Business Research Methodology

Group Project
Social Media Addiction
Group No- 8

Submitted by: Submitted to:

Abhiram Pendse (191101) Prof. Praneti Shah
Ayush dutt Sharma (191111)
Kruti Khubchandani (191124)
Sachin Sijariya (191148)
Shivam Tiwari (191153)

MBA-FT (2019-2021)
Institute of Management, Nirma University
Date of Submission: 19/02/2020
 Table of contents

Introduction 2-3

Statistics of social media usage 4

Research Paper-I analysis 5-7

Research Paper-II analysis 8-11

Research Paper-III analysis 12-14

Research Paper- IV analysis 15-16

Research Paper-V analysis 17-19

Lead generation & Research plan 20-21

References 22

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 SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION

Introduction
Social media addiction is characterized as enthusiastic and extreme use of web-based life
(Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat) in any event, when utilization of those stages is
assuming control over your life and negatively affecting your 'reality' and connections.
Checking your phone constantly for Facebook or Twitter notifications is a sure sign that you
may be suffering from social media addiction. Feeling in a low mood when you do not have
access to social media and spending more time broadcasting your activities on social media
than actually spending time carrying out those activities, are also danger signs.

The best-reported proof of Internet negatives so far is time-disturbance, which along these lines
brings about obstruction with standard public activity, including scholastic, proficient
execution and day by day routines. Some investigations additionally uncover that IAD can
prompt interruption of social connections in Europe and Taiwan. It is, in any case, likewise
noted by others that IAD is advantageous for peer relations in Taiwan.
Dr. Keith W. Facial hair (2005) states that "an individual is dependent when a person's mental
state, which incorporates both mental and enthusiastic states, just as their educational, word
related and social associations, is impeded by the abuse of [Internet]".

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Set boundaries around the time when you access your social media accounts. Turn off ‘push’
notifications so your social media use doesn’t impact on your day-to-day life. Go for a walk.
Keep laptops, tablets and all social media-enabled devices out of your bedroom to avoid the
temptation to check social media last thing at night and first thing in the morning.
Using social media mindlessly is feeding your addiction so invest some time in walking
outside, exercising, reading a book or newspaper, or spending time with your friends.
The utility of the term habit comparable to abuse of advanced media has been addressed, as to
its reasonableness to depict new, carefully interceded mental classifications, rather than abuse
being an indication of other mental disorders. Usage of the term has likewise been censured for
drawing matches with substance use practices. Thoughtless utilization of the term may mess
more up—both making light of the dangers of damage in genuinely influenced individuals, just
as exaggerating dangers of over the top, non-obsessive utilization of advanced media.[6] The
development of wording relating unreasonable computerized media use to hazardous use as
opposed to fixation was supported by Panova and Carbonell, clinicians at Ramon Llull
University, in a 2018 review.

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 Statistics of social media usage-

Indian users spend 2.4 hours on social

networking sites, there were 15000
respondents from India in this survey.

Philippines has most addicted social media

Global Web Index’s Social media trends users as they spend 4 hours on an average on
2019 report daily basis.

Japan has least social media addicted users as

they spend merely 45 minutes on daily basis.

Falling cost of data usage also contributed to

social media addiction as India, Russia,
Indonesia, Brazil & Philippines are example
of it.

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 Research Paper-I
Literature review on social media addiction-

Mick & Fournier (1998) Technology is paradoxical in nature and it can lead to anxiety,
stress and sometimes feeling of ignorance

Maier et al (2012) Heavy users of social networking sites experiences

technostress

Ragu Nathan et al (2008) Information overload on social networking sites can cause fear
of valuable information loss

Dhir (2018) Emotional fatigue and anxiety are the most probable outcomes
Salanova et al (2013) of SNS addiction

Pierewan & Tampubolon (2014) There is a direct relationship between level of internet usage
and factors that are responsible for addiction

Eijnden (2009)
Lortie and Guitton (2013)
Both excessive and compulsive internet usage pattern results
in negative outcome for an individual as far as mental health is
concerned
Compulsive internet behaviour plays a major role in the
development of addiction

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 Research problem developed by the researcher-
To investigate the consequences of excessive
use of SNS on mental health, specifically
Research Problem Instagram and its negative impact on fear of
valuable information loss

Variables taken under study-

Variables Type
Overuse Independent
Addiction Moderating
Emotional Fatigue Dependent
Instastress Dependent

Hypothesis of Researcher’s study-

Following hypothesis are used by the researchers-

H1: There is a direct relation between Instagram overuse and development of Instastress.

