It Came Across My Feed! : A Study on Social Media’s Impact on Social Influence, Self-Expression and Decision-Making of Home Furnishing Consumers

Sammanfattning: Social media is changing consumer behavior to an extent we yet not know the full consequences of. This thesis looks at three aspects of consumer behavior: social influence, self-expression and the decision-making process which are all impacted by the ever increasing presence of social media. In Sweden, the internet-usage is high and consumers spend much of their time on image-based platforms such as Instagram where trends are followed and created, especially in the category of home furnishings. By looking at social media’s impact on social influence, self-expression and the decision-making process, this thesis aims at exploring the increasing home furnishings consumption in Sweden. An inductive, qualitative research approach was taken where 13 semi-structured interviews were conducted with Swedish home furnishings consumers, ranging in age from 20-28 years old. The findings indicate that social media, especially Instagram, could be one of the main reasons behind the increasing consumption of home furnishings in Sweden. Consumers are highly influenced by each other and the images they are exposed to, which impacts their self-expression on social media as well as their decision-making process. The findings further showcased that consumers desire a complete picture before they make a purchase - both in the sense that they seek inspirational images, upload within a context and ask for advice from many close to them.