Selfie-marketing: exploring narcissism and self-concept in visual user-generated content on social media

Abstract

Purpose The present research aims to examine selfie-marketing from a consumer behavior perspective. Creating and sharing selfies are gaining popularity among millennials. The authors seek to understand how this popularity relates to classic research on narcissism and self-concept and to determine the effectiveness of selfie-marketing in visual user-generated content. Design/methodology/approach A mixed methods approach is used across two studies. Study 1’s qualitative exploration uses the grounded theory method by analyzing semi-structured interviews with millennials. The findings produce three research propositions. These propositions are further developed into testable hypotheses in Study 2’s quantitative investigation, featuring analysis of the variance of online survey data collected from millennials. Findings The findings suggest that narcissism positively relates to millennials’ attitudes toward and intent to participate in selfie-marketing on visual content-sharing apps. Results also demonstrate that millennials seek to use selfies to present their self-concepts differently in various visual content-sharing environments. Originality/value The present research is among the first to focus on the importance of self-presentation and narcissism in regard to consumers’ attitudes and behavioral responses toward selfie-marketing. For marketers, this underscores the importance of understanding the unique nature of user-generated visual content on social media.

#artoninstagram: Engaging with art in the era of the selfie

“…Results provide support to overcoming the traditional view of selfies as narcissistic self-representations (Fox et al, 2018) to propose a conceptualization of selfies as subjectivity and identity extensions that allow for convergence of perspectives of the image creators, that is, the artist, the viewer, and the museum visitors. Rather than promoting disengagement with the art piece, selfies in the art space function as "networked material-discursive entanglements" (Warfield, 2016, p. 1), empowering art consumers to co-create value and arts organizations to reproduce the iconic authenticity of the artwork in the virtual space.…”

“…Selfies are also a testament to one’s status, recognition, and self-fulfillment (Fox et al, 2018; Gorichanaz, 2019b) and a creative and harmless way to engage with exhibits (Abeza et al, 2018; Anderson & Jiang, 2018; Koskowski, 2019). In the museum context, selfies have been regarded as narratives that visitors develop to “transfer the special aura of importance that the displayed objects hold onto themselves” (Kozinets et al, 2017).…”

“…In addition, this article addresses the need for more research on the selfie’s connections to art and on the museum as an ideal setting “for an identity work-focused investigation of the selfie” (Kozinets et al, 2017). In particular, this article aims to build theory on selfies and arts marketing by overcoming the traditional interpretation of selfies as narcissistic self-expression (Fox et al, 2018) and proposing to look at selfies as co-created marketing value. By studying selfies in the museum context, this research aims (1) to understand the role played by selfies as individual identity projects and narratives in the context of art consumption and (2) to investigate what drives visitors to make and publish selfies in a museum context.…”

Représentations visuelles

“…Ils permettent d'enrichir les réflexions et ouvrent de nouvelles voies pour de recherches futures. D'autres thématiques sur les représentations visuelles sont encore à explorer en recherche marketing, comme les enjeux liées aux représentations de soi à travers les avatars et les selfies (Fox et al, 2018 ;Iqani et Schroeder, 2016) ou les enjeux liées à la visualisation des données (Chen et al, 2017).…”

Visual representations

“…They serve to nurture ongoing reflections and open up new research avenues. Other themes relating to visual representations have yet to be explored in marketing research, such as self-representation through avatars and selfies (Fox et al, 2018;Iqani and Schroeder, 2016) or the visualisation of data (Chen et al, 2017).…”