Effect of Audience Personality Traits on Reality Show Watching Motives

The relationship between viewer personality and reality show watching has been a point of discussion among media researchers but has been rarely tested. The authors in the present study explore: (i) Reality Show Watching Motives (RSWM) of viewers, (ii) further investigates the impact of viewer personality on RSWM in a developing nation context. The authors followed mixed method approach to this end. A qualitative approach was applied to investigate consumer perceptions about reality shows and generate RSWM items. This was followed by a large scale survey to relate viewer personality to RSWM. Structural equation modelling was applied to generate findings in the quantitative phase. Five RSWM dimensions emerged from the qualitative and quantitative analysis. Consumer personality was found to have a significant impact on RSWM dimensions. However, there was variation on the effect of individual personality dimensions on individual RSWM dimensions. The study has theoretical and managerial implications.