When and How Social Distance and Self-Construal Influence the Virality of Social Media Challenge Campaigns

Purpose This study aims to investigate how social distance (proximal vs distal) and self-construal (independent vs interdependent) interact to influence the virality of social media challenge campaigns.Design/methodology/approach We employ a mixed-method approach comprising two empirical studies. Study 1 analyzes field data of 512 Instagram posts from South Korea's "Thanks to Challenge" using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count to infer self-construal. Study 2 is a controlled online experiment (N = 290) that manipulates social distance and measures participants' chronic self-construal, with perceived accessibility serving as a mediator.Findings A matching effect between message source distance and self-construal significantly enhances virality. Specifically, interdependent self-construal combined with proximal sources and independent self-construal with distal sources (e.g. celebrities or politicians) lead to greater engagement or participation intention. Furthermore, perceived accessibility mediates these matching effects, especially for those with higher interdependent self-construal.Originality/value This study is among the first to integrate message source, linguistic cues and individual predispositions in the context of social media challenges. It contributes novel insights into the psychological mechanisms of virality, advancing construal level theory and organization-public dialogic communication frameworks within marketing.