Role of Conservatism in Turkish Users’ Instagram Behavior

The aim of this study is to categorize Turkish Instagram users in terms of their consumer behavior on social media, specifically Instagram, and in terms of conservatism as a way of life.. For this study, conservatism is defined as a thought process that focuses on values and traditions and generally opposes change. The study was undertaken to address the paucity of literature on the subject of conservatism as it relates to social media behavior. The face-to-face survey method was used to collect data from 288 Instagram users in Istanbul who were over the age of 18. A three-part questionnaire was administered with a research scale covering six key factors: opinion leadership, positive and negative word of mouth (WOM), information seeking, religion and obedience, women’s status and rights, and family and sexual orientation. A five-point Likert-type scale was used to measure Instagram use and conservatism. After multivariate analysis, two clusters were identified. Cluster 1 includes 108 liberal respondents who do not use Instagram to share information, or to act as an opinion leader, or to make purchase decisions. These individuals are less religious, more individualistic, and more tolerant of women’s rights. Cluster 2 includes 180 respondents with conservative lifestyles who actively use Instagram to express opinions and share and obtain positive and negative information about consumer brands before making a purchase decision. This cluster is less tolerant of women’s rights and different sexual orientations.