Abstract
To promote more sustainable consumption of Social Networking Service (SNS) emojis, it is necessary to understand the relationships between social psychological antecedents and SNS users’ intention to purchase emojis. This study aimed to investigate motivational factors affecting users’ intentions to purchase SNS emojis. We examined SNS users of Kakao Talk, the most widely used instant messaging service in South Korea, and investigated the relationships among five latent constructs: Self-presentation, symbolic values, playfulness, purchase intentions, and need for uniqueness. The results of this study indicate that self-presentation does not directly affect the intention to purchase emojis (β = 0.10, p > 0.05). Rather, self-presentation positively influences purchase intention through the mediating path of SNS users’ perceived symbolic value (β = 0.60, p < 0.001) and playfulness (β = 0.35, p < 0.001) to purchase intention (β = 0.29, p < 0.001; β = 0.37, p < 0.001). Further, symbolic value affects playfulness (β = 0.56, p < 0.001), which in turn leads to consumers’ intentions to purchase emojis. This study highlights that SNS users’ need for uniqueness functions as a moderator in the relationship between self-presentation and their intentions to purchase emojis.
Highlights
As digital communication becomes dominant, people have various options to convey their ideas and emotions
The employment of emojis has been considered an important Social Networking Service (SNS) marketing tactic [1]; research on when, why, and how people use SNS emojis is crucial to ensure the successful implementation of sustainable emoji consumption
This study aims to provide an improved understanding of individual psychological traits that may, in turn, help in encouraging and reinforcing sustainable emoji uses among SNS users
Summary
As digital communication becomes dominant, people have various options to convey their ideas and emotions. Online communication using emoticons is noteworthy because they can be used to depict facial expressions and gestures parallel to those conveyed in face-to-face communication (F2F). In comparison to F2F communication, online communication is considered to be more ambiguous because of the lack of non-verbal cues (e.g., voice tone, facial cues, and body language) that help prevent potential misunderstandings [1]. The use of graphic representations helps online communicators to express specific emotional states and convey the delicate context of a message. By using these cues, individuals can overcome the ambiguity of text messages and may perceive their use as a strategy to enhance and improve communication quality
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