Para-social Interaction Theory

Running head: SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
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SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
2.0 Personal trait theory.........................................................................................................3
2.1 Social identity theory.......................................................................................................3
2.3 Para-social interaction theory...........................................................................................4
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................7
Appendix....................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Social media is prevalent and constantly changing in today’s world. The way in which
stakeholders present themselves through social media behaviors plays a valuable role in
marketing research studies. In every research study, it is essential provide clarity to the topic
and to make relevant observations of facts and interpretations through the theories, constructs
and conceptual frameworks. In this report, three theories will be discussed through the
revision relevant academic literature and journals. Namely, the Personal trait theory, The
Social Identity Theory and The Para-social theory (Ngai, Tao, & Moon, 2015). Multiple
causes and effects relating to the adoption of social media have been explained, and different
theories associated with behaviour of customers are taken into consideration for better
understanding of the academic journals. Social media entirely changes how people and
communities interact with each other and exchange their views and ideas (Liu et al., 2016).
Due to advancement in use of social media, platform marketers are experiencing benefits in
many fields such as, accessible communication, building a reputation, obtaining career
opportunities, and many more (Cheng, Fu & de Vreede, 2017). The purpose for this report
will be to compare and contrast the benefits of each theory, which will assist marketers to
make decisions about users’ behaviour.

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Discussion
2.0 Personal trait theory
Personal trait theory is fundamental to better understand and categorize human
behaviour developed through traits. Personal traits theory is commonly used throughout
research to provide validity and measurable analyses of social media behaviour (Wang, Ho,
Chan & Tse, 2015). The theory can be summarized by the Five Factor Model of personality;
openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism (Digman, 1990).
The Five Factor Model of personality can be used to assist researches in measuring
personality traits, which contribute to social media usage and behaviour. While conducting
social media behaviour research, personal traits are incredibly vital to examine the
differences between antecedents and outcomes of the entire case study (Liu et al., 2016).
Various studies and research papers have linked associations between personal traits of The
Big Five model to social media behaviour and predictions. For example, extraversion as a
personality trait often reflects a person who is communicative and active in social situations.
Winter and Neubaum (2016) highlight the correlation between extraversion and the
emergence of an opinion leader on social media and are often the ones who have the most
influence on other social media users. In another study, the results showed that having a high
level extraversion and a high level of openness personality characteristics experience have a
strong need for sense of community and socialable situations and therefore are more inclined
to be dynamic on social media (Alan and Kabadayib, 2016). Personality traits are valuable to
understand perception of users and to acquire information relating to what are the intentions
of users regarding purchase services from social network sites (Farnadi et al., 2016).
2.1 Social identity theory
The social identity theory is a collection of multiples social factors such as social
categorization, social Identification, and social comparison (Hall-Phillips et al., 2016). This
model mainly reflects the social interaction and social ties that takes place in the social media
platform. By examining different cognitive components, the researchers can understand
user’s attitudes, perception, intentions, and actions regarding the adoption or usage of social
media. Social Identity Theory is built on the premise that individuals define their own
identities and self-identify in certain social groups (Islam. G, 2014). A research article ()
found that individuals strive for positive self-identity and actively avoid a negative one. The
findings also highlight the correlation between social identity and the seek for inclusion of