H2: There is a positive relationship between Instagram overuse and emotional fatigue.

H3: Addiction plays mediator role between Instagram overuse and Instastress.

H4: Addiction to social media acts as a mediator between Instagram overuse and emotional
fatigue.

Research Design-
• A questionnaire survey was used here in order to collect the empirical data and conduct
the research. It was initially tested on selected audience for ensuring its validity and
after feedback and modification on the question’s clarity it was then tested on mass
audience.
• The research audience comprises of those who use Instagram for more than an hour on
daily basis.

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 Rationale behind the research design-
The rationale behind the target audience and research design was that it will be more
susceptible for the researcher to develop a problematic behaviour and negative impact of social
networking sites overuse on an individual.

Instrument used to conduct the research-

• Harman’s single factor test was used to conduct the research where all the indicators
are included in exploratory factor analysis and variance of all the factors is generated.
• In the theoretical model a five-point Likert scale is used.
• To test both measurement instrument and research structural model smart PLS3 was
used

Research gap-.
The research was conducted on only one social networking site ‘Instagram’ and our
respondents were less in number, so we cannot draw a conclusion which will be applied to all
the social networking sites (SNS). If all the SNS were taken into consideration then it will be
better to compare the results and draw the conclusion.

Lead generation-
The research can be conducted considering the socio-demographic, psychographic &
technological traits of individuals with possible solutions to deal with it.

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 Research Paper-II
Literature Review on social media fatigue
AUTHOR
Bright et al (2015)
Swar et al (2017)
Dhir et al (2018)
Xiou and Mou (2019)
Lee et al (2014)
You and Cou (2017)
Chen and Lee (2013)
Bucher et al (2013)
Choi and Lin (2016)
Oghuma et al(2016)
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Literature Review on the different kind of
influencing factors that creates the mobile
“Social Media Fatigue”
Users are neglecting the use of social media because
of the less motivation and also the negative emotions
which are coming in the mind of users due to the
comparison on social media platforms.
It is because of the negative emotions which the user
generates after seeing the activities on social media
that the feeling of tiredness, lethargy and negligence
is coming in users mind.
Social media fatigue is the state of mind in which the
user feels the mental exhaustion due to the excess of
information and interactions on various platforms of
social media.
This media fatigue may also be due to the privacy
concerns in the mind of users and also most of the
time users are more of filtering the information rather
than focusing on the relevant information
As compared to big and developed countries like
USA, UK, there is a high and the great development
of social media networks in the Asian countries like
India, China etc.
Media fatigue may also be because of the fear that is
in the mind of the user of missing the frequent use or
the overuse of the various platforms on the social
media.
Remarkable pressure and different personal attributes
is also having the direct or we can say indirect effect
on the social media fatigue.
To prevent the fatigue of social media, information of
the user and information provided to the user should
be improved
There are both the physical and the metal problems
user face due to the social media fatigue which me
finally lead to the unhealthy behavior expressiveness.
Business or the service operators are also affected
when the user starts neglecting the use of social
media
 Maier et dal (2015)
Zhou and Li (215)
Cramer et al (2016)
Misra and Stokols (2012)
Masur et al (2014)
Internal factors like the user’s personality is also the
reason for the media fatigue
Different external factors like information, emotional
content etc. is also the reason for social media
fatigue.
Different factors like concerns and comparisons on
social media, stress, and the various personal
attributes are the decisive factors for the research
findings for social media fatigue
There are different useless and the low quality of
information which is troubling the social median
users.
With the revolution in the information technology
and digital world, it has now changed the way of
communication of the people around the world.

