THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR ...

THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION ON CONSUMER

BEHAVIOR: A CULTURAL COMPARISON OF SPAIN AND THE

UNITED STATES

by

Margaret Chambers

A thesis submitted to the faculty of The University of Mississippi in partial fulfillment of

the requirements of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College.

Oxford

May 2018

Approved By

Adviser: Dr. Rachel Smith

Reader: Dr. Melissa Cinelli

Reader: Dr. Victoria Bush

? 2018

Margaret Ashley Chambers

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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This is dedicated to my parents, to whom I owe everything.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Smith, for taking on this project even though we

had to work from two different towns.

I would like to thank all my friends for being so supportive during this process.

I would also like to thank the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College for giving me

the opportunity to be challenged and to grow as a person and scholar. Without this

experience, I would not have been able to live in the beauty city of Barcelona for five

weeks and learn more than I could have ever imagined.

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ABSTRACT

MARGARET CHAMBERS: The Effect of Social Media Addiction on

Consumer Behavior: A Cultural Comparison of Spain and the United States

(Under Direction of Rachel Smith)

This paper will look at the new issue of social media addiction, how it has

affected consumers¡¯ behaviors and their interactions with companies, and whether

cultural components play a role in this. It will specifically look at the differences between

the Spanish and American cultures. I conducted literature searches from the databases in

the University of Mississippi library. I researched social interaction theories, social

media, The Addiction Theory, and compared the two cultures.

The second source of research I used was primary observational research

conducted while I lived in Barcelona for five weeks. The observations were made at

different points of the day and in different locations in attempts to gather the most diverse

and accurate data. The findings uncovered the differences between how everyday

Spaniards and American use social media and how the businesses use it to target their

consumers. It also showed what cultural aspects affect social media use and can affect the

propensity to get addicted to something. The results of this paper ended up defining the

minor differences between the cultures social media use and addiction.

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