Behavior In China Research Articles

Extrinsic Motivation vs. Intrinsic Motivation: Key Factors Influencing Farmers' Land Quality Protection Behavior in China.

The crowding effect of individual behavior motivation is a focal point in various disciplines, such as economics and social psychology. Understanding the motivation crowding effect in the context of pro-environmental behavior of farmers is crucial for formulating agricultural environmental policies. However, there is limited knowledge about the motivation crowding effect on farmers' land quality protection behavior, especially in developing countries. This study employs stratified regression models, propensity score matching models, seemingly unrelated regression models, and simple slope analysis methods to analyze the impact of extrinsic motivations (external incentives such as increasing farming income and production yield) and intrinsic motivations (internal drives such as personal satisfaction and responsibility) on farmers' land quality protection behavior, as well as the motivation crowding effect between extrinsic and intrinsic motivations. The analysis is based on survey data from 1064 smallholder farmers in five provinces in China: Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Henan, Shaanxi, and Gansu. The results indicate that both extrinsic and intrinsic motivations have a positive impact on farmers' land quality protection behavior. Notably, extrinsic motivation exhibits a crowding-out effect on intrinsic motivation, suggesting a motivation crowding effect. While promoting farmers' land quality protection behavior through economic incentives is a feasible short-term solution, it may not effectively foster the long-term formation of such behaviors. Given the current context of severe land pollution, alleviating this issue through economic incentives represents a short-term policy approach. Thus, transitioning from short-term to long-term solutions by enhancing farmers' intrinsic motivation to promote farmers' land quality protection behavior is essential for the government to consider in future land protection policy formulation.

The impact of workplace bullying on employees’ work withdrawal behavior and the significance of psychological safety in China’s multi-ethnic regions

In China's multi-ethnic regions, the phenomenon of workplace bullying can be compared to a mental shackle, which inhibits the work enthusiasm of the bullied, makes the bullied feel depressed, frustrated, and other negative feelings, and makes many employees miserable. This study aimed to develop a correlation between workplace bullying, employees' work withdrawal behavior, and psychological safety in China's multi-ethnic regions. The data collection for this study primarily involved gathering information. through questionnaires from 357 employees within 42 Yunnan-listed enterprises in China's multi-ethnic regions. All statistical data, including frequency, proportion, average, and variability measures, were analyzed using a software tool designed to process statistical information. The finding indicated there exists a direct correlation amongst workplace bullying and employees' work withdrawal behavior in China's multi-ethnic regions. Incorporating psychological safety into the model, subsequent mediation effect testing reveals that there is a partial mediating role of psychological safety in the correlation among workplace bullying and employees' work withdrawal behavior. This research contributes to the existing theoretical investigation on the correlation among workplace bullying, employees' work withdrawal behavior, and their psychological safety in China's multi-ethnic regions. Additionally, it explores how psychological safety can mediate these effects. Furthermore, this study offers valuable insights for enterprises operating in China's multi-ethnic regions by providing practical strategies for human resource management and conflict reduction within organizations.

From inner needs to external actions: the impact of face consciousness on tourists’ pro-environmental behavior

ABSTRACT Research on tourists’ pro-environmental behavior has been receiving increasing attention, yet there remains a significant gap in understanding how to ensure the sustainability of such behavior. Drawing on the proactive motivation model, this study examines the influence of face consciousness on tourists’ pro-environmental behavior in China. Structural equation modeling analyzed data from 598 tourists in Chengdu. Findings show that gaining face promotes tourists’ pro-environmental behavior. Moreover, green self-efficacy, perceived insider status, and harmonious environmental passion mediate the relationship between face consciousness and tourists’ pro-environmental behavior. Sincere social interaction enhances the positive influence of gaining face through perceived insider status and harmonious environmental passion on tourists’ pro-environmental behavior. This study enriches the existing literature on the relationship between face consciousness and tourists’ pro-environmental behavior, and also provides management basis for promoting tourists’ sustained engagement in pro-environmental behavior.

The Impact of E-Commerce Leader's Marketing Attributes on Consumer Perception in China

With the rapid development of China's e-commerce market, e-commerce leaders are playing an increasingly crucial role in a highly competitive environment. Marketing attributes, such as brand influence, customer service quality, and marketing strategies, have become key factors in shaping consumer perception. This paper aims to explore how these marketing attributes affect consumer cognition and behavior in China. By analyzing existing literature and market data, this study presents a conceptual framework that highlights how brand influence affects purchasing decisions by enhancing consumer trust; how customer service improves brand image through increased consumer satisfaction and loyalty; and how effective marketing strategies alter consumer purchase intentions through personalized recommendations and promotional activities. The paper also examines the unique characteristics of the Chinese market, such as cultural differences and market environment, and provides practical recommendations for e-commerce leaders. Finally, the paper suggests directions for future empirical research to further validate these conceptual assumptions.

