Social media influencers are online personalities, who have a sizable number of captive followers and have the ability to influence others; therefore, many brands have partnered up with them with the purpose of attracting potential buyers. Focusing on social comparison theory, this research examined the reasons why benign or malicious envy can be triggered towards influencers and the content they share online. Moreover, we investigate the effects that either type of envy will have on people’s purchase behaviors. In such manner, a Confirmatory Factory Analysis, followed by a Structural Equation Model was made with the 453 responses collected through the online questionnaire placed on Mturk. Findings showed that deservingness is negatively associated with malicious envy and that both benign and malicious envy are triggered by homophily. Adding to this, it could be perceived that benign and malicious envy have a positive impact on people’s purchase intentions towards the product/service being endorsed by the influencer. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Alalwan, A. A. (2018). Investigating the impact of social media advertising features on customer purchase intention. International Journal of Information Management, 42(0), 65-77.
Bagozzi, R. P., & Yi, Y. (1988). On the evaluation of structural equation models. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 16(0), 74–94.
Bentler, P. M., & Bonett, D. G. (1980). Significance tests and goodness of fit in the analysis of covariance structures. Psychological Bulletin, 88(3), 588-606.
Brickman, P., & Bulman, R. (1977). Pleasure and pain in social comparison. In J. M. Suls & R. L. Miller (Eds.), Social Comparison Processes: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives. Washington DC Hemisphere Publishing Company.
Buunk, A., & Gibbons, F. (2007). Social comparison: The end of a theory and the emergence of a weld. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 102(1), 3-21.
Buunk, B., Kuyper, H., & Zee, Y. G. v. d. (2005). Affective response to social comparison in the classroom. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 27(3), 229–237.
Casaló, L., Flavián, C., & SergioIbáñez-Sánchez. (2018). Influencers on Instagram: Antecedents and consequences of opinion leadership. Journal of Business Reaserch 59(0), 1-10.
Castaño, L. C. (2016). The discourse of self-promotion and authenticity in social networking sites: Personal branding and microcelebrity. Revista de Comunicación Audiovisual y Publicitaria, 17(3), 395-411.
Chae, J. (2018). Explaining females’ envy toward social media influencers. Media Psychology, 21(2), 246-262.
Chatterjee, P. (2011). Drivers of new product recommending and referral behaviour on social network sites. International Journal of Advertising, 30(1), 77-101.
Esch, P. v., Arli, D., Castner, J., Talukdar, N., & Northey, G. (2018). Consumer attitudes towards bloggers and paid blog advertisements: what’s new? Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 36(0), 778-793.
Esch, P. v., Northey, G., Duffy, S., Heller, J., & Striluk, M. (2017). The moderating influence of country of origin information seeking on homophily and product satisfaction. Journal of Promotion Management 24(3), 332-348.
Evans, N. J., Wojdynski, B. W., & Hoy, M. G. (2019). How sponsorship transparency mitigates negative effects of advertising recognition. International Journal of Advertising, 38(3), 364-382.
Eyal, K., & Rubin, A. (2003). Viewer aggression and homophily, identification, and parasocial relationships with television characters. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media., 47(1), 77-98.
Feather, N. (2012). Tall poppies, deservingness and schadenfreude. Psychologist, 25(6), 434-437.
Feather, N. (2014). Chapter 3: Deservingness and schadenfreude. In W. v. Dijk & J. Ouwerkerk (Eds.), Schadenfreude: Understanding pleasure at the misfortune of others. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7(0), 117-140.
Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39-50.
Gannon, V., & Prothero, A. (2016). Beauty blogger selfies as authenticating practices. European Journal of Marketing, 50(0), 1858-1878.
Gómez, M., Lopez, C., & Molina, A. (2019). An integrated model of social media brand engagement. Computers in Human Behavior, 96(0), 196–206.
Guyer, J., & Vaughan-Johnston, T. (2018). Upward and downward social comparisons: A brief historical overview. In V. Zeigler-Hill & T. K. Shackelford (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. New York: Springer International Publishing.
Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2014). Multivariate data analysis (Vol. 7th ). United Stated of America: Pearson Education Limited
Hareli, S., & Weiner, B. (2002). Social emotions and personality inferences: A scaffold for a new direction in the study of achievement motivation. Educational Psychologist, 37(3), 183-193.
Hayes, J. L., Golan, G., Britt, B., & Applequist, J. (2020). How advertising relevance and consumer–brand relationship strength limit disclosure effects of native ads on Twitter. International Journal of Advertising, 39(1), 131-165.
Helgeson, V. S., & Taylor, S. E. (1993). Social comparisons and adjustment among cardiac patients. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 23(0), 1171–1195.
