1 2
and Sergio Iba n ez-Sa nchez, MSc 2
Luis V. Casalo , PhD, Carlos Flavia n, PhD,
Abstract
The increasing relevance of Instagram and its growing adoption among top brands suggest an effort to better
understand consumers behaviors within this context. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of
perceived hedonism and satisfaction in determining consumers intentions to interact and their actual
interaction behaviors (the number of likes, by tapping a heart icon, and comments) in a brands official
Instagram account. Also, we investigate the effect of consumer perceptions about the characteristics of the
content generated in the account (perceived originality, quantity, and quality) on their perceived hedonism and
satisfaction. Data were collected in two stages from 808 members of a fashion brands official Instagram
account. First, participants answered an online questionnaire to evaluate their perceptions, satisfaction, and
interaction intentions. Second, 1 month later, we measure the number of likes and comments done by each
participant in the brands official Instagram account during that month. Using partial least squares to analyze
the data, perceived hedonism is found to affect both satisfaction and the intention to interact in Instagram,
which in turn influences actual behavior. Besides, perceived originality is the most relevant content
characteristic to develop perceived he-donism. These findings offer managers a general vision of consumers
behaviors on Instagram, highlighting the importance of hedonism to create a satisfactory experience.
Keywords: Instagram, hedonism, satisfaction, brand communities, consumer interaction behaviors, originality
C
engagement on Instagram, which consists of behaviors that go
onsumers are increasingly using Social Networking Sites beyond purchase and results from an inner motivation that a
(SNS) to get information about brands and interact with fellow consumer feels, which finally leads him or her to carry out
consumers. Among the several SNS available nowadays, certain actions focused on a brand or a company.
6
Instagram is experiencing a steady increase in the amount of
active users. Therefore, its adoption is growing among top brands Specifically, we consider two main antecedents of interac-tion
too,1 motivating the development of brand intentions. First, hedonism reflects the emotional value of a given
communities on Instagram. experience, representing returns received in terms of enjoyment
Previous research has focused on consumers 7,8
and playfulness. Due to the specific character-istics of
interactions within brand communities in more traditional Instagram, which provides a place for visual story-telling for
2 3 4
SNS such as Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube, but the everyone with a creative desire that may motivate users
relevance of In-stagram seems to be greater as the amount experiential enjoyment, hedonism is considered a rel-evant factor
5
of interactions with brands is much higher on Instagram. 9
influencing consumer interaction. Indeed, previ-ous literature has
Therefore, there is both a managerial and an academic need already noted the relevance of hedonism in other SNS (e.g.,
to better understand consumers interactions on Instagram. Facebook) that make the user feel experiential enjoyment.
To move on this topic, this study tries to identify some of the Second, satisfaction may also be a crucial variable affecting
factors that influence consumer interaction intentions and ac-tual consumer interaction on Instagram, as satisfaction is the result of
behaviors, in terms of the number of likes and comments, a global evaluation of all the aspects that exist in a
1
Faculty of Business and Public Management, Universidad de Zaragoza, Huesca, Spain.
2
Faculty of Economy and Business, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain.
1
2
CASALO ET AL.
10
relationship and has been found to help develop successful relevance since they are cues of the companys interest to
11 22
relationships on SNS. Besides, since previous studies sug- initiate a conversation with the consumer. Consequently,
gest that content characteristics in an SNS may influence consumers may be more satisfied due to the effort made by
12
consumers perceptions and evaluations, we also consider the company. Quality and quantity of publications are posi-
that perceived originality, quantity, and quality of publications tively associated with an enjoyable experience in a virtual
23
may affect perceived hedonism and satisfaction. Finally, in- brand community too.
teraction intentions will be a key determinant of the subse- In addition, originality may also have a great relevance
quent number of likes and comments made by the consumer in the Instagram context because it represents the newness
on that Instagram account. or the uniqueness of the content as perceived by the
24
As a result, the contribution of this work to previous lit- consumer, in relation to other alternatives. Originality of
erature is twofold. First, this study adds to the emerging body the content posted in an Instagram account may help users
of literature on Instagram, which will be further detailed in the have a better time and an interesting and surprising
next section and is mainly related to the type of content that is experience when visiting the account that may lead to a
uploaded, the personal feelings of its users, or the motivations greater satisfaction. We thus propose the following:
to use Instagram. Second, this study contributes to previous
literature on brand communities from a market-ing perspective H1: Perceived originality of contents posted in an In-stagram
since it helps understand consumers inter-actions on account has a positive effect on (a) perceived he-donism and
Instagram and takes the specific characteristics of this social (b) user satisfaction.
