Celebrity Self-disclosure and Social Cohesion: Perspectives from Ghanaian Instagram Users
Richard Basilisco *
Department of Global Entrepreneurship, Hanil University and Presbyterian Theological Seminary, South Korea.
Fortune Edem Amenuvor
Department of Business Administration, Keimyung University, South Korea.
Kwasi Owusu-Antwi
Department of Marketing, Methodist University College Ghana, Ghana.
Choi Jae Hyeok
Department of Business Administration, Keimyung University, South Korea.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The phenomenon of social cohesion has gained much traction in the extant literature. However, research that assesses how celebrity self-disclosure can be leveraged to engender social cohesion remains very scanty in the existing literature. The current study aims at empirically testing the effect of celebrity self-disclosure on social cohesion while accounting for the roles of fans’ behavior, social presence and attachment to celebrities. To realize this aim, data is collected from 306 Instagram users who follow at least one celebrity. The hypothesis intended to realize these aims are tested by adopting structural equation modeling technique. The results show that celebrities’ descriptive self-disclosure (but not emotional self-disclosure) influences fans’ archiving and commenting behavior. Additionally, celebrities’ emotional self-disclosure (but not descriptive self-disclosure) as well as fans’ commenting, and archiving behaviors are instrumental in predicting fans’ social presence. The study further finds that fans’ social presence is essential in predicting their attachment to celebrities, while their (fans’) attachment to celebrities and social presence are significant antecedents of social cohesion. Furthermore, attachment to celebrities is found to significantly mediate the relationship between social presence and social cohesion. The study provides practical and theoretical insights into understanding social cohesion, celebrity self-disclosure, fans’ behavior, social presence and attachment to celebrities.
Keywords: Social cohesion, celebrity self-disclosure, social presence, attachment to celebrities, attachment theory and social capital theory.