Asymmetric interactions and relationships between celebrities and followers, referred to as Parasocial Interactions (PSI) and Parasocial Relationships (PSR), respectively, have been extensively studied within the context of TV, radio and print media. However, within the Social Media (SM) ecosystem - where follower engagement and experience flow seamlessly across multiple SM tools/platforms - the nature of PSI and PSR is changing and research within this context is still nascent. Using Identity Theory and Motivational Theory, this dissertation analyses the impact active/passive engagement and compulsive use of the SM ecosystem can have in the formation of PSI and PSR. Specifically, the goal of this research is to understand how different types of engagement (passive and active) can influence parasocial relationships (friendship and love) through the mediation of cognitive and behavioural parasocial interactions. A model is proposed and validated with 294 respondents. The findings show that passive engagement in the SM ecosystem does not impact PSI/PSR while active engagement significantly impacts PSI and the consequent PSR formation. Compulsive use of the SM ecosystem strongly attenuates the relationships between PSI and PSR. Contributions and implications for both theory and practice are discussed. / Thesis / Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)

Previous studies suggest that religious individuals are more likely than non-religious individuals to perceive their pornography use as problematic. For our six-month longitudinal study, we recruited a sample of adults from Turkprime.com. We hypothesized that more religious individuals who use pornography at baseline would report higher self-perceived problematic pornography use at three months, which would be associated with higher depression at six months. We constructed and validated our own measure of self-perceived problematic pornography use, which included two factors: excessive pornography use and compulsive pornography use. We ran two separate structural equation models, one with excessive use at three months and the other with compulsive use at three months. Contrary to our hypothesis, religiosity was not related to self-perceived problematic pornography use in any of the models. Both models were moderated by biological sex. For men, religiosity at baseline was associated with increased pornography use at six months. For both men and women, excessive pornography use at three months was associated with increased depression at six months. For men, depression at baseline was associated with self-perceived problematic pornography use at three months. For women, higher self-perceived problematic pornography use at three months predicted lower frequency of pornography use and higher depression at six months. Women’s pornography use was more stable over time than men’s. Our findings are discussed in light of theories of depression, religious incongruence, and sexual scripts.