IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v13y2023i2p21582440231177030.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Role of Social Media in the Creation of Young People’s Consumer Identities

Author

Listed:
  • Terhi-Anna Wilska
  • Matilda Holkkola
  • Jesse Tuominen

Abstract

This article explores how young people construct and express their consumer identities via their consumption styles on social media. The importance of commercial content on social media, such as the postings of social media influencers and advertisers, has been increasing during the past years. Framed by theories on social identity, social comparison and consumer socialization, we analysed focus group discussions with 15 to 19-year-old teenagers in Finland ( N  = 35). The results reveal that the participants had a clear understanding of their consumer identities: what kind of consumers they were and what they did not want to be. The consumption styles: luxury brand-oriented, trendy second-hand and sustainable, were heavily affected by social media, particularly by commercial social media influencers. Although our sample of young people was rather small, the results were consistent with other studies, and provided deeper understanding of the important role of commercial social media in young people’s consumption styles. Thereby, the research brings social media more tightly into the process of young consumers’ identity formation. For today’s young people, consumer identity is a major part of social identity which is greatly affected by social media. This is should be acknowledged by commercial actors, educators and consumer policy makers.

Suggested Citation

  • Terhi-Anna Wilska & Matilda Holkkola & Jesse Tuominen, 2023. "The Role of Social Media in the Creation of Young People’s Consumer Identities," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(2), pages 21582440231, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:13:y:2023:i:2:p:21582440231177030
    DOI: 10.1177/21582440231177030
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440231177030
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/21582440231177030?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Turunen, Linda Lisa Maria & Cervellon, Marie-Cecile & Carey, Lindsey Drylie, 2020. "Selling second-hand luxury: Empowerment and enactment of social roles," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 474-481.
    2. Antonio Cortés-Ramos & Juan Antonio Torrecilla García & Miguel Landa-Blanco & Francisco Javier Poleo Gutiérrez & María Teresa Castilla Mesa, 2021. "Activism and Social Media: Youth Participation and Communication," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-13, September.
    3. Kadic-Maglajlic, Selma & Arslanagic-Kalajdzic, Maja & Micevski, Milena & Dlacic, Jasmina & Zabkar, Vesna, 2019. "Being engaged is a good thing: Understanding sustainable consumption behavior among young adults," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 644-654.
    4. Stephanie Anne Nicole Bedard & Carri Reisdorf Tolmie, 2018. "Millennials' green consumption behaviour: Exploring the role of social media," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(6), pages 1388-1396, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zafar, Abaid Ullah & Shen, Jie & Ashfaq, Muhammad & Shahzad, Mohsin, 2021. "Social media and sustainable purchasing attitude: Role of trust in social media and environmental effectiveness," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    2. Xiulan Jiang & Yukun Li & Jun Yang & Sen Wang & Chunjia Han, 2024. "Host–Guest Interaction and Sustainable Consumption Behaviour on Sharing-Accommodation Platforms: Using a Big Data Analytic Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-22, June.
    3. Davide Giacomini & Paola Zola & Diego Paredi & Mario Mazzoleni, 2020. "Environmental disclosure and stakeholder engagement via social media: State of the art and potential in public utilities," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(4), pages 1552-1564, July.
    4. Jesús J. Cambra‐Fierro & J. Alfredo Flores‐Hernández & Lourdes Pérez & Guadalupe Valera‐Blanes, 2020. "CSR and branding in emerging economies: The effect of incomes and education," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(6), pages 2765-2776, November.
    5. Maria Rodrigues & João F. Proença & Rita Macedo, 2023. "Determinants of the Purchase of Secondhand Products: An Approach by the Theory of Planned Behaviour," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-18, July.
    6. Rusitha Wijekoon & Mohamad Fazli Sabri, 2021. "Determinants That Influence Green Product Purchase Intention and Behavior: A Literature Review and Guiding Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-40, May.
    7. Sharma, Amalesh & Soni, Mauli & Borah, Sourav Bikash & Haque, Tanjum, 2022. "From silos to synergies: A systematic review of luxury in marketing research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 893-907.
    8. Wang, Zi & Yuan, Ruizhi & Luo, Jun & Liu, Martin J., 2022. "Redefining “masstige” luxury consumption in the post-COVID era," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 239-254.
    9. Muhammad Ishfaq Khan & Shahbaz Khalid & Umer Zaman & Ana Ercília José & Paulo Ferreira, 2021. "Green Paradox in Emerging Tourism Supply Chains: Achieving Green Consumption Behavior through Strategic Green Marketing Orientation, Brand Social Responsibility, and Green Image," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-24, September.
    10. Lim, Xin-Jean & Cheah, Jun-Hwa & Ngo, Liem Viet & Chan, Kara & Ting, Hiram, 2023. "How do crazy rich Asians perceive sustainable luxury? Investigating the determinants of consumers’ willingness to pay a premium price," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    11. Evangelia Ktisti & Leonidas Hatzithomas & Christina Boutsouki, 2022. "Green Advertising on Social Media: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-25, November.
    12. Farzana Riva & Solon Magrizos & Mohammad Rabiul Basher Rubel & Ioannis Rizomyliotis, 2022. "Green consumerism, green perceived value, and restaurant revisit intention: Millennials' sustainable consumption with moderating effect of green perceived quality," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 2807-2819, November.
    13. Carmen Bălan, 2020. "How Does Retail Engage Consumers in Sustainable Consumption? A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-25, December.
    14. Luo, Hong & Park, Seong-Yeon, 2024. "Exploring barriers to secondhand luxury consumption among Chinese consumers and changes during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    15. Aistė Čapienė & Aušra Rūtelionė & Krzysztof Krukowski, 2022. "Engaging in Sustainable Consumption: Exploring the Influence of Environmental Attitudes, Values, Personal Norms, and Perceived Responsibility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-22, August.
    16. Iulia C. Muresan & Rezhen Harun & Felix H. Arion & Anca Monica Brata & Ioan Aurel Chereches & Gabriela O. Chiciudean & Diana E. Dumitras & Camelia F. Oroian & Olivia Paula Tirpe, 2021. "Consumers’ Attitude towards Sustainable Food Consumption during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Romania," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-15, October.
    17. Čapienė Aistė & Rūtelionė Aušra & Adamonienė Rūta, 2024. "Consumer engagement in sustainable consumption: do demographics matter?," Engineering Management in Production and Services, Sciendo, vol. 16(2), pages 90-103.
    18. Ana Lanero & José-Luis Vázquez & César Sahelices-Pinto, 2020. "Heuristic Thinking and Credibility of Organic Advertising Claims: The Role of Knowledge and Motivations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-19, October.
    19. Wintschnig, Bea Alexandra, 2021. "The Attitude-Behavior Gap – Drivers and Barriers of Sustainable Consumption," Junior Management Science (JUMS), Junior Management Science e. V., vol. 6(2), pages 324-346.
    20. Tesio Pauline & Aurélie Kessous, 2022. "Perceptions Du Vintage Par Le Consommateur : Analyse Par La Methode Du Carre Semiotique « Distance »/« Proximite »," Post-Print halshs-03865831, HAL.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:13:y:2023:i:2:p:21582440231177030. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.