Health Motivation in the Influencer Era: Analyzing Entertainment, Personal, and Social Media Role Models

ABSTRACT

This research explored how personal and entertainment role models motivate an individual’s health goals, and how following a role model on social media affects this process. A survey of 404 adults revealed that identifying a personal role model, such as a family member, friend, or healthcare professional, had a stronger influence on health motivation in comparison to identifying an entertainment role model. Additionally, our findings indicated that following any role model on social media, whether a personal acquaintance or a celebrity, enhanced motivation. Role model attributes that mediated these relationships included perceived similarity, and in some instances, positive and negative norm deviance. This study highlights the importance of leveraging role model relationships in health communication campaigns and developing authentic influencer-driven health initiatives that feature relatable entertainment figures. Additionally, this research supports the need for further examination of how a role model’s perceived positive or negative norm deviance influences motivational capability. We discuss implications for the motivational theory of role modeling, health promotion, and entertainment education.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. A total of 126 participants stated that they did not have a healthy role model and thus they were not included in the analysis for this paper, as these individuals did not complete the questions related to role model attributes.

2. Originally, we planned to employ two moderated mediation models (using PROCESS model 8), with the role model relationship as the predictor (X) and social media following as the moderator (W). However, findings from our two-way ANOVA indicated no significant interaction between the role model relationship and social media following. Consequently, we adjusted our strategy to focus on simple mediation models (PROCESS model 4), which did not incorporate moderation effects. This decision was further supported by results from the moderated mediation models, which aligned with the ANOVA findings in showing no significant interaction. Adopting a simpler mediation model approach not only aligned with these findings but also ensured more parsimonious models and straightforward interpretation of the results.

3. As noted here, high perceived health superiority had a positive direct effect on mental health motivation (visualized in Figure 1). However, this figure does not include indirect effects. We found that identifying an entertainment role model led to decreased perceived health superiority, which in turn led to diminished mental health motivation (Table 2).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Virginia Commonwealth University [University start-up funds].