Emotional contagion on social media: pathways, effects, and insights for marketers

Abstract

Social media ignites collective reactions, yet the interplay between online sentiment, emotion transfer, and consumer behaviour remains underexplored. This study investigates how negative emotion transfer in online environments influences consumer behaviour. Using text analysis and panel vector autoregression models, we introduce a systems perspective to explore how emotions and purchasing behaviour affect each other immediately and cumulatively. Focusing on fear, anger, and disgust, the findings from 60,000 Twitter interactions and weekly spending data from 250,000 consumers show that contagion operates equally through mimicry and transition, leading to complex interactions lasting for up to 8 weeks. Fear appears to be dominant, anger quickly amplifies collective reactions, and disgust is long-lasting. Monitoring social media is essential for businesses to mitigate the effects of negative emotion transfer.