Discussion and Theoretical Contributions
The growing popularity of mobile devices and social media is enabling consumers to participate in newer forms of marketing communication (Bacile et al., 2014). Selfie-marketing is one emergent type of such communications, which aligns with millennials’ selfie sharing behavior and is thus capturing the interests of marketers. The present research is among the first to shed light on the roles of narcissism, self-presentation, and self-concept on millennials’ attitudes and behavioral responses toward selfie-marketing in visual content sharing apps. The first contribution of the present research corroborates the positive relationship between narcissism and selfie behaviors (e.g., Sorokowski et al., 2012) and extends this relationship to selfiemarketing initiatives. The authors demonstrate that narcissistic millennials have positive attitudes toward and greater intentions to participate in self-marketing campaigns on visual contentsharing apps.
The present research also adds to the literature on self-concept. Shankar et al. (2009) suggest that identity should no longer be viewed as a stable or enduring construct, but as one that is constantly negotiated, reassembled and reproduced across time. Results of the present study support and extend these conclusions, suggesting that as the visual content-sharing environment changes, so too do opportunities for consumers to express and alter their self-concepts. Thus, not only can consumers’ self-concepts change over time, but they can change based on the nature of the media they use to express them. Furthermore, Belk (2014) contends that consumers often pay closer attention to managing their online presence than their presence in a traditional, face-toface environment. The present research supports and adds to these recent findings by demonstrating that millennials use selfies to present their self-concepts differently on visual content-sharing apps.
