Face Consciousness Research Articles

How does face influence the purchase of imitative new products? Moderating roles of product design characteristics

AbstractFace plays a profound role in consumption, but the question of how it impacts the purchase of imitative new products remains unanswered in the current literature. Imitative new products, which are legitimate innovations bearing similarities to existing products, are prevalent in many markets. This study investigates how two dimensions of face consciousness—the desire to gain face and the fear of losing face—influence consumers' purchase intentions regarding imitative new products by considering three product design characteristics (new product imitation locus, new product imitation scope, and product hedonism) as boundary conditions. We find through experiments carried out with adult Chinese consumers that the desire to gain face strengthens, but the fear of losing face weakens purchase intention. Moreover, the positive effects of the desire to gain face are weakened by imitation locus (form vs. function imitation) but enhanced by imitation scope (either form or function imitation vs. both form and function imitation); whereas the negative effects of the fear of losing face are strengthened by imitation locus but weakened by imitation scope. Product hedonism enhances the positive effects of the desire to gain face and augments the negative effects of the fear of losing face. This study thus contributes to the face literature by differentiating the roles of two dimensions of face consciousness in affecting consumption of imitative new products. In addition, this study contributes two important constructs—new product imitation locus and new product imitation scope—to the literature on imitative new products.

Dış Görünümde Markalı Ürün Kullanma Bilincinin Gösterişçi Tüketim Üzerine Etkisi: Marka Duygusu ve Cinsiyetin Düzenleyici Rolü

Dış görünüş, bir kişinin sosyal etkileşim sürecinde sahip olduğu olumlu imajı temsil eder. Dış görünümde markalı ürün kullanma bilinci yüksek olan kişiler gösterişçi tüketim yapabilir. Bu davranışsal etkinin altında yatan temel neden marka duygusu olabilir. Çünkü marka duygusu, tüketici ve marka arasındaki ilişkiyi açıklamaya yardımcı olan kavram olarak kabul edilir. Diğer taraftan marka duygusu cinsiyet açısından farklılık gösterebilir. Buradan hareketle araştırmanın amacı, dış görünümde markalı ürün kullanma bilincinin gösterişçi tüketim üzerindeki etkisinde, marka duygusunun ve cinsiyetin düzenleyici rolünün belirlenmesidir. Araştırmada, dağıt topla yöntemiyle, kullanılabilir durumda 454 anket uygulanmıştır. SPSS programına yüklenerek kullanılan PROCESS Makro yazılımı, düzenleyici analizi yapılmasına yardımcı olmuştur. Sonuçlara göre dış görünümde markalı ürün kullanma bilincinin gösterişçi tüketim üzerindeki etkisi marka duygusu yüksek olan tüketicilerde daha fazla etkilidir. Bu etkinin, marka duygusu yüksek olan erkek tüketicilerde daha güçlü olduğu anlaşılmıştır. Sonuç bölümünde teorik tartışmanın ardından, pazarlama yöneticilerine markalı ürün pazarında uygulayabilecekleri potansiyel pazarlama stratejileri önerildi.

Consumer Purchasing Intentions and Marketing Segmentation of Remanufactured New-Energy Auto Parts in China

This study tests and verifies the main factors influencing consumers’ intention to purchase and the marketing strategy of remanufactured new-energy automobile parts in China. The revised model of Theory of Reasoned Action is used to study the factors influencing consumers’ intention to purchase. The main factors influencing consumer purchase intention of remanufactured new-energy automobile parts in China are identified through correlation analysis of factors including subjective norms, attitudes, face consciousness, brand extension, and perceived risk. Through market segmentation, consumers in China are divided into three types: passive-accepted, brand-driven, and green-consuming; the marketing strategy is developed accordingly. This study provides theory and decision-making basis for remanufactured new-energy automobile parts markets.

축제참가자 일탈행동에서 체면민감성의 역할 분석

Face consciousness is a social pride that makes people act appropriately according to the social status; therefore, it is closely pertinent to the behavior of festival participants. Understanding festival participants' mentality and behavior is important in festival planning, accordingly it may necessitate further research in order to give an edge to the increasingly competitive festival related industries. Thus, the purposes of this study are to analyze the impact of festival participants' deviant behavior on festival satisfaction, and to identify the moderating effect of face consciousness in the process. First of all, literature review regarding face theory and Deviant Festival Behavior (DFB) was carried out and established research hypotheses. Using the scale of DFB developed in the previous research, an empirical survey was conducted on visitors to the 12th Jangheung Water Festival. As a result of analyzing the structural equation path model, it was found that the deviant behavior at festivals had a significant influence on festival satisfaction. A multiple-group analysis was conducted in order to analyze the moderating effect of face consciousness. It was found that there was a moderating effect in physical DFB between the high and low face consciousness groups. Our findings contribute to research in that it incorporated face consciousness into festival research. This study has practical implications in that we addressed strategies to lower the face consciousness in order to enhance festival satisfaction.

