A Study on the Sustainable Structural Relations between Social Exchange Relationship Characteristics and Social Contagion Effect in Beauty-Related One-Person Media

Abstract

This study examined how members of beauty-related one-person media networks build sustainable ties with other members through various exchange activities and diffuse information based on the social contagion effect. Accordingly, social exchange relationship characteristics of beauty-related one-person media were specified and structural relations through which these characteristics affect group cohesiveness, conformity-based collective intelligence, and fad-like behavior were identified. A sample of 529 users with experience of consuming information on beauty-related one-person media was selected, and research hypotheses were tested via reliability testing, validity testing, measurement model analysis, and path analysis using SPSS ver. 23.0 and AMOS ver. 23.0. First, the path analysis between social exchange relationship characteristics of beauty-related one-person media and group cohesiveness revealed that relational characteristics significantly affected social cohesion, but situational characteristics and personal characteristics did not. Additionally, situational characteristics and personal characteristics significantly affected task cohesion, but relational characteristics did not. Second, the path analysis between group cohesiveness (social cohesion, task cohesion) and conformity-based collective intelligence in beauty-related one-person media revealed that social cohesion and task cohesion significantly affected conformity-based collective intelligence. Third, the path analysis between conformity-based collective intelligence and fad-like behavior in beauty-related one-person media clarified that conformity-based collective intelligence significantly affected fad-like behavior.