The dark side of brands: Exploring fear of missing out, obsessive brand passion, and compulsive buying

Arnold Japutra, Sianne Gordon-Wilson, Yuksel Ekinci and Elisa Dorothee Adam

Journal of Business Research, 2025, vol. 186, issue C

Abstract: Understanding the roots of compulsive buying is critical because it often leads to negative outcomes like depression, social anxiety, and debt. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of the fear of missing out and brand passion on compulsive brand buying. We collect data from 511 consumers and use partial least squares for the data analysis. The study supports the dual theory of passion, which delineates brand passion into harmonious and obsessive forms, with the latter representing a negative aspect. The findings strongly affirm the relationship between the fear of missing out and both types of brand passion. Obsessive passion emerges as a more significant predictor of compulsive buying. Moreover, the study unveils that consumers’ age moderates the relationship between the fear of missing out and obsessive passion. We recommend marketing strategies to facilitate consumers’ passions driven by the fear of missing out, to encourage and nurture harmonious passion, to foster obsessive passion in a more responsible manner, and to focus on brand-passion-driven marketing towards younger consumers.

Keywords: Fear of missing out; Dual theory of brand passion; Harmonious passion; Obsessive passion; Impulsive buying; Obsessive-compulsive buying (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296324004946
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:186:y:2025:i:c:s0148296324004946

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2024.114990

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Business Research is currently edited by A. G. Woodside

More articles in Journal of Business Research from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().