Modeling the role of luxury air-travelers’ self-enhancement

ABSTRACTThis study applied self-enhancement construct, enhancing self-concepts as inner and egoistic value, to investigate whether luxury value serves to enforce or reinforce luxury air travelers’ self-enhancement, and examine how face consciousness influences the relationships between self-enhancement and behavioral intentions. Air travelers who had experienced fully charged first-class seats participated in the survey and the data were analyzed. The results demonstrate four factors of luxury value significantly influence first-class air travelers’ self-enhancement. Additionally, first-class air travelers’ self-enhancement increases not only loyalty to first-class but also willingness to pay more, and the effect varied according to the level of passengers’ face consciousness.

Accelerating the Social Media Process: The Impact of Internet Celebrity Word-of-Mouth Communication and Relationship Quality on Consumer Information Sharing

With the rapid development of "Internet plus", the number of Internet users in China has increased rapidly, and the number of active users of social media software ranks first in the world. Large Numbers of network users are also potential consumer groups. Social media influences other consumers through consumer interaction and social interaction, and consumers are transformed into active information acquisition rather than passive information reception. Word of mouth marketing on social media has become one of the hottest research fields. Based on the information adoption model, this study explores the impact of internet celebrity word-of-mouth communication on consumer information sharing from four dimensions: internet celebrity word-of-mouth communication, relationship quality, face consciousness, and consumer information sharing and establishes a research model to provide references and suggestions for subsequent researchers and enterprise management.

Motives for luxury seafood consumption in first-tier cities in China

This study explored Chinese consumers’ choice motives, motive dimensions, segmentation, and species preferences on luxury seafood consumption. A web-based survey was administered to 967 luxury seafood eaters from three cities: Beijing, Shenzhen, and Shanghai. The data were analysed by descriptive analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), cluster analysis, and linear regression analysis. A two-dimensional construct was obtained for Chinese consumers’ choice motives for luxury seafood: food value and symbolic value. The most important specific motives attached to these two dimensions included umami, delicious, fresh, like to eat, show status, face consciousness, high quality life, and networking. Luxury seafood consumption by Chinese consumers was more significantly influenced by the symbolic value motivation dimension than the food value dimension. Two consumer segments were found: food value seeker (42.4%) and dual value seeker (57.6%). Lobster and salmon were the most common luxury seafood species consumed in China.

Personal value vs. luxury value: What are Chinese luxury consumers shopping for when buying luxury fashion goods?

This research studies Chinese luxury consumers based on their personal value and explores what dimensions of luxury value Chinese luxury consumers are shopping for when purchasing luxury fashion goods. Three personal value variables (face consciousness, pragmatism, and materialism) and three dimensions of luxury value (symbolic value, experiential value, and functional value) were examined through cluster analysis, ANOVA, and regression analysis based on a random sample of 308 Chinese luxury consumers. The findings suggest that all three dimensions of luxury value have significant impacts on Chinese luxury consumers’ purchase intentions, but different groups of Chinese luxury consumers shop for different dimensions of luxury value.

Face consciousness and conspicuous luxury consumption in China

Purpose Luxury consumption in China is featured by clear conspicuous purposes. The purpose of this paper is to investigate this phenomenon from the indigenous perspective of face consciousness. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on Ho’s (1976) framework of gaining vs losing face process, the authors decomposed the construct of face consciousness into two dimensions, namely, desire to gain face and fear of losing face, and developed a multi-dimensional scale for face consciousness. Then, a survey that consisted of 338 participants was conducted to test the relationship between face consciousness and luxury consumption. Findings The face consciousness scale was shown to be reliable and valid. Furthermore, the authors found both desire to gain face and fear of losing face had a unique contribution in explaining why Chinese consumers purchase luxury products. Originality/value This paper fills the gap in the extant literature by developing a multi-dimensional face consciousness scale, providing convenience for empirical research in future. Moreover, this research shows that Chinese consumers’ luxury consumption behavior contains both promotion and prevention motivation.

