Coping comes with the job: An exploratory study into the selection and use of coping strategies for online aggression among social media influencers

Social media influencers (SMI) are increasingly becoming the target of online aggression. The first part of this study focuses on how this group of online users deals with online aggression and more specifically which coping strategies they use. In contrast to ordinary social media users, SMI experience online aggression situations on two levels: on a personal level and a human brand level. As a second aim, this study wants to explore whether and how personal emotions on the one hand and brand concerns on the other hand explain SMI's choice of coping strategies based on a combination of Transaction Coping Theory and Conservation of Resources Theory. To meet these aims, we conducted a survey among an international sample of SMI (N = 200; M_age= 36.19; 47% female) about their experiences with online aggression, personal emotions, brand concerns and coping strategies. The results of CFA and hierarchical regressions indicate that SMI coping strategies can be classified into cognitive, behavioral and social strategies, with cognitive strategies being the most commonly used. The use of the three types of strategies can be explained by both personal emotions (e.g., being angry and scared) as well as brand concerns (e.g., being concerned about losing commercial opportunities). The brand concerns seem to overwrite part of the contributions of personal emotions, which might point to emotional labor. Lastly, how often one experiences online aggression turns out to be a very important factor above and beyond personal emotions and brand concerns.