Research Problem
Social media users are facing “mobile social media fatigue” and are resisting the use of social
media platforms due to the various internal factors like personal attributes, personal behavior
traits etc. as well as the external factors like information overload, comparisons, privacy
concerns etc.

Variables Taken Under Study

Under the research study SSO (Stressors, Strains, and outcomes) framework is used. The
variable under stressors and strains are independent variables and the variables under outcomes
are dependent variables.

1.Independent Variables (stressors and Perceived Overload, Time, Cost,

strains) Compulsive Use, Emotional anxiety,
Social concerns, Perceived Overload, fear
of missing out, privacy concerns,
emotional exhaustion, low sense of
achievement

2. Dependent Variables (Outcomes) Neglect behaviour, avoidance behaviour,

withdrawal behaviour, tolerance
behaviour, diving behaviour and

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 substitution behaviour from social media
platforms.

Objective of the Researcher Study

• To identify the different stressors, outcomes and strains of the users of social media
which are causing “mobile social media fatigue”
• To identify the association between the different factors which are leading towards
social media fatigue
• To observe that over time why the people are sharing less of their information and
their personal updates on the social media platform.

Research Design used by Researcher

Qualitative research methods are used by the researcher in the study for social media fatigue.
Exploratory Research design method is used here because the researchers were a bit flexible
while applying the research methods. A proper grounded theory framework is used to
understand the social phenomena and to get the valuable extractions from the day to day life
experiences.
To form the associations of the original data which is collected from the actual observations,
open coding, selective coding and axial coding was used. In the open coding, different kind of
data are taken out from the different concepts and categories. In the axial coding, connections
are made among different type of concept categories and through that different sub categories
are formed and then through selective, core strategies were formed and then the strategies are
used to reach the conclusion.

Rationale Behind the Research Design

This method is highly effective as it includes the continuously raise of the questions, making
the comparisons, establishing of the categorization, building various connections and
identifying the important and useful theories.

Research instrument
All the different kind of factors which are responsible for the social media fatigue are obtained
through qualitative interviews. Researchers has used the famous Chinese social media

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platform, WeChat for collecting the data on the different kind of factors influence towards
social media fatigue by the collection of online questionnaire results, one on one interviews,
group discussions which were focused and also online community questions and answer.
SSO framework (stressors, strains and outcomes) helped to design the interviews and also by
adapting the modes of building an effective structural model.
After collecting the data from the various processes, five expert panel was made for refining
the process and getting on to the results.

Research Gap and Lead Generation

This research study was just based on one Chinese social media platform, WeChat and there
are many other social media platforms which are prevailing in the digital world and the user’s
behavior and usage is different on different social media platforms. There was one more
research gap in the research study that the social environment and the educational background
was not considered of the users which is one of the most important aspect when determining
the reasons and the factors which are affecting the social media fatigue.
Future work should be done in such a way that research on other different social media
platforms is also considered and not just restricted to a single social media platform. In the
future research quantitative and the empirical methods shod also be used to conduct a proper
and a deeper analysis.

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 Research Paper-III
Summary table of researcher’s literature review
Author Literature findings
Social Media Addiction: constant worrying needs to use
Andreassen and
social networking sites there by harming other social activities
Pallesen (2014)
and mental wellbeing.
Researcher talks about social media addicts being salient,
developing a tolerance, using social media for mood
Griffiths (2005)
modification, showing withdrawal symptoms and at times
relapsing and facing conflicts in personal life due to addiction.
Distinguished social media addictions as generalized (i.e.
spending long hours on internet with no objective) and
Davis (2001)
specific (i.e. dependency to a specific function for example
social networking site)
Williams and Whiting Ten gratifications/satisfactions people get out of using social
(2013) media.
Classification of the gratifications in three groups as
Zolkepli et al. (2018)
"personal", "social" and "tension release".
Model according to which specific internet addiction is
Brand et al. (2014)
influenced by core characteristics.
Model based on Diatheses-stress framework, according to
Davis (2001) which symptoms of addiction only occur if psychopathology
are already present.
Revised model of specific internet addiction. According to the
new model factors like personality, social cognition,
Brand et al. (2016)
psychopathology, specific motives etc are distal predictors of
addiction.

