The Relationship Between Passive Social Networking Site Use And Impulse Buying Among University Students: A Chain Mediating Role Of Body Image Comparison And Body Dissatisfaction On Social Networking Sites And Its Intervention Study

Impulse buying is a more complex type of buying behaviour,which is an immediate purchase that arises spontaneously,impulsively,emotionally and without cognitive thought on the part of the individual.Impulse buying is one of the problematic behaviours faced by university students and can have many adverse effects on their minds,bodies and behaviours,such as financial loss,regret,frustration,disappointment and guilt.Therefore,the factors and mechanisms of influence on impulse buying have gained the attention of scholars.Passive social networking site use is simply viewing the various information posted by users of social networking sites,and this type of browsing can have a range of negative effects on individuals.This study therefore seeks to explore the relationship between passive social networking site use and impulse buying and the mediating mechanisms involved and to develop an effective intervention study.This paper contains two studies:Study 1 used a questionnaire to examine the predictive effects of passive social networking site use on impulse buying and the mediating mechanisms of social networking site body image comparison and body dissatisfaction among 819 university students using the Surveillance Use Scale,Social Networking Site Body Image Comparison Scale,Negative Body Imagery Scale and Impulse Purchase Scale.Study 2 used a group counselling intervention based on the results of Study 1,which aimed to reduce the level of impulse purchases by intervening on the mediating variables of social networking site body image comparison and body dissatisfaction.College students with high levels of passive social networking site use and impulse buying were selected and divided into experimental and control groups.8 sessions of group counselling were given to the experimental group and 8 sessions of self-study were focused on the control group.Two months after the end of the intervention,follow-up measurements were collected separately for the experimental and control groups to examine the stability of the group counselling intervention.The results of Study 1 showed that:(1)passive social networking site use,social networking site body image comparison,body dissatisfaction and impulse purchase were significantly different among college students in terms of gender,grade,monthly living expenses and daily shopping site length;(2)Passive social networking site use,social networking site body image comparison,body dissatisfaction and impulse purchase were significantly and positively correlated;passive social networking site use significantly and positively predicted impulse purchase;(3)Social networking site body image comparison and body dissatisfaction play separate and chained mediating roles between passive social networking site use and impulse purchase,respectively.The results of Study 2 show that the group counselling intervention on social networking site body image comparison and body dissatisfaction is effective in improving college students’ poor social networking site body image comparison and reducing body dissatisfaction,which in turn is effective in reducing impulse purchase levels,and the effect of the group counselling intervention is stable.In conclusion,the higher the level of passive social networking site use,the higher the level of impulse purchases,and this phenomenon is closely related to the increase of social networking site body image comparison and body dissatisfaction,and group counselling for body image comparison and body dissatisfaction on social networking sites has a consistent and stable effect on reducing impulse purchase levels among university students.