Effects of Users’ Social Comparison and Envy on Malevolent Creativity on Social Network Sites

Abstract

Most research on creativity focuses on the benefits, with little attention paid to exploring the negative aspects, such as malevolent creativity. Undoubtedly, social networking sites (SNS) are central to social interaction and information sharing in the digital age. However, they simultaneously invite upward social comparison, eliciting envy among users, which leads to diversified behaviors. We argue that it is an essential issue for social comparison and individuals' malevolent creativity on SNS. Integrating social comparison theory with response styles theory, we hypothesized that SNS social comparison is positively related to online malevolent creativity via SNS envy, and its effects of SNS social comparison on SNS envy depend on individuals' rumination. The results support these hypotheses and provide a more nuanced understanding of how upward social comparison impacts individuals' emotional state and creativity. The theoretical contributions and practical implications of this study are discussed.