Emotional consumption in the social media age: strategies to promote informed decisions

Project description

Young people should be enabled to make self-confident and reflective decisions by learning to critically scrutinize their own relationship with influencers in the social media context as well as their offers, advertisements and sponsorships.

Focus of the project

• Investigating the extent and specific techniques by which social media actors use emotions to establish asymmetrical relationships between themselves and consumers

• Identifying the psychological mechanisms used to elicit emotional responses and analyzing their impact on young consumers' purchasing behavior and prioritization

• Identify the most commonly addressed emotions (e.g. joy, surprise, fear, anger, pity or "fear of missing out") and their targeted use to influence brand perception and loyalty

• Investigating how these emotional strategies influence consumer trust and loyalty and whether they lead to increased willingness to buy and impulse purchases