Explaining consumers' intentions towards purchasing green food in Qingdao, China: The amendment and extension of the theory of planned behavior

This study aims to investigate consumers' green food purchase intentions using a survey conducted in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China. Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), it models the influences of Chinese culture and consumer characteristics towards purchasing green food products. According to TPB, the behavioral intention is determined by attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control, whereas subjective norms vary according to differences in cultural systems. This study incorporates traditional Chinese cultural constructs of face consciousness and group conformity instead of subjective norms to develop an amended TPB model under China's cultural environment. Furthermore, the TPB model has been extended by adding the constructs of confidence and personal characteristics to represent the current consumption environment and consumers' characteristics. Research data were derived from Chinese consumers via a paper questionnaire and obtained valid responses from 300 participants. To test the overall model fit, structural equation modeling was applied. The explanatory capabilities of the models were also evaluated. The findings reported the usefulness of TPB in predicting consumers' green food purchase intentions in the research area. The results also supported the applicability of incorporating cultural constructs, confidence, and personal characteristics into the Chinese case, as the explanatory capability was increased after being measured by the amended TPB models under China's cultural conditions as well as the extended models (from 71% to 83%). These findings have research implications that may be important for policy and food marketing, and can be used to better understand the factors that influence purchase intentions of Chinese consumers towards green food products.

How face consciousness reverse pro-self-behavior? A study on ecological consumption from the perspective of social value orientation

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to focus on ecological consumption and test the effect of social value orientation on ecological consumption. What is more, this paper explores how Chinese consumers choose between prosocial and non-prosocial products under the influence of Chinese face culture.Design/methodology/approachThe authors assume that social value orientation will change individual’s ecological consumption through the in-group identification, and simultaneously predict that the influence in pro-self and pro-social consumer groups will vary. Furthermore, Chinese face consciousness will moderate the relationship between ecological consumption and social value orientation. Online research and intercept survey are employed to collect data. In total, 600 questionnaires were distributed.FindingsThe results indicate that pro-social individuals prefer sustainable consumption than pro-self-individuals, and in-group identification mediates the effect of social value orientation on ecological consumption. Interestingly, pro-self-individuals’ behaviors have changed dramatically by the influence of face consciousness.Originality/valueThe authors discovered that social value orientation has a deep impact on ecological consumption through in-group identification. The authors tested and verified the dominance of Chinese face culture. Besides, four key elements of China’s “face” construct are proposed, namely, holism, synergy, synchronicity and dynamics, which enlarge the horizon of the theory of face.

Understanding Continuance Intention to Use Social Media in China: The Roles of Personality Drivers, Hedonic Value, and Utilitarian Value

ABSTRACTDespite the enormous increase in active users of WeChat, research examining users’ continuance intention based on personality habits and value perceptions is very scarce. To fill this gap, the present study aims to offer a research model which examines the role of four personality drivers, namely, (1) personal innovativeness, (2) face consciousness, (3) need for uniqueness, and (4) ambiguity intolerance in WeChat users’ hedonic and utilitarian value perceptions. Further, our model examines how hedonic and utilitarian value perceptions influence continuance intention. Data were collected from 262 active users of WeChat. Structural equation modeling was employed to test study hypotheses. The findings reveal that personal innovativeness had a positive effect on users’ hedonic value. Face consciousness and need for uniqueness were found to be a strong predictor of both hedonic and utilitarian value. A negative association was found between ambiguity intolerance and utilitarian value. The hedonic and utilitarian value positively affects continuance intention. The authors offer theoretical and practical implications for Information System scholars and practitioners, and close by acknowledging the limitations and future research direction.

How social face consciousness influences corrupt intention: Examining the effects of Honesty–Humility and moral disengagement

ABSTRACTThis study aims to explore the relationship between social face consciousness and corrupt intention. Based on social cognitive theory, we established a mediated moderation model in which Honesty–Humility moderated the link between social face consciousness and corrupt intention, and moral disengagement mediated this moderating effect. Data were collected from an online survey of Chinese adults (N = 1,061) using self-administered questionnaires. Results revealed that Honesty–Humility cushioned the effect of social face consciousness on corrupt intention, such that this effect was stronger for individuals with low Honesty–Humility than for those with high Honesty–Humility. Findings also supported that the moderating effect of Honesty–Humility was partially mediated by moral disengagement. These results not only corroborate the critical role of social face consciousness in influencing corrupt intention but also shed some light on when and how social face consciousness results in corrupt intention. Implications and limitations were also discussed.

