Business Commons^™

Curating A Consumption Ideology: Platformization And Gun Influencers On Instagram, Jenna M. Drenten Ph.D., Lauren Gurrieri, Aimee Dinnín Huff, Michelle Barnhart

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This study explores how a platform enables social media influencers to promulgate a consumption ideology. We show how gun influencers, or “gunfluencers,” use Instagram to link products, activities, and meanings to Second Amendment ideology – a gun-centric belief system in the United States colloquially known as “2A ideology.” Through a qualitative study of 25 Instagram gunfluencers, we identify a process of curating a consumption ideology wherein social media influencers employ four curatorial tactics: glamourizing, demystifying, victimizing, and tribalizing. Findings suggest gunfluencers extend audiences and leverage algorithms to prescribe and model how supporters of 2A ideology should look, act, speak, feel, …

Centering Transgender Consumers In Conceptualizations Of Marketplace Marginalization And Digital Spaces, Beck Hansman, Jenna Drenten Ph.D.

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The purpose of this study is to center transgender consumers in the conceptualizations between marketplace marginalization and digital spaces. We examine trans-gender crowdfunding as a hashtag-bounded digital space created by and for the transgender community–namely, the #TransCrowdFund digital space on Twitter. We draw on trans digital geographies as a novel analytical lens to focus attention on transgender consumers' unique experiences in and between digital spaces. Through qualitative hashtag mapping, we analyzed a sample of 200 Twitter profiles and accompanying tweets drawn from individuals using the#TransCrowdFund hashtag. Findings suggest transgender consumers utilize crowdfunding as a hashtag-bounded digital space in three ways: …

Influencer Celebrification: How Social Media Influencers Acquire Celebrity Capital, Gillian Brooks, Jenna Drenten Ph.D., Mikolaj Jan Piskorski

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The digital age has given rise to new pathways for everyday individuals to accrue media attention, which can be translated into promotional endeavors. Such sociocultural currency is referred to as celebrity capital, which can be exchanged within the field of advertising through celebrity endorsements. Traditional celebrities acquire celebrity capital through institutional intermediaries such as sport, television, music, and movies. Research is needed to understand the unique process by which social media influencers (SMIs) acquire celebrity capital. We draw on interviews with 40 global advertising industry practitioners and influencers to better understand how influencers acquire celebrity capital in a saturated media …

Sexualized Labour In Digital Culture: Instagram Influencers, Porn Chic And The Monetization Of Attention, Jenna M. Drenten, Lauren Gurrieri, Meagan Tyler

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The rise of digital technologies and social media platforms has been linked to changing forms of work, as well as the mainstreaming of pornography and a ‘porn chic’ aesthetic. This article examines some of the ways in which these themes coalesce, and interrogates the conceptual boundaries of sexualized labour, extending beyond traditional organizational settings and into Web 2.0. The study explores performances of sexualized labour on social media by analysing visual and textual content from 172 female influencers on Instagram. This article contributes to the literature on sexualized labour in three ways. First, by demonstrating how sexualized labour is enacted …

Video Gaming As A Gendered Pursuit, Jenna M. Drenten, Robert L. Harrison, Nicholas J. Pendarvis

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

As video game technology has evolved, so too has the gendered nature of the video gaming subculture. This chapter characterizes the broad cultural context of gaming and the shifting social patterns of gendered game play. By reviewing existing research at the intersection of gender, gaming, and consumption, we identify three primary research opportunities to build upon existing research: understanding consumers’ lived experiences in the gendered gaming subculture, exploring the gendered gaming marketplace (e.g., shopping, advertising), and investigating the systemic, structural, and cultural underpinnings of gaming. Existing research in the field is not exhaustive nor complete; rather, opportunities for research identify …

Crossing The #Bikinibridge: Exploring The Role Of Social Media In Propagating Body Image Trends, Jenna M. Drenten, Lauren Gurrieri

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

A book chapter written by Jenna Drenten and Lauren Gurrieri for The Dark Side of Social Media: A Consumer Psychology Perspective (2017).

Snapshots Of The Self: Exploring The Role Of Online Mobile Photo Sharing In Identity Development Among Adolescent Girls, Jenna M. Drenten

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

A chapter written by Jenna Drenten for Online Consumer Behavior: Theory and Research in Social Media, Advertising and E-tail (2017).

Gamer Girls: Navigating A Subculture Of Gender Inequality, Robert L. Harrison, Jenna M. Drenten, Nicholas Pendarvis

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Purpose

Video gaming, which remains culturally embedded in masculine ideals, is increasingly becoming a leisure activity for female consumers. Guided by social dominance theory, this paper examines how female gamers navigate the masculine-oriented gaming consumption context.

Methodology/approach

Eight avid female gamers (ages 20–29) participated in-depth interviews, following a phenomenological approach to better understand their lived experiences with video gaming. Data were analyzed using phenomenological procedures.

Findings

Findings reveal an undercurrent of gender-based consumer vulnerability, driven by stereotypical perceptions of “gamer girls” in the masculine-oriented gaming subculture. Further, the findings highlight the multilayered, multidimensional nature of gaming as a vulnerable consumption …