TITLE:
Effects of Users’ Social Comparison and Envy on Malevolent Creativity on Social Network Sites
AUTHORS:
Wenfeng Zheng, Yukang Su
KEYWORDS:
SNS Social Comparison, SNS Envy, Rumination, Online Malevolent Creativity, Social Comparison Theory
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Business and Management,
Vol.11 No.5,
September
11,
2023
ABSTRACT: Most research on creativity focuses on the benefits,
with little attention paid to exploring the negative aspects, such as
malevolent creativity. Undoubtedly, social networking sites (SNS) are central
to social interaction and information sharing in the digital age. However, they
simultaneously invite upward social comparison, eliciting envy among users,
which leads to diversified behaviors. We argue that it
is an essential issue for social comparison and individuals’ malevolent
creativity on SNS. Integrating social comparison theory with response styles
theory, we hypothesized that SNS social comparison is positively related to
online malevolent creativity via SNS envy, and its effects of SNS social
comparison on SNS envy depend on individuals’ rumination. The results support
these hypotheses and provide a more nuanced understanding of how upward social
comparison impacts individuals’ emotional state and creativity. The theoretical
contributions and practical implications of this study are discussed.