Hou, M. (2018). Social media celebrity and the institutionalization of YouTube. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 25(3), 534-553.
Jin, S. V., Muqaddam, A., & Ryu, E. (2019). Instafamous and social media influencer marketing. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 37(5), 567-579.
Kádeková, Z., & Holienčinová, M. r. (2018). Influencer marketing as a modern phenomenon creating a new frontier of virtual opportunities Communication Today, 9(2), 90-105.
Knoll, J. (2016). Advertising in social media: a review of empirical evidence. International Journal of Advertising, 35(2), 266-300.
Krueger, J. (2000). The Projective Perception of the Social World: A Building Block of Social Comparison Processes In J. Suls & L. Wheeler (Eds.), Hanbook of social comparison: theory and research New York: Springer Science+Business Media.
Lam, L. W. (2012). Impact of competitiveness on salespeople's commitment and performance. Journal of Business Research, 65(0), 1328–1334.
Lange, J., & Crusius, J. (2015). Dispositional envy revisited: Unraveling the motivational dynamics of benign and malicious envy. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 4(2), 284-294.
Lee, J. E., & Watkins, B. (2016). YouTube vloggers' influence on consumer luxury brand perceptions and intentions. Journal of Business Reaserch, 69(0), 5753-5760.
Lim, M., & Yang, Y. (2019). Upward social comparison and Facebook users’ grandiosity: Examining the effect of envy on loneliness and subjective well-being. Online Information Review, 43(4), 635-652.
Lin, R. (2018). Silver lining of envy on social media? The relationships between post content, envy type, and purchase intentions. Internet Research, 28(4), 1142-1164.
Lin, R., & Utz, S. (2015). The emotional responses of browsing Facebook: Happiness, envy, and the role of tie strength. Computers in Human Behavior, 52(0), 29-38.
Liu, P., He, J., & Li, A. (2019). Upward social comparison on social network sites and impulse buying: A moderated mediation model of negative affect and rumination. Computers in Human Behavior, 96(0), 133-140.
Lou, C., & Yuan, S. (2019). Influencer marketing: How message value and credibility affect consumer tust of branded content on social media. Journal of Interactive Adverstising 19(1), 58-73.
Loureiro, S. M. C., Plaza, M. A. P. d., & Taghian, M. (2020). The effect of benign and malicious envies on desire to buy luxury fashion items. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 52(0), 1-14.
MacKenzie, S. B., & Podsakoff, P. M. (2012). Common Method Bias in Marketing: Causes, Mechanisms, and Procedural Remedies. Journal of Retailing, 88(4), 542-555.
Miceli, M., & Castelfranchi, C. (2007). The envious mind. Cognition and Emotion 21(3), 449-479.
Mussweiler, T., Ruter, K., & Epstude, K. (2006). The why, who and how of social comparison: A social-cognition perspective. In S. Guimond (Ed.), Social Comparison and Social Psychology - Understanding Congnition, Intergroup Relations and Culture. New York: Cambridge University.
Mutum, D. S., Ghazali, E. M., Mohd-Any, A. A., & Nguyen, B. (2017). Avoidance of sponsored posts on consumer-generated content: a study of personal blogs. The Bottom Line, 31(1), 76-94.
Nabi, R. L., & Keblusek, L. (2014). Inspired by hope, motivated by envy: Comparing the effects of discrete emotions in the process of social comparison to media figures. Media Psychology, 17(2), 208-234.
Navarro-Carrillo, G. s., Beltrán-Morillas, A. M., Valor-Segura, I., & Expósito, F. (2018). The pernicious effects of malicious versus benign envy: Perceived injustice, emotional hostility and counterproductive behaviors in the workplace. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 21(0), 1-9.
Noon, E., & Meier, A. (2019). Inspired by friends: Adolescents' network homophily moderates the relationship between social comparison, envy, and inspiration on Instagram. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 22(12), 787-793.
Nysveen, Pederson, & Thorbjørnsen. (2009). Scale name: Behavioral control. In G. C. Bruner (Ed.), Marketing Scales Handbook: A Compilation of Multi-Item Measures for Consumer Behavior & Advertising Research. Texas, USA: GCBII Productions.
Pancer, E., McShane, L., & Poole, M. (2017). Schadenfreude and product failures: the role of product deservingness and product status. Journal of Marketing Managemet 33(0), 1236–1255.
Parrott, G., & Smith, R. (1993). Distinguishing the experiences of envy and jealousy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64(6), 906–920.
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., & Lee, J.-Y. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879-903.
Pöyry, E., Pelkonen, M., Naumanen, E., & Laaksonen, S.-M. (2019). A call for authenticity: Audience responses to social media influencer endorsements in strategic communication. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 13(4), 336-351.
