Influencers, Materialism, Mental Health and Sustainability

Qing Shan Ding () and Saloomeh Tabari ()
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Qing Shan Ding: University of Huddersfield
Saloomeh Tabari: Cardiff University

Chapter 10 in Celebrity, Social Media Influencers and Brand Performance, 2024, pp 197-211 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract There is no doubt that celebrities and social media influencers improve trust and investment from brands and advertisers, but the potentially problematic impact on society and consumers is less examined, especially the negative influence on materialism and mental health among adolescents. As suggested by Belk ( 1985), materialism does not necessarily lead to negative outcomes; it could increase compulsive buying behaviour (Islam et al., 2017) willingness to purchase counterfeit products (Furnham & Valgeirsson, The Journal of Socio-Economics, 36(5), 677–685, 2007) and reduced psychological well-being (Christopher et al., 2009). Lou and Kim ( 2019) concluded that influencers played a significant role in cultivating adolescents’ materialistic views and increasing their intentions to purchase endorsed products. Influencers could utilize multiple social media platforms, such as blogs, YouTube and Instagram, to affect every stage of fashion buyers’ decision-making process (Sudha & Sheena, 2017). Instagram influencers play an active role in shaping fast fashion buyers’ attitudes and purchase intentions towards the latest must-have items. They are considered experts in fast fashion and trendsetters and are the crucial persuading factors in deciding fast fashion brand choices (Kharuhayothin & Patarapongsant, 2022). As one of the most polluting industries, the environmental impact of fast fashion is under increasing scrutiny (Niinimäki et al., 2020), the growth of fashion waste (Jang et al., , 2012) and damage to water quality (Bailey et al., 2022) raised serious concerns around the world. The negative impact of influencers on our societal and environmental well-being cannot be ignored.

Keywords: Influencer; Ethics; Mental health; Sustainability; Materialism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-63516-8_10

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