A Study on the Motivation of Differentiation of Fans in the Background of Celebrity Misbehavior

Abstract

With the development of the Internet and new media, fandom culture has made great progress in China. However, under the overall prosperity, individual celebrity misbehavior has set off a heated debate on the Internet, triggering a relatively apparent phenomenon of fan behavior differentiation. Therefore, studying the motivation of fans' behavior differentiation has practical needs and educational value. This research can not only make contributions to fan economy, value cultivation, and social stability but also make a new interpretation of the celebrity-fan relationship from a more micro and localized perspective. Based on a systematic literature review and in-depth interviews with fans, the research explored the motivation of fan behavior differentiation from the perspective of self-identity and fan economy. The research found that self-identity and fan economy provide a reasonable explanation for the differentiation of fan behavior under the corresponding conditions, which is the key direction to solving the dilemma of fans.