Consumers’ green attitude and behavior in China and Singapore: The role of altruistic value and perceived consumer effectiveness, economic motive

Consumers’ green attitude and behavior in China and Singapore: The role of altruistic value and perceived consumer effectiveness, economic motive

Multisystemic Therapy for a Child in Difficult Circumstances With Disruptive Behavior in China: A Single-Case Design

Purpose: This study aims to address concerns about the ability of Chinese social workers to collaborate with multiple systems and effectively implement multisystemic therapy (MST), given their low professional status. Based on the first MST practice in Mainland China, the study evaluates the effectiveness of MST in addressing disruptive behaviors in a child in difficult circumstances (CDCs), assesses its fitness within the Chinese context, and explores strategies for social workers to collaborate within the contexts of the specialized protection system for CDCs and the establishment of social work service stations. Method: A single-case AB research design with repeated measures across multiple contexts was adopted. Results: The study suggests MST's potential effectiveness and cultural and political compatibility in China, and identifies three strategies for social workers to intervene across multiple systems. Conclusion: MST could be a valuable tool in social work practice with proper integration into local systems in China.

A comparative study on the physical fitness of college students from different grades and majors in Jiangxi province.

Research to date has not provided a clear understanding of how different grades and majors affect the physical fitness of college students. It is postulated that there are significant disparities in physical health among college students of different grades and majors. The purpose of this study was to evidence these health disparities and to engage in an extensive analysis and discussion thereof. A sample of 8,772 (2,404 boys and 6,368 girls) Chinese college students from freshman to junior years, aged 17-22, including 12 different majors in four colleges, were recruited in Jiangxi Province. All seven physical fitness indicators (body mass index (BMI), forced vital capacity, 50-m dash, standing long jump, sit and reach, upper body muscle strength, and endurance runs) were conducted for all participants. One-way ANOVA and LSD tests were conducted to compare the physical fitness scores of different grades in the same major. Independent sample t-tests were utilized to compare the differences in every physical fitness indicator for different majors. Pearson's correlations among 12 majors for every grade were conducted to study the significant corrections between the two physical fitness indicators. The body mass index (BMI) and physical fitness indicator (PFI) for college students of different grade were investigated using a nonlinear regression model. The current state of physical fitness among college students is concerning, as the majority of students were barely passing (with a passing rate of 75.3%). Specifically, junior students exhibited lower scores than freshman and sophomore students across all 12 majors. From freshman to junior year, majors of music (78.01±4.58), English (79.29±5.03), and education (76.26±4.81) had the highest scores, respectively, but major art consistently scored the lowest, which were 73.85±6.02, 74.97±5.53, and 72.59±4.84, respectively. Pairwise comparisons revealed more significant differences in individual physical fitness indicators among the three grades in humanities than in sciences. Pearson's correlations showed significant correlations among seven physical fitness indicators in all three grades. PFI had a parabolic trend with BMI both for boy and girl college students in Jiangxi province. The physical fitness indicators of college students in Jiangxi province significantly differed in grades and majors, showing undesirable phenomena. The physical fitness of senior and humanities major college students was much weaker and needs sufficient attention. The relationship between BMI and PFI presented an inverted "U"-shaped change characteristic. Continued nationwide interventions are needed to promote physical activity and other healthy lifestyle behaviors in China.

Identifying control factors of hydrological behavior through catchment classification in mainland China

Catchment classification based on hydrological similarity helps to understand the control factors of hydrological behavior. However, the relationship between hydrological behavior and its influencing factors has been unclear in mainland China because long-term and widely-distributed flow data is unavailable. Thus, this study intends to identify control factors of hydrological behavior in China’s basins by using classification. Gauged basins are clustered into several classes using the fuzzy c-means method based on flow signatures, which quantify catchment hydrological behavior. The classification and regression tree is employed to learn from cluster results and then obtain classes of basins without observed flow. Correlation methods are used to analyze the influence of basin signatures on flow signatures, while the difference significance test is applied to the hydrological behavior diversity between clusters from classification and regression tree. Results show that China’s basins are divided into five clusters, with low flow signatures more distinguishing classes than high flow signatures. It confirms that climate factors dominate hydrological behavior. However, soil is also an important control factor found in this study, which is rare in others. These findings help to understand hydrological behavior in China and reveal its control factors.

Factors Influencing Household Debt Structure under Various Credit Constraints

Household debt is a critical component of family financial management, especially considering the prevalence of credit constraints. This study investigates the determinants of Chinese household debt structure, focusing on the choice between formal and informal borrowing and the proportion of formal debt under different credit constraints. Data from the 2018 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) are analyzed using the bi-probit model. The results indicate that higher levels of household education and internet use significantly enhance the likelihood of accruing formal debt and weaken the tendency to engage in informal debt. This study innovatively employs the KZ index, traditionally used in corporate finance, to assess credit constraints at the household level. This new household credit constraint index demonstrates that the factors affecting the debt structure vary with the level of credit constraints, underscoring the complexity of household financial behaviors in China’s evolving credit landscape.