Quintanilla, L., & Recio, P. (2019). The effect of deservingness in invidious situations on the intensity of schadenfreude: a developmental study. Journal for the Study of Education and Development, 42(2), 374-412.
Quinton, S., & Harridge-March, S. (2010). Relationships in online communities: The potential for marketers. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 4(1), 59-73.
Radloff, R. (1966). Social comparison and ability evolution. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 1(0), 6-25.
Russell, C., & Rasolofoarison, D. (2017). Uncovering the power of natural endorsements: a comparison with celebrity-endorsed advertising and product placements. International Journal of Advertising, 36(5), 761-778.
Sancheng, P., Yongmei, Z., Lihong, C., Shui, Y., Jianwei, N., & Weijia, J. (2018). Influence analysis in social networks: A survey. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 106(0), 17-32.
Schouten, A. P., Janssen, L., & Verspaget, M. (2020). Celebrity vs. Influencer endorsements in advertising: The role of identification, credibility, and product-endorser fit. International Journal of Advertising, 39(2), 1-24.
Shareef, M. A., Mukerji, B., Dwivedi, Y. K., Rana, N. P., & Islam, R. (2019). Social media marketing: Comparative effect of advertisement sources. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 46(0), 58-59.
Shtern, J., Hill, S., & Chan, D. (2019). Social media influence: Performative authenticity and the relational work of audience commodification in the Philippines. International Journal of Communication 13(0), 1939–1958.
Simpson, R., Kumra, S., Lewis, P., & Rumens, N. (2019). Towards a performative understanding of deservingness: Merit, gender and the BBC pay dispute. Gender & Society, 4(2), 139-158.
Smith, R. (2000). Assimilative and contrastive emotional reactions to ppward and downward social comparisons. In J. Suls & L. Wheeler (Eds.), Handbook of Social Comparison - Theory and Research (pp. 173 - 200): Springer Science + Business Media New York
Smith, R. (2004). Envy and Its Transmutations. In L. Z. Tiedens & C. W. Leach (Eds.), Studies in emotion and social interaction. The social life of emotions. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Starkings, R. (2019). Insights into the use of social comparisons within an advanced cancer setting. Journal of Psychosocial Oncology Research and Practice, 10(0), 1-6.
Taylor, D. G., & Strutton, D. (2015). Does Facebook usage lead to conspicuous consumption? The role of envy, narcissism and self-promotion. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 10(3), 231-248.
Veirman, M. D., Cauberghe, V., & Hudders, L. (2017). Marketing through Instagram influencers: the impact of number of followers and product divergence on brand attitude. International Journal of Advertising, 36(5), 798-828.
Veirman, M. D., & Hudders, L. (2019). Disclosing sponsored Instagram posts: the role of material connection with the brand and message- sidedness when disclosing covert advertising. International Journal of Advertising 30(1), 94-130.
Ven, N. v. d. (2009). The bright side of a deadly sin: The psychology of envy. Ridderkerk: Ridderprint.
Ven, N. v. d., & Zeelenberg, M. (2020). Envy and social comparison In J. Suls, J. Collins & L. Wheeler (Eds.), Social Comparison in Judgement and Behavior. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Ven, N. v. d., Zeelenberg, M., & Pieters, R. (2009). Leveling up and down: The experiences of benign and malicious envy. Emotion, 9(3), 419-429.
Ven, N. v. d., Zeelenberg, M., & Pieters, R. (2011). The envy premium in product evaluation. Journal of Consumer Research, 37(6), 984-998.
Ven, N. v. d., Zeelenberg, M., & Pieters, R. (2012). Appraisal patterns of envy and related emotions. Motivation and Emotion, 36(2), 195-204.
Vogel, E. A., Rose, J. P., Roberts, L. R., & Eckles, K. (2014). Social comparison, social media, and self-esteem. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 3(4), 206-222.
Vollero, A., Schultz, D. E., & Siano, A. (2019). IMC in digitally-empowering contexts: the emerging role of negotiated brands. International Journal of Advertising, 38(3), 428-449.
Wheeler, L. (1986). Concluding comment. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 12(3), 297-299.
Wills, T. A. (1981). Downward comparison principles in social psychology. Psychological Bulletin, 90(2), 245-271.
Wood, J. (1989). Theory and research concerning social comparisons of personal attributes. Psychological Bulletin, 106(2), 231-248.
Zhao, Y., Kou, G., Peng, Y., & Chen, Y. (2018). Understanding influence power of opinion leaders in e-commerce networks: An opinion dynamics theory perspective. Information Sciences 426(0), 131-147.