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Constructing Personas: How High-Net-Worth Social Media Influencers Reconcile Ethicality and Living a Luxury Lifestyle

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Abstract

Drawing from a multi-sourced data corpus (in-depth interviews and Instagram posts) gathered from high-net-worth (HNW) social media influencers, this article explores how these individuals reconcile ethicality and living a luxury lifestyle through the enactment of three types of personas on Instagram: (1) Ambassador of ‘True’ Luxury, (2) Altruist, and (3) ‘Good’ Role Model. By applying the concepts of taste regimes and social moral licensing, we find that HNW social media influencers conspicuously enact and display ethicality, thereby retaining legitimacy in the field of luxury consumption. As these individuals are highly influential, they could leave a potentially significant mark on public discourse and, consequently, on their audiences’ construction of ethically responsible luxury consumption. In this vein, this article offers significant managerial insights into professional influencers and discusses ethical managerial practices to ensure ethical collaborations between influencers and managers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marketing, ESCP Business School, 79 Avenue de la République, 75011, Paris, France

    Marina Leban

  2. Department of Marketing, Copenhagen Business School, Solbjerg Plads 3, 2000, Frederiksberg, Denmark

    Thyra Uth Thomsen & Sylvia von Wallpach

  3. Department of Entrepreneurship, ESCP Business School, 527 Finchley Road, Hampstead, London, NW3 7BG, UK

    Benjamin G. Voyer

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  1. Marina Leban
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  2. Thyra Uth Thomsen
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  3. Sylvia von Wallpach
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  4. Benjamin G. Voyer
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Correspondence to Marina Leban.

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Leban, M., Thomsen, T.U., von Wallpach, S. et al. Constructing Personas: How High-Net-Worth Social Media Influencers Reconcile Ethicality and Living a Luxury Lifestyle. J Bus Ethics 169, 225–239 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-020-04485-6

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