network and actual behaviors into account. Our study may H2: Perceived quality of contents posted in an Instagram
thus serve to better understand consumers in-teractions and account has a positive effect on (a) perceived hedonism and
help managers design an appropriate envi-ronment in brands (b) user satisfaction.
official Instagram accounts. H3: Perceived quantity of contents posted in an Instagram
account has a positive effect on (a) perceived hedonism and
(b) user satisfaction.
Previous Research on Instagram
Although Instagram has received relatively little attention,
we can distinguish some research lines focused on this SNS. Effects of perceived hedonism on satisfaction
First, some researchers have studied the type of content that is and interaction intentions
uploaded by users and its behavioral outcomes. Photos with Hedonism is associated with a cool, fun, and exciting ex-
friends and selfies (self-portraits) are found to be the most 25
perience that may result in enjoyment. Since social media
13
common images posted by people. Also, uploaded photo- serves, among others, as a way to escape from boredom, to
graphs with the presence of a face have a greater impact; these 26
pass time, or to relax, hedonism may be a crucial variable in
pictures are 32% more likely to receive a comment and 38% SNS. For instance, in the context of company-hosted Face-
14
more likely to receive a like from other users. book community pages, hedonic motivations are linked to
Second, the relationship between using Instagram and the self-reported participation and membership continuance
personal feelings of its users has been also investigated. Speci- 27
intentions. Similarly, variables related to hedonism, such as
fically, it has been argued that users could improve their sense of entertainment, may serve to strengthen the relationships
happiness and satisfaction, as well as decrease their level of 28
within the community and are positively linked to members
loneliness, while using image-based SNS like Instagram or 29
15
Snapchat. Besides, individuals with a high level of narcissism
satisfaction or intentions to use. In sum, hedonic experiences
16 produce shifts in the users affective states, creating a positive
tend to post more selfies and spend more time on Instagram. reaction that may increase their satisfaction and intentions to
In turn, some works have also highlighted the potential negative follow a given account or profile. Focusing on Instagram, this
17,18 work proposes that the following:
consequences of using Instagram for users well-being.
Finally, a third research line consists of determining the
19,20 21 H4: Perceived hedonism in an Instagram account has a
main motivations and gratifications of using Instagram.
positive effect on (a) user satisfaction and (b) user intention
In this respect, compared to other SNS, Instagram users to interact in that Instagram account.
gratifications are greater in relation to show affection, follow
21
fashion, and demonstrate sociability. Furthermore, these
authors focused on brand communities and show that In- Effect of satisfaction on interaction intentions
stagram generates a higher level of brand community com- 30
mitment and engagement. However, the nature of their study According to the expectationconfirmation theory, sat-
is mainly exploratory and use self-reported measures without isfaction with a product/service is the fundamental motiva-
considering actual behaviors. tion for the intention to continue using it as satisfaction
reflects that benefits derived from use are, at least, equal to
31
the expected ones. In our research context, satisfaction
Formulation of Hypotheses with an Instagram account would imply the realization of
31
Effects of content characteristics on perceived the expected benefits, increasing the user intention to
hedonism and satisfaction follow this account in the future to continue obtaining these
benefits. Therefore, we propose that the following:
Previous studies suggest that the characteristics of the
content posted on a SNS affect consumers perceptions and
12 H5: Satisfaction with an Instagram account has a
evaluations. Among the characteristics of online publica- positive effect on user intention to interact with that
tions made by a company, quality and quantity are of great Instagram account.