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 Identify the research problem developed by the researcher
This research aims at assessing, through the DEMATEL approach, the significance of SNS
addiction from psychotherapist’s and researcher’s point of view.

Identify the variables taken under the study

Following are the variables taken under the study. They are Independent variables except for
the last one which is a dependent variable.

• FOMO
• Compulsory usage
• Self-Actualization
• Attention Deficit
• Impetuousness
• Isolation
• Behavioural Traits
• Melancholy
• Social Media Addiction

Identify the objectives/hypothesis of the researcher study

The objectives of the research study are as follows.

• To identify the indicators of SNS addiction in teens/ adolescents.

• To interpret the relation between the indicators and addiction.

Identify the research design used by the researcher and give its rationale
The research design used here is exploratory research design.

According to the paper there are various studies on the determining factors of social media
addiction but very little work is done to examine the importance, interdependence, and
interrelation of these factors or indicators. Thus, exploratory research is used. Also, this
research is done from the perspective of psychotherapists and researchers familiar with this
field.

Identify the instrument used to conduct the research

The instrument used for research was expert opinion survey through questionnaire. A sample
of the questionnaire is attached below along with details of the sample used for research.

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Scale used

0 stands for No Influence

1 stands for Mild Influence
2 stands for Medium Influence
3 stands for High Influence
4 stands for Very high Influence

The sample taken survey consisted of 35 respondents. Out of these 35 respondents 29 were
researchers and 6 were therapists in internet and social media addiction.

The collected data was analysed using the DEMATEL method to understand the interrelations
and interdependence between factors.

Lead Generation
The research can be conducted by selecting a group that understands or is an addict of social
media such that the issue can be analysed and understood in depth. The research should also
be aimed to understand the factors like fear of losing out, self-esteem etc and their individual
impact on a much larger sample.

Research Gap
Based on the research paper it can be observed that there were certain gaps, which are
mentioned below

• The sample selected was very small in size (35 respondents). This does not show a clear
picture of the entire sample
• The study heavily depends on the respondents who work with people that are addicted
to social media, because of this the results might be biased
• Also, most of the respondents had less than 3 years of working experience with social
media addicts. That means their knowledge on the subject was limited and might have
impacted the study negatively

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 Research Paper-IV
Summary table of researcher’s literature review

Author Literature Findings

Lu and Wang (2008)
Iskender and Akin (2011)
Xu and Tan (2012)
Xu and Yuan (2008)
Theotokis and Doukidis (2009)
Stafford and Gillenson (2004)
Kaye and Johnson (2004)
The negative effects of technology changes
on personal and professional lives of
individuals.
Different personal characteristics and their
influence on individuals’ addiction tendency
to technology.
The relationship between addiction and
adoption of micro blogging by studying key
factors such as habits and attitude.
User’s motivation factors and addiction
prevention factors.
Role of IT uses in positively increasing the
IT addiction tendency
User’s selection of media based on
gratification level obtained to him.
The Upsurge of Internet due to its strength
and increasing user activeness.

Identification of Research problem developed by the researcher

Through this research paper, the researcher studies the process of user addiction to micro
blogging by analysis of relevant key concepts such as evolution of technology, psychological
behaviour of user and gratification level attained by users.

Variables taken under study

Following variables are taken under study

1. Technological changes - independent variable as new technological changes keep

emerging from time to time
2. Personal characteristics – independent variable as personal characteristics vary from
individual to individual
3. User satisfaction – dependent variable as satisfaction is based on objective achieved
(here technology, work, knowledge etc.)
4. User gratification level – dependent variable as gratification obtained is according to
needs fulfilled
5. Features of micro blogging tools – dependent variable as advanced technology provide
advanced features
6. Age and education of individuals – moderating variable as the more an individual is
educated, the more he may know about usage of micro blogging

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 7. Micro blogging usage – dependent on user satisfaction, needs etc
8. Social comfort – independent variable as social comfort varies from individual to
individual.

Identification of Hypothesis of Researcher’s study

Study of micro blogging addiction through user gratification level attained based on the idea
that user returns to the medium which gratifies his/her needs such as social communication,
information, entertainment etc.