Informal Institutions and Environmental Quality: Exploring the Mediating Roles of Different Civic Pro-Environmental Behaviors in China

Informal Institutions and Environmental Quality: Exploring the Mediating Roles of Different Civic Pro-Environmental Behaviors in China

The impact of fiscal expenditure fluctuation on cost asymmetry: Evidence from China

AbstractThis study investigates the relationship between district government fiscal expenditure fluctuation and asymmetric cost behaviour in China. Using the unique manual data sets of Chinese A‐listed firms during the period 2003–2018, we find that cost stickiness is a pervasive phenomenon and that fiscal expenditure fluctuation positively affects cost stickiness. The results also demonstrate this effect is more pronounced when labour input is high and the size of the population is large. In addition, our further analysis indicates that higher social welfare incomes and the higher administrative level of a city can influence these results.

Evolutionary Game Analysis of Collaborative Prefabricated Buildings Development Behavior in China under Carbon Emissions Trading Schemes

Prefabricated buildings (PBs) are considered a green way to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions in the construction industry due to their environmental and social benefits. However, PBs have obstacles such as high construction costs, immature technology, and insufficient policy incentives, and developers’ willingness to develop them needs to be higher. Therefore, it is necessary to explore how to motivate more developers to develop PBs. In this paper, we first discuss the impact of the carbon emissions trading scheme (ETS) on the construction industry and then consider the heterogeneity of construction developers, introduce a collaborative mechanism to establish a three-party evolutionary game model between the government and the heterogeneous developers, and explore the evolution of the three-party dynamic strategies through numerical simulation. The results show that developers’ initial development probability affects the system’s evolutionary trend, and the developer who obtains more low-carbon benefits plays a dominant role. Further analyses show that critical factors such as market profitability, synergistic benefits, and carbon tax price positively influence the development of PBs, and the influence of synergistic cooperation mechanisms should be especially emphasized. This study provides practical insights into the sustainable development of the construction industry and the government’s development of a suitable carbon portfolio policy for it. Including the construction industry in the ETS is recommended when carbon prices reach 110 RMB/t. At this point, the government can remove the subsidy for PBs, but the behaviors of the developers who participate in the ETS still need to be supervised.

Interest rate liberalization and household investment in China

In this study, we investigate the impact of interest rate liberalization on household investment behavior in China using data from the China Household Finance Survey from 2011 to 2019. We find that financial liberalization significantly increases the likelihood of households participating in financial markets and raises their holdings of riskier assets, driven by the wealth effect. This effect is more pronounced among higher-income, higher-asset, and better-educated households, without housing mortgages, as well as urban households. Our results highlight the importance of financial liberalization policies and provide new perspectives on the “limited participation puzzle” documented in emerging economies, where relatively few households actively invest in financial assets despite high expected returns. This study underscores how interest rate deregulation incentivizes household portfolio reallocation and promotes financial inclusion across socioeconomic groups.

Comparison of Two Controlled Trials Designed to Reduce Aggressive Behavior in China

Objective: This report describes the outcomes of two controlled trials of a social information-processing intervention, the Let's Be Friends (LBF) program, which was designed to reduce aggressive behavior in primary school children in rural China. Method: A blocked clusters design with random sampling was used in each trial. Combining the two trials and adjusting for differences between the studies, we estimated outcomes across all treated ( n = 698) and control ( n = 710) group children; additionally, we compared Trial 1 treated children with Trial 2 treated children. Results: Across the combined studies, significant differences on children's social skills and behavior favored the LBF condition. However, the outcomes for Trial 2 demonstrated less robust behavioral effects, suggesting that the program was weakened by pandemic-related implementation and measurement challenges. Conclusion: The LBF appears to strengthen the social competence of children in rural China. However, conducting school-based interventions during environmental disruptions requires alternative delivery and measurement strategies.

Exploring customer retention dynamics: A comparative investigation of factors affecting customer retention in the banking sector using mediation-moderation approach

The purpose of this research is to explore the impact of service quality, customer trust, and cultural disparities on customer satisfaction within the banking sector. Additionally, the study examined the mediating effect of customer satisfaction and the moderating effect of financial technology. Data for this investigation were gathered from customers utilizing services offered by public banks in Pakistan and China. The analysis was conducted using the Smart-PLS software, with 281 samples from Pakistan and 312 samples from China being included in the study. Results show that service quality, customer trust, and cultural differences positively affect customer satisfaction in the context of Pakistan and China. Results also reveal that service quality and customer trust have a positive effect on customer retention behavior in China, but customer trust has an insignificant impact on customer retention behavior in Pakistan. Analysis specifies that customer satisfaction positively mediated the relationship between service quality, customer trust, cultural differences, and customer retention behavior in Pakistan and China. More importantly, financial technology moderated the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer retention behavior, but it was insignificant in the context of China and Pakistan. The study seeks to provide significant insights for strategic decision-making and improve customer relationship management techniques in the dynamic field of financial services by including mediating and moderating elements.