Why Does Energy-Saving Behavior Rise and Fall? A Study on Consumer Face Consciousness in the Chinese Context

This research examines the effect of an individual difference variable that reflects the extent to which one desires positive evaluations from others—that is, face consciousness on consumer energy-saving behavior—as well as the mechanism through which the effect occurs and conditions under which it varies. Drawing upon the means-end theory of lifestyles, we propose that face consciousness increases a status-seeking lifestyle and thus decreases energy-saving behavior. Moreover, the negative relationship between status-seeking lifestyle and energy-saving behavior is contingent upon a perceived seriousness of environmental problems and perceived environmental responsibility, such that the indirect and negative effect of such face consciousness is stronger for consumers who perceive less serious environmental problems and less environmental responsibility. Results from an experimental study and a field study using samples of Chinese consumers provide consistent evidence for the hypothesized model. Theoretical and practical implications for energy-saving behavior are also discussed.

Compulsive buying in China: Measurement, prevalence, and online drivers

This research establishes the validity and reliability of the Richmond Compulsive Buying Scale in the Chinese consumer market. Using two different Chinese samples, the scale is able to identify compulsive buyers in China. The prevalence of compulsive buyers in China is found to be 10.4% in a student sample and 29.1% in a general population. In addition to identifying compulsive buyers, six compulsive buyers' motivations to buy online are identified: immediate positive feelings, avoiding social interaction, buying anytime/anywhere, daydreaming, observed buying, and emotional response to receiving online purchases. The Chinese concept of face consciousness (mianzi) can be used to explain the high prevalence of compulsive buying among online buyers in China.

Advance or face

PurposeIn accordance with the traditional ranking of “scholar, farmer, artisan and merchant” in China, entrepreneurs are characterized as having lower social status, and are driven by face consciousness to engage in conspicuous consumption. Education is not only a human capital investment but also a conspicuous consumption good. This study aims to investigate how entrepreneurial households manage their education expenditure differently from non-entrepreneurial households and what the underlying mechanism is.Design/methodology/approachUsing Chinese Household Finance Survey 2011 data, this study empirically examines the education expenditure differentials between entrepreneurial and non-entrepreneurial households. Regression analyses on matched samples are carried out and the results are quite robust across different model specifications.FindingsOn the basis of the empirical analysis, this study finds that entrepreneurial households annually spend 19.30 per cent more on education than non-entrepreneurial households. The empirical results provide no evidence that education generates a greater increase in income for entrepreneurial households than for their non-entrepreneurial counterparts, which indicates that the education expenditure differentials do not result from different income returns to education. The findings show that education is a conspicuous good and the gap in education expenditure is partially attributable to different demands for the conspicuous consumption, which results from different face consciousness between the two kinds of households.Originality/valueThe results of this study reveal the significance and economic consequences of face consciousness for entrepreneurial households from the perspective of education.

The Contextual Process of Consumers’ Face Consciousness, Self-efficacy and Superstitious Belief on Casino Gambling Intention

The Contextual Process of Consumers’ Face Consciousness, Self-efficacy and Superstitious Belief on Casino Gambling Intention

Influence of conspicuous consumption motivation on high-carbon consumption behavior of Residents——An empirical case study of Jiangsu province, China

Abstract High-Carbon Consumption Behavior (HCCB) of urban residents is one of the main obstacles to the goals of low carbon development in China with the rapid development of the national economy. Among all the uptrend influences, the one caused by conspicuous consumption is worth more attention. In this paper, a structural equation model was applied to analyze the impact path of conspicuous consumption motivation on HCCB. Multiple group analysis was then used to test the moderating effect of individual face conscious and demographics on the impact. Our data originated from a social study of Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, China (n = 351). The results indicated four leading aspects. First, the raising habitual HCCB is mainly affected by three points, materialistic hedonism, interpersonal mediation and social status demonstration, and the influence is reduced in successively. While communication of belonging to/dissociation from a group and ostentation have little effect on habitual HCCB. The second, purchased HCCB of residents is mainly impacted positively by materialistic hedonism, and other factors have weak influence on it. The third, face consciousness has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between residents’ conspicuous consumption motivation and HCCB. People with strong face consciousness are more affected by the social status demonstration and interpersonal mediation; those with weak face consciousness are only driven by material hedonism. The last, gender, marital status, age, education level, and household monthly disposable income have significant moderating effects on the relationship. Among them, the HCCB from males, young people, married persons, highly educated people, and higher income groups is more affected by materialistic hedonism, interpersonal mediation, and social status demonstration, while from females with lower education, and lower income groups is more likely to be driven by social status demonstration.

진정성 리더십이 조직시민행동에 미치는 영향 : 자기효능감의 매개효과와 체면의식의 조절효과 검증

진정성 리더십이 조직시민행동에 미치는 영향 : 자기효능감의 매개효과와 체면의식의 조절효과 검증

Experimental study on face consciousness and self-esteem: A study of Japanese university students

Experimental study on face consciousness and self-esteem: A study of Japanese university students