Location
Hilton Hawaiian Village, Honolulu, Hawaii
Event Website
https://hicss.hawaii.edu/
Start Date
3-1-2024 12:00 AM
End Date
6-1-2024 12:00 AM
Description
Media reports on toxic influencer culture and creator burnout are growing, but academic literature on influencer and creator mental health challenges remains scarce. The precarity of their work and their need to engage in visibility labor cast long shadows on what is often portrayed as a dream job. This study explores sources of pressure perceived by influencers and creators and threats to their psychological and emotional well-being. By conducting a netnography, the research explores the issue across a wide range of influencers and creators while capturing their emic perspectives. The findings provide a nuanced view on perceived mental health threats and reveal multiple sources of pressure across and beyond the influencer and creator ecosystem. It therefore expands existing literature on influencer and creator vulnerabilities and illustrates the importance of netnographic research for understanding technocultural phenomena.
Recommended Citation
Gretzel, Ulrike and Schöllhammer, Tanja, "Under Pressure: A Netnographic Study of Threats to Influencer and Creator Mental Health" (2024). Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 2024 (HICSS-57). 3.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/hicss-57/dsm/influencers/3
Under Pressure: A Netnographic Study of Threats to Influencer and Creator Mental Health
Hilton Hawaiian Village, Honolulu, Hawaii
Media reports on toxic influencer culture and creator burnout are growing, but academic literature on influencer and creator mental health challenges remains scarce. The precarity of their work and their need to engage in visibility labor cast long shadows on what is often portrayed as a dream job. This study explores sources of pressure perceived by influencers and creators and threats to their psychological and emotional well-being. By conducting a netnography, the research explores the issue across a wide range of influencers and creators while capturing their emic perspectives. The findings provide a nuanced view on perceived mental health threats and reveal multiple sources of pressure across and beyond the influencer and creator ecosystem. It therefore expands existing literature on influencer and creator vulnerabilities and illustrates the importance of netnographic research for understanding technocultural phenomena.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/hicss-57/dsm/influencers/3