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This study aims to investigate the interrelationship among consumers, celebrities and brands within social media environments. It proposes a theoretical framework based on an integrative approach that combines parasocial relationship theory and the meaning transfer model.

This study collected data from 342 Generation Z fans, and structural equation modeling was used for the analysis.

The results revealed that social media use strongly affects celebrity worship, but its impacts on brand love and online brand advocacy are weak. Celebrity worship significantly influences brand love; however, the relationship with online brand advocacy is nonsignificant, highlighting the crucial mediating role of brand love. The mediating effects of celebrity worship and brand love significantly strengthened the relationship between social media use and online brand advocacy.

By using an integrative approach, this study advances the understanding of the dynamics of consumer–brand relationships, revealing the serial mediating path that highlights the roles of celebrity worship and brand love.

The study aims to identify the factors that influence young consumers’ compulsive buying, particularly Gen Z consumers who exhibit fandom qualities such as sharing the same interests and being willing to collaborate with others. This study investigates the direct and indirect impact of brand love and brand addiction on the relationship between social media addiction and compulsive buying.

The study collected data from 338 Gen Z fandoms. The snowball sampling approach is used to determine and collect data from the sample. To test for hypotheses, the study used the PROCESS macro with bootstrapping techniques to explore the direct and indirect relationships, as well as the moderated serial mediation model in this study.

The study found that social media addiction influences compulsive buying via the hierarchical linkages between brand love and brand addiction. Trash talking functions as a stimulant, amplifying the effect of brand addiction on compulsive buying.

The data were collected from young Thai consumers; thus, the generalizability aspect of the research is limited and needs to be tested in different countries and cultures.

This research provides several key contributions to the understanding of compulsive buying behavior among Gen Z, particularly within the context of a developing country. By integrating the stimulus-organism-response framework and psychological theories, this study offers a nuanced understanding of how social media addiction influences emotional and behavioral outcomes. Previous studies have primarily focused on these variables in isolation. The study fills this gap by demonstrating the sequential pathway through which social media addiction translates into compulsive buying behavior via brand love and brand addiction.