Identification of research design used by the researcher

In this research paper, the researcher explores various possibilities of positive and negative
impacts of addiction tendency to micro blogging through technological changes as well as user
gratification. User gratification study is further categorized into social communication,
information gathering and entertainment obtained. Gratification levels are observed as Content
gratification, process gratification and social gratification.

Instruments used to conduct the research

Following instruments were used to conduct the research

1. Cronbach’s alpha values

2. Correlation of different gratification mediums for the constructs
3. Structural equation model.

Research Gap
We can also see that the research paper has primarily considered user addiction towards micro
blogging. The research should also include the necessity of using a micro blogging site so that
we can analyse and compare the differences of addiction and the need to use micro blogging
sites.

Lead Generation

Based on the research paper, we can further add the emergence of new technologies (such as
new mobile applications) to study the effects on addiction tendency. Changes in individual
behaviour due to micro blogging can also be studied. Further studies can also be conducted on
how unknowingly user may be forced to use micro blogging tools.

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 Research Paper-V
Literature review on social media addiction-
Kuss and griffits (2011) The reason for excessive use of social media is because of
the perceived interest towards staying connected.

Mehdizadeh (2010) SNS provides a medium to represent themselves in a way

Buffardi &Campbell (2008) they want to show to the world

Yang and Lester (2003) The relationship between Internet usages and agreeableness
is positive.

Wilson et al (2010) Conscientiousness is negatively related with internet usages

while extraversion has a positive relation.

Correa, Hinsley, and de Extraversion, Neuroticism and Openness all of them are
Zuniga (2010) positively related with internet usages.

Kuss and Griffiths (2011) Introverts use social media to compensate their social
involvement in real life.

Dewald et al (2010) The more use of SNS will reduce sleep hours and study
performance

Suganuma, Kikuchi, Because of excessive SNS use, bed time and wake up time
Yanagi, Yamamu- ra, have been delayed with high number.
Morishima, Adachi et al
(2007)

Brunborg et al (2011)

Kuss and Griffiths (2011) High usages of internet can lead into not able to maintain
relationship in real life.

Research problem developed by the researcher

Tania Hasan and Haadiah Yasir, Lahore The addiction of FB is affecting big five
(School of Economics) personality traits. In this research they tried
to determine the connection between high
internet usages and big fie personality traits.

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 Variables taken under study-
Facebook addiction measurement Demographic variables
variables(dependent) (independent)

Salience Gender

Tolerance Age

Mood Modification Education

Relapse Occupation

Withdrawal Personal Income

Conflict Country of the residence

Hypothesis of Researchers Study

H1: Salience, tolerance, mood modification, relapse, conflict, and withdrawal are indirectly
proportional to conscientiousness.

H2a: Salience, tolerance, mood modification, relapse, and withdrawal are directly proportional
to agreeableness.

H2b: Conflict is indirectly proportional to agreeableness.

H3: Salience, tolerance, mood modification, relapse, conflict, and withdrawal is directly
proportional to neuroticism.

H4: Salience, tolerance, mood modification, relapse, conflict, and withdrawal are positively
related to extraversion.

H5: Salience, tolerance, mood modification, relapse, conflict, and withdrawal are directly
proportional to openness to experience.

Research Design
• The research conducted in a form of survey on Facebook.
• The audience for this survey was countries in south East Asia.
• Convenience sampling technique was used for survey and it was constructed on google
docs.
• The link was uploaded on Facebook to request people the surveys.
• The survey was conducted in a questionnaire format where people had to give ratings
from 1 to 5.

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 Rationale behind the research design

The research was designed in a way that allows surveyor to choose respondents with
convenience. The convenience sampling unable them to focus only to the sample and
to not provide the survey to entire population.

Instruments used to conduct the research

• For the Facebook addiction scale Brown and Griffiths proposed 6 components of
Facebook addiction.
• Sentence structure was used with game addiction scale.
• Five items scale was used called the Bergen scale for determining Facebook addiction
(1-very often and 5- very rare).

