The Dark Side of Upward Social Comparison for Social Media Users: An Investigation of Fear of Missing Out and Digital Hoarding Behavior

Abstract

The digital age has seen a rise in digital hoarding behavior, which is defined as the behavior of accumulating digital files, resulting in stress and disorder. However, little is known about the causes and psychological mechanisms of digital hoarding. To address this research gap, this study proposed and empirically tested a moderated mediation model of social networking site (SNS) users’ causes of and psychological motivation for digital hoarding behavior using an online questionnaire method. We surveyed a total of 556 SNS users online. The results revealed that social comparison of this sort increased individuals’ digital hoarding behaviors and that fear of missing out (FoMO) mediated this effect. In addition, dispositional greed moderated the relationship between this comparison and FoMO as well as the relationship between FoMO and digital hoarding behavior such that these relationships were stronger for SNS users with high dispositional greed. Our research improves our understanding of the operative psychological mechanisms and boundary conditions in the relation between upward comparison via SNSs and digital hoarding behavior.