Factors Influencing User's Intention to Like Memes

This research aims to investigate how specific behavioral motives influenced by memes—namely perceived pleasure, self-concept, social gratification, content gratification and escapism—impact user intention to like memes. Utilizing a quantitative approach, the study employed an online survey to gather responses from 409 social media users, analyzed through multiple regression analysis to examine relationships between these motives and users' meme engagement. Findings indicated significant positive relationships between four behavioral motives and meme liking intention, with showing self-concept the strongest impact, followed by content gratification, social gratification, and escapism, while perceived pleasure has no significance. Additionally, generational differences were identified, with younger users particularly driven by escapism and social gratification, whereas older users' engagement was influenced mainly by escapism and self-concept. The results provide valuable insights for digital marketers, emphasizing the need to tailor meme-driven strategies according to the emotional and psychological motives of the targeted audiences.