Scrolling, Posting, and Dominating: The Effect of Social Media Usage on Self-Enhancement and Dominance

By Peter Jin, Hemant Kakkar

Citation

Jin, Peter., Kakkar, Hemant. (2025). Scrolling, Posting, and Dominating: The Effect of Social Media Usage on Self-Enhancement and Dominance .

2025

Abstract

Social media has become integral to both personal and professional lives worldwide. Yet, little research has explored its spillover effects on workplace interactions, particularly in shaping individuals’ tendencies to influence others. This research uncovers a novel unintended consequence: social media use increases individuals’ tendency to exert influence through dominance. We propose that social media use amplifies self-enhancement motives, which, in turn, leads to greater dominance. To test this, we conducted a field study where leaders reported their social media usage, and followers rated their dominance (Study 1A). We replicated these findings with an online sample (Study 1B) and a pre-registered experience sampling study of employees over two weeks (Study 2). Additionally, we hypothesized that these effects would weaken when social media is used to connect with others rather than for self-promotion. Two pre-registered experiments (Studies 3A and 3B) confirmed that using social media for connection, rather than self-promotion, dampened the positive relationship between social media use and dominance. Our research advances understanding of the psychological effects of social media on individuals’ interpersonal behaviors in professional settings.

Hemant Kakkar is an Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at the Indian School of Business (ISB). Prior to this, he served as an Assistant and Associate (untenured) Professor of Management and Organisations at the Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. He received his doctoral degree in Organisational Behaviour from London Business School.
His research draws on social psychology and evolutionary theories of status and influence to examine judgments and behaviours of individuals and groups within social hierarchies. He also examines individuals' tendencies to engage in both positive and negative deviant behaviours.

He was awarded the 2021 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award, as well as, the Outstanding Dissertation Award 2021 by the International Association of Conflict Management. His research has also won Best Conference Paper awards from the Conflict Management Division of the Academy of Management (2021) and the International Association of Conflict Management (2021).

His research is published in leading academic journals, including the Academy of Management Journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Applied Psychology, Nature Human Behaviour, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, and Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. His research has also been featured in several popular media outlets, such as The Washington Post, Forbes, The Atlantic, Scientific American, The Times UK, and the Harvard Business Review.

At ISB, Professor Kakkar teaches the core course in Organisational Behaviour.  He has also taught Foundations of Organisational Behaviour to postgraduate students and graduate-level seminar courses at the Fuqua School of Business. In 2021, he received the Award for Excellence in Teaching for the MMS program. Before joining academia, he worked as a Technical Consultant at Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., India.

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