Social media usage of Sri Lankan consumers : compulsive consumption perspective

Rathnayake, Tharindu Hasantha and Rathnayake, Dilan Tharindu (2017) Social media usage of Sri Lankan consumers : compulsive consumption perspective. In: 15th Annual Academic Sessions of OUSL, 2017-11-16 - 2017-11-17.

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Abstract

Social media has become pervasive, impacting the social and cultural fabric of our society and changing the nature of social relationships (Mahmood and Farooq, 2014). Facebook, being the second most visited website in the world and the most visited in Sri Lanka, could be identified as a special source of addiction. Today, an average user browses Facebook at least for 30 minutes a day as a habit using computers or smart devices and gets exposed to diverse content on Facebook (Andreassen et al., 2013; Griffiths, 2012). An addiction is known to destroy human beings and their relationships and Facebook addiction is no exception to this (Grant, Potenza, Weinstein, and Gorelick, 2010). Marlatt, Baer, Donovan, and Kivlahan (1988), defined addictive behaviour as “a repetitive habit pattern that increases the risk of disease and/or associated personal and social problems” or “the behaviour continues to occur despite volitional attempts to abstain or moderate use”. Compulsive, excessive, impulsive, uncontrolled, and indulgent were also listed instead of the term “addictive” (Alavi, Maracy, Jannatifard, and Eslami, 2011). According to Socialbakers.com, approximately there are 70% male users and 30% female users of Facebook in Sri Lanka. In this study, the researchers have attempted to investigate the relationship between compulsive consumption behaviour on Facebook and the gender of those individuals. This relationship between gender of the user and the user’s addicted behaviour on Facebook is not only a highly interesting issue but a potential element which can affect the increase of compulsive buying behaviour on Facebook. Further, there has been a significant lack of empirical studies that investigate the relationship between gender of individuals and compulsive buying behaviour on Facebook. The specific objectives of the study are: 1. To describe the degree of compulsive buying behavior on Facebook among Facebook users in Sri Lanka. 2. To examine if the Facebook addiction varies between males and females.

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