Social Media Addiction and Compulsive Buying Behaviour: Investigating the Mediating Role of Social Comparison

Social Media Addiction, Compulsive Buying Behavior, Social Comparison, Working Women Professionals, Consumer Psychology.

The widespread adoption of social media platforms has significantly transformed communication patterns, consumer behavior, and lifestyle perceptions among working women professionals. Social networking sites such as Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, and YouTube provide opportunities for professional networking, information sharing, and social interaction. However, excessive engagement with these platforms has led to increasing concerns regarding social media addiction, characterized by compulsive usage, emotional dependence, excessive screen time, and reduced self-regulation. Working women professionals represent a particularly important demographic because they frequently balance professional responsibilities, personal aspirations, social expectations, and digital engagement simultaneously. Continuous exposure to social media content, influencer lifestyles, peer achievements, luxury consumption, and professional success narratives may increase psychological vulnerability and influence purchasing behavior. Compulsive buying behavior has emerged as a growing concern among working women professionals due to increasing purchasing power, digital accessibility, and social commerce integration. Compulsive buying refers to repetitive, excessive, and uncontrollable purchasing activities driven by emotional and psychological motivations rather than actual needs. Previous studies suggest that social media addiction may encourage compulsive buying by exposing individuals to idealized lifestyles, consumption-oriented content, targeted advertising, and influencer marketing.