ANTECEDENTS OF CONSUMER INTERACTION ON INSTAGRAM 3
Variable CR AVE (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)
Likes (1)
Comments (2) 0.612
Interaction intentions (3) 0.759 0.513 0.632 0.469 0.716
Satisfaction (4) 0.874 0.701 0.212 0.076 0.461 0.837
Perceived Hedonism (5) 0.913 0.725 0.163 0.116 0.441 0.618 0.851
Perceived Originality (6) 0.939 0.688 0.160 0.076 0.380 0.645 0.604 0.829
Perceived Quality (7) 0.120 0.052 0.198 0.203 0.199 0.207
Perceived Quantity (8) 0.145 0.031 0.204 0.234 0.262 0.275 0.556
Diagonal elements (in bold) are the square root of the AVE (variance shared between the constructs and their measures). Off-diagonal elements are the
correlations among constructs. To ensure discriminant validity, diagonal values should be greater than the off-diagonal ones.
AVE, average variance extracted; CR, composite reliability.
The information was then coded in the following way: for validity (Table 1). To confirm discriminant validity, we
each new publication, we assigned the value 1 if the initial checked that the value of the square root of the AVE is
respondent to the questionnaire liked the publication and 0 greater than the shared variance among constructs
40
otherwise. The same procedure was followed with (correlations). All pairs of reflective constructs satisfy
comments (1 if the user commented the publication and 0 this criterion (Table 1). Once measures were validated, we
otherwise). Afterward, we aggregated these values and, for estimated the proposed effects and their significance using
41
each indi-vidual, we obtained two variables measuring the PLS with the recommended bootstrap of 500 iterations.
number of likes and comments, respectively, which range
from 0 (if the user had not liked/commented on any of the
Results
new publications during that month) to 4 (if the user had
liked/commented on all the new publications). Results (Table 2) reveal that perceived hedonism is posi-
Our data set thus comes from two different sources (self- tively affected by perceived originality (b = 0.574, p < 0.01)
reported measures from participants and the actions made by and, in a lesser extent, by perceived quantity (b = 0.086, p <
each participant in the Instagram account), and includes a 0.05); however, contrary to our expectations, the influence of
combination of both subjective (perceptions and intentions) perceived quality (b = 0.033, p > 0.05) on hedonism is
and objective (number of likes and comments) measures, nonsignificant. Therefore, results support hypotheses 1a and
34
which may serve to avoid common method bias. 3a, but hypothesis 2a is not supported. Satisfaction is posi-
Partial least square (PLS) was used as the estimation pro- tively affected by perceived originality (b = 0.421, p < 0.01)
cedure because it is especially useful when the phenomenon and hedonism (b = 0.356, p < 0.01); however, the influence of
36
under research is relatively new, as is the case with the perceived quality (b = 0.045, p > 0.05) and quantity (b =
Instagram context. Data analyses were carried out using -0.00, p > 0.05) on satisfaction is nonsignificant. Therefore,
37
SmartPLS software version 2.0. First, a confirmatory factor results support hypotheses 1b and 4a, but hypotheses 2b and
analysis corroborates the initial factor structure; all item 3b are not supported. In turn, both perceived hedonism (b =
38
loadings were above the recommended benchmark of 0.7 on 0.252, p < 0.01) and satisfaction (b = 0.305, p < 0.01) have a
their respective construct. Furthermore, composite reliabilities positive influence on interaction intentions, support-ing H4b
39
are higher than 0.65 and average variance extracted (AVE) and H5, respectively.
40
values are also above the benchmark of 0.5 for all reflective Finally, interaction intentions have a positive effect on
constructs, proving their internal consistency and convergent the number of likes (b = 0.632, p < 0.01) and comments
(b = 0.469, p < 0.01) made by the consumer in the Instagram help compensate the negative interaction effect of
account, confirming H6a and H6b. In terms of explained originality and quantity.
2
variance, the proposed model presents high levels of R .