Corporate Environmental Responsibility and Cultural Contexts: Fostering Pro-Environmental Behaviors in China's mainland and Hong Kong

Corporate Environmental Responsibility and Cultural Contexts: Fostering Pro-Environmental Behaviors in China's mainland and Hong Kong

Do corporate managers glean information from their stock prices? New evidence from China's strategic emerging industries

Strategic emerging industries (SEIs) have become the pillar industries in China. However, prior studies argue that the Chinese stock market fails to adequately support the development of SEIs by primarily considering its financing function while ignoring its market feedback role. Based on data from 2007 to 2020, our study fills this gap by examining whether managers of Chinese SEI firms glean information from stock prices to guide their investment decisions. We find a significantly positive relationship between stock price informativeness (proxied by the volume-synchronized probability of informed trading) and investment-to-price sensitivity in the SEI firms only, indicating that managers of the SEI firms exhibit prominent learning behaviors. We further reveal that high growth prospects and high sensitivity of corporate fundamentals to macroeconomic factors contribute to the learning behaviors in China's SEIs. Our study sheds light on the role of the Chinese stock market in supporting the SEIs' evolution.

Health or environment? How do motivations affect consumers' organic food purchasing behaviour in China?

PurposeEnvironmental and health concerns are considered the most significant motivations for organic food purchasing behaviour (OFP). This study focuses on the roles of health and environmental concerns in OFP in China, aiming to explore whether there are differences in the effects and mechanisms of these two concerns.Design/methodology/approachWe use the PLS-SEM to conduct empirical tests, drawing from survey data collected from 628 Chinese consumers.FindingsThe results showed that the OFP was influenced differently by health and environmental concerns. Specifically, the total effect of environmental concern on OFP outweighs that of health concern, whereas the opposite is true for direct impacts. Additionally, environmental and health concerns can influence OFP through attitude and subjective norms, although the specific mechanisms vary. Environmental concern affects OFP more through subjective norms, whereas health concern affects OFP mainly through attitude. Meanwhile, functional value quality was a significant moderator that enhanced the indirect effect of motivation on OFP.Originality/valueA theoretical framework is constructed to explore the role of two types of motivations in OFP within emerging economies like China, revealing their mechanism and interaction effect with functional values.

How urban–rural differences and ageing affect residents’ occupancy patterns – An empirical study based on China national time use survey

Occupancy behavior plays a crucial role in residential community planning, building design, and energy system optimization for sustainable development, particularly in the face of climate change. Research on residential occupancy behavior often lacks comprehensive empirical data and fails to account for the diversity of influencing factors such as demographic features and urban–rural distinctions. This study utilizes a national time-use survey to examine occupancy patterns in urban and rural households, aiming to identify key factors influencing these patterns. A K-shaped cluster analysis was applied to extract typical occupancy patterns for weekdays and weekends, with a subsequent comparison between urban and rural data. The study also analyzed the impact of demographic and social factors on total hours spent at home. The results indicate that urban residents tend to concentrate their occupancy on weekdays, while weekends show more dispersed patterns. Furthermore, time spent at home by urban residents is positively correlated with the age of family members and negatively correlated with working status and education level. Given the aging demographic, older urban families are likely to spend more time at home on weekdays. These findings contribute to a better understanding of residential occupancy behavior in China.

Higher Vocational Students’ Future Self-continuity and Sustainable Entrepreneurial Preparation Behavior in China: The Moderating Effect of Financial Literacy and Belief in a Just World

How to stimulate sustainable entrepreneurship among higher vocational students is ambiguous, and cognition is related to sustainable entrepreneurship. Therefore, based on a sample of 206 Chinese higher vocational students, this paper studies the relationship between Chinese higher vocational students’ future self-continuity and sustainable entrepreneurial preparation behaviors, as well as the facilitating effects of financial literacy and belief in a just world. The results confirm for the first time that Chinese higher vocational students’ future self-continuity is significantly and positively associated with sustainable entrepreneurial preparation behavior, and that financial literacy contributes significantly, while belief in a just world do not contribute. This suggests that Chinese higher vocational students need not only knowledge of their present and future selves but also the link between financial knowledge and skills to be able to adequately contribute to sustainable entrepreneurial preparedness.