Narcissism, Self-Esteem, and Compulsive Buying: Unraveling the Role of Social Media Usage

This paper aims to examine the effect of social media on compulsive buying among youth in Indonesia, using narcissism and self-esteem as mediators to predict compulsive buying. To obtain the data, a self-administered online survey using a 5-point Likert scale was completed by Indo­nesian youth. More than 300 online questionnaires were distributed to the targeted respondents with a purposive sampling approach. Structural equation modeling is provided in partial least squares for a visual representation of the linkage between variables. The statistical analysis indicates that narcissism is significantly related to social media usage and compulsive buying, while self-esteem is not linked with compulsive buying among youth in Indonesia. The presence of social media can solely mediate the connection between narcissism and compulsive buying. However, it found that social media failed to mediate the linkage between self-esteem and compulsive buying. The output of this study will provide practical and theoretical implications for con­sidering the primary role of social media. This research guides policy scholars, educational institutions, and governments in Indonesia on how to pay special attention to compulsive buying behavior among youth.