, 2014). Theoretically, those who have more online friends, read more
updates, feel more loneliness and boast about themselves with updates use Facebook more
often (Blease, 2015). Those who expose their information on Facebook aim to show
intentionally selected information only (Rosenberg and Egbert, 2011). Moreover, users
compare their normal offline lives with the online lives of others, which directly affects their
SWB and self-evaluation (Chou and Edge, 2012). The self-generated content created by a
user is perceived to be less reliable because other users believe that the user changes and
forms the content in a positive direction (Vogel et al., 2014). In other words, users typically
consider that the qualitative information (e.g. number of friends, number of likes) is
arbitrarily edited. In addition, users tend to respond more sensitively to the fabrication of
the overall image rather than the fabrication of any specific information. That is, in a
situation of upward comparison, the comparison information from the overall perspective
shows negative effects more strongly on Facebook (Pyszczynski et al., 1985; Vogel et al.,
2014). In theory, when engaging in upward comparison, the individual evaluates the target
as better than himself or herself; in downward comparison, the target is considered worse
than himself or herself (Brown et al., 2007). The affective and behavioural consequences are
different due to the assimilative and contrasting effects that occur after upward or
downward comparisons. For example, an individual could experience fear and worry after
the assimilative effect of a downward comparison. On the contrary, an individual could feel
relieved following the contrasting effect of a downward comparison (Smith, 2000). Upward
comparison inspires people (Lockwood and Kunda, 1997); however, it also leads to low
self-evaluation and negative emotions (Vogel et al., 2014). The comparison between the ideal
life of others on Facebook and the offline real life of an exposed person causes a contrast
effect (Brown et al., 2007). Since the information of others exposed on Facebook is an edited
entity that looks better in comparison than the reality, the contrast effect to exposed person
will be greater than the similarity effect to exposed person. Therefore, the consequences of
upward comparison become more negative and create a distance from the comparison
target. Accordingly, we established the following hypothesis:
H1. Upward comparison will be positively related to loneliness.
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