How Do You Wish to Appear? An Empirical Study of Factors Affect Intention to Purchase Face-Swap Apps Under Social Comparison Perspective

Abstract

Face-swap models have increasingly gained popularity in recent years because of their improvement in generation quality and applications in privacy protection and entertainment. The study primarily examines underlying factors that influence individuals’ intention to purchase Face swap apps. A research framework drawing upon the social comparison theory was proposed to explain the relationship between four categories of social comparison (upward identification, upward contrast, downward identification, downward contrast) on self-esteem, appearance dissatisfaction, curiosity, perceived enjoyment, privacy concern, and purchase intention toward paid apps. The PLS-SEM technique was employed to analyze data from a survey of 315 respondents. The results indicated that upon the aforementioned variables, curiosity and privacy concerns were two key factors driving users a higher intention to purchase Face-swap apps. Meanwhile, perceived enjoyment had no significant impact on purchase intention. These exploratory findings contributed a number of theoretical and practical implications.

Keywords:

• Social comparison
• self-esteem
• appearance dissatisfaction
• curiosity
• perceived enjoyment
• intention to purchase paid apps
• privacy concern

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This work was fully supported by the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH).

Notes on contributors

Quang-An Ha

Quang-An Ha is a lecturer at the School of International Business and Marketing, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH). He received a PhD in BA from the National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan. His researches have appeared in IJHCI, CHB, B&IT, JGITM... and many international conference proceedings.

Nguyen Quynh Tram Le

Nguyen Quynh Tram Le is a student at University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) and research assistant at Dr. Ha’s lab. Her research focus on cyber-psychology and human-computer interaction.

Thanh Thien Tho Nguyen

Thanh Thien Tho Nguyen is a student at University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) and research assistant at Dr. Ha’s lab. Her research focus on cyber-psychology and human-computer interaction.

Thi Thanh Trang Pham

Thi Thanh Trang Pham is a student at University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) and research assistant at Dr. Ha’s lab. Her research focus on cyber-psychology and human-computer interaction.

Bao Anh Pham

Bao Anh Pham is a student at University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) and research assistant at Dr. Ha’s lab. Her research focus on cyber-psychology and human-computer interaction.

Ngo Que Lam Le

Ngo Que Lam Le is a student at University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) and research assistant at Dr. Ha’s lab. Her research focus on cyber-psychology and human-computer interaction.