Research Gap

The audience taken for the research might be biased towards internet usages and
Facebook. Because they all are the ones who use Facebook frequently and they enjoy
social media interaction. So, this is a gap in the research.
Second gap could be the time frame. Because the survey was on for 4 weeks only so it
gave less time for research. If the time limit is more it would provide more wide range
of respondents.

Lead generation

The focus of this research was only big five personality traits. Further we can do more
research in other behavioural aspects and can link it with Facebook usages in different
demographic areas. This research can be done off Facebook also, so it will give a fair
pool of respondents.

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 Lead generation after analysis and findings of all five Research
papers
Lead generation It is important to consider the ill effect of
social media addiction and conduct the
research on much broader level considering
socio-demographic, psychographic &
technological traits of individuals with
possible solutions to deal with it.

PART-III
Research plan for investigation

Research Gap
• Based on the above research papers it is observed that the research focuses mainly on
the small portion of population and ill effects of social networking sites considering
only one at a time (such as Instagram, Facebook, etc). In this regard it would be worthy
to explore more than one social networking sites at a time so that a comparative study
can be done and relevant conclusion can be determined.
• It is also observed that the research was conducted on small no. of respondents which
may not give complete picture of effects of social media addiction. So, research
conducted on large number of respondents will give us a holistic view of the situation.

Research problem
How social networking sites triggers behavioural addiction to its users that may result in
anxiety, fear of missing out & emotional fatigue and how to combat these behavioural
addictions.

Variables under study

Fear of losing popularity Dependent variable
People’s perception Dependent variable
Overuse Independent variable
Online presence Moderating variable
Fear of missing information Independent variable
Timely Interaction Dependent variable

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 Emotional Fatigue Dependent variable
Attention deficit Dependent variable
loneliness Dependent variable

Objectives
• To find out how social networking sites triggers certain kind of behavioural addiction
among its users.
• To identify negative impact of addictive, use of SNS.
• To identify the factors that is making use of social media as a mandatory platform in
order to keep up with the society.
• What can be the possible mechanism that may help social networking site users to
combat addiction.

Research design and instrument to conduct the research with rationale

According to the papers studied it can be observed that the design used by most of them was
exploratory. To take this research a step further it is required to conduct a detailed and
comprehensive study of the subject. Thus, Descriptive research design would be an appropriate
design here in this case.

Instrument that can be used -

As we are aiming to conduct a descriptive research design on a bigger sample than that used in
the selected papers, a combination of the following instruments can be used.

• Interview- By extracting opinions and suggestions of interviewee

• Diary study- Recording data on daily basis of research group by analysing their activity
and pattern of usage
• Focus group Sessions- This will be conducted after diary study so that the researchers
can discuss what they have observed and suggest some possible solutions to the
respondents who are found to be an addict of social networking site.

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 References

1. Li, Q., Guo, X., Bai, X., & Xu, W. (2018). Investigating microblogging addiction

tendency through the lens of uses and gratifications theory. Internet Research, 28(5),

1228–1252. DOI: 10.1108/intr-03-2017-0092

2. Zhang, Y., Liu, Y., Li, W., Peng, L., & Yuan, C. (2020). A study of the influencing

factors of mobile social media fatigue behavior based on the grounded

theory. Information Discovery and Delivery, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print). DOI:

10.1108/idd-11-2019-0084

3. Sanz-Blas, S., Buzova, D., & Miquel-Romero, M. J. (2019). From Instagram overuse to

Instastress and emotional fatigue: the mediation of addiction. Spanish Journal of Marketing -

ESIC, 23(2), 143–161. DOI: 10.1108/sjme-12-2018-0059

4. Dalvi-Esfahani, M., Niknafs, A., Kuss, D. J., Nilashi, M., & Afrough, S. (2019). Social media

addiction: Applying the DEMATEL approach. Telematics and Informatics, 43, 101250. DOI:

10.1016/j.tele.2019.101250

5. Tania Hasan and Haadiah Yasir, Am I Facebook addict? ’An investigation of Facebook

addiction using personality traits through SEM, Vol.3, no 4, Winter,2016

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