Limitations
Post hoc analysis: interaction effects
Despite the interesting results found, this research also
Previous literature suggests that characteristics of the has several limitations that should be acknowledged. First,
content may interact and affect consumers perceptions and respondents are followers of just one brands official In-
12
evaluations. We thus include the effects of three interac-tion stagram account that operates in the fashion industry; so
terms among perceived originality, quality, and quantity of we may be cautious when extrapolating our findings to
publications (i.e., originality*quality, originali- other Instagram accounts or SNS. Second, although we
ty*quantity, and quality*quantity) on both perceived have followed the recommendations to make participants
34
hedonism and satisfaction. While the influence of the inter- an-swer the questions as honestly as possible, some
action terms on satisfaction is nonsignificant, two interac-tions people who might be initially interested in the project
have a positive and significant effect on perceived hedonism. could have refused participation since we required their
Specifically, the interaction between quality and quantity has a Instagram username. Finally, it is important to note that we
positive influence on hedonism (b = 0.153, p < 0.01), but the have just considered two behavioral measures of
effect of the interaction between originality and quantity is engagement on Instagram, and the number of antecedents
negative (b = -0.163, p < 0.01). The inclusion of these of interaction intentions and actual behaviors could be
interaction effects does not alter the influence of the remaining larger as well. The personal attributes of the consumer
2
variables considered, and serves to increase the R level of (e.g., online interaction propensity) or the consumer
2 relationship with the brand (e.g., loyalty) could also affect
perceived hedonism (R = 0.413).
consumer interactions in this context.
Discussion
Conclusion and Future Research
Although there has been an increasing interest in the anal-
ysis of consumer participation in brand communities within Instagram is a recently established SNS that is experiencing
24 an increasing adoption among brands and customers. This
SNS, there is still a need to better understand consumers study helps understand the main antecedents of consumers
interactions on Instagram. By collecting data in two steps actual behaviors in this SNS. Results show that the originality
from a brands official Instagram account, this work considers of the content is decisive to create a hedonic and satisfactory
not only consumer perceptions, evaluations, and intentions but experience; in turn, these factors positively affect the intention
also some of the main actual behaviors that could be per- to interact, which finally influences the number of likes and
formed on Instagram (the number of likes and comments comments that a post receives on Instagram.
made by the consumer in that account).
Future research could first try to generalize results by fo-
In sum, this work confirms the relevance that perceived
cusing on a wider sample of official Instagram accounts
hedonism has on Instagram, as it is a key aspect that activates from different industries as our scope is restricted to just
a satisfaction-intention-behavior chain that may help in-crease one ac-count in the fashion industry. In addition, future
the number of consumers interactions in a brands official research could focus on developing other metrics to
Instagram account. In addition, satisfaction is also found to measure the impact of a publication in this context and
influence consumer interaction intentions, which in turn has a analyzing not only consumer interactions on Instagram but
positive effect on actual behaviors. Specifically, interaction also their influence on other relevant variables such as
intentions are positively associated with two be-haviors that consumer loyalty or word-of-mouth.
can be performed on Instagram: commenting and liking the
photos by tapping a heart icon. Finally, despite the difficulties to collect both self-reported
and behavioral data, it could be interesting to evaluate the role
Finally, results suggest that a proper combination of the of content characteristics, hedonism, and satisfaction in
characteristics of the content posted on the brands official motivating consumer interaction behaviors in other SNS.
Instagram account may help develop a cool, fun, and Although the role of satisfaction may be stable across SNS as
exciting experience. Specifically, perceived originality of it is the result of a global evaluation made by the user, the
10
the content is the most relevant factor to guarantee an role of hedonism may vary being specially relevant in SNS
enjoyable and satisfactory experience. In a lesser extent, that provide a greater experiential enjoyment. Instead, use-
quantity seems to be important to make the consumer fulness may be of greater relevance in SNS that mainly
experience hedonic. The more brand-generated content 9
posted on the Instagram ac-count, the more new provide informational value for consumers. Similarly, the
experiences and less boredom the consumer will feel. influence of content characteristics might also be different
across SNS, for example, while originality is crucial in In-
However, the negative effect of the interaction between stagram, it may be less relevant again in SNS focused on
quantity and originality on hedonism suggests that as quan- information rather than entertainment.
tity of content posted on the account increases, the effect of
originality may be reduced, probably because consumers Acknowledgment
become used to a new and unique content. In this situation,
it may be relevant to guarantee a high quality in the brand- The authors are grateful for the financial support
generated content because, although it has no direct effect received from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and
on hedonism, it interacts positively with quantity. This may Competitiveness (ECO2016-76768-R).
6 CASALO ET AL.
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