The impact of social comparison on consumer well-being literature review

الملخص EN

The general happiness of customers is influenced by several factors; one of which is envy.

such envy could arise from having a basic need to assess one's judgments and skills in comparison with others.

this motivation includes people's desire to obtain self-knowledge and self-awareness.

this is known as the social comparison process that people use to compare themselves to others.

comparisons are divided into two types which are in the form of ascending and descending comparisons.

upward comparisons happen either consciously or unconsciously when people compare themselves to individuals that they deem them higher than them to improve their opinions of the self.

on the contrary, downward comparison happens with individuals who are slightly worse than themselves and is associated with self-enhancement.

researchers have investigated whether using social networking sites promotes jealousy and upward social comparison.

yet, it has become evident through studies on how social networking sites affect subjective well-being through upward and downward social comparisons.

considering this, the purpose of this study is to review prior research and determine how social comparison may change consumer well-being.

this was done by reviewing previous research regarding upward and downward social comparisons.

it was observed that upward social comparison does have a favorable impact on the consumer well-being whereas downward social comparison has a negative impact.

the study provided some recommendations to decision-makers as well as to upcoming scholars in this subject area based on the findings of the prior literature.