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The 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.

The 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.

The 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.

The 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.

This paper aims to examine the effect of face consciousness on purchase intention of organic food, to test whether this relationship would be moderated by purchase situation (group vs individual) and advertising appeal (altruistic vs egoistic), and to explain the mediating role of perceived social value in these moderating effects.

Four between-subjects experiments were carried out (N = 123, N = 126, N = 130, N = 123) by using online questionnaires. Measured variables were introduced to assess participants' face consciousness, perceived social value and purchase intention. Two manipulated between-subjects variable were introduced to test how purchase situation (group vs individual) and advertising appeal (altruistic vs egoistic) moderates the relationship between face consciousness and purchase intention of organic food. SPSS Statistics 24 was used for the analysis of all experimental data.

Consumers with high face consciousness were more willing to buy organic food. Compared with the individual situation, face consciousness had a stronger impact on the purchase intention when the individual was in a group situation. Compared with egoistic appeals, face consciousness had a stronger impact on the purchase intention when the advertising appeal was altruistic. Perceived social value partly mediated the moderating effect of purchase situation and advertising appeal.

This study validates previous contributions on the effect of face consciousness on purchase intention of organic food and extends them by introducing two moderating variables. Additionally, it introduces perceived social value as a mediating variable to explain the mechanism of this effect.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Drawing from impression management theory, this study examines how the leader's negative feedback affects the employees' creative process engagement (CPE) and whether impression management motivation plays a mediating role in this process. In addition, the moderating role of face consciousness is analyzed in the relationship between negative feedback and impression management motivation.

A time-lagged design with three data-collection points was implemented based on a dataset of two studies of follower–leader pairs (Ns = 165, 30 and 682, 89) in China. Ordinary least squares regression analyses were conducted to test the hypotheses.

The leader's negative feedback positively affected employees' CPE via impression management motivation. The relationship was stronger when face consciousness salience was high.

This study suggests that negative feedback is also valuable. Supervisors should learn how to stimulate employees' impression management motivation when delivering negative feedback and ensure that employees know that CPE can bring help and status rewards. Moreover, supervisors may consider using face strategies when providing negative feedback.

This study provides new insights into the association between the leader's negative feedback and employees' CPE by impression management as a psychological mechanism and face consciousness as an important boundary condition. It lays a foundation for further systematic research on CPE based on sociological theory.

Although employee overqualification is a common occurrence in the workplace, most research has focused on overqualification at the individual level rather than at the team level. Drawing on social cognitive theory, this study aimed to uncover how leaders' perception of team overqualification influenced their cognition and follow-up behavior.

We performed two studies to test our model. In Study 1, we conducted an experiment to examine the causal relationship between leaders' perception of team overqualification and leadership self-efficacy. In Study 2, a two-wave field study was conducted to test the overall model based on a sample obtained from a steel company in China.

We found that leaders' perception of team overqualification reduced leadership self-efficacy, which in turn hindered leaders' empowering behavior. In addition, leaders' social face consciousness strengthened the negative relationship between leaders' perception of team overqualification and leadership self-efficacy, such that the relationship was more negative when leaders' social face consciousness was high rather than low.

Our study contributes to the literature on employee overqualification and its effects on leaders through investigation at the team level to show how leaders respond to overqualified teams.

This study aimed two objectives: The first objective was to explore carriers' intentions to use cargo electric vehicles (EVs) and the factors influencing these intentions in last-mile delivery (LMD). The other objective was to provide recommendations for policymakers and manufacturers to promote and customize cargo EVs to meet the requirements of carriers in the LMD sector.

In this study the authors constructed a research framework that adjusted and extended the original technology acceptance model (TAM). The proposed model combines eight psychological factors, including attitude, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived risk, public engagement, face consciousness, financial incentive policy and carrier intention, in which four factors, namely attitude, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and intention, were obtained from the original TAM and the four remaining factors, namely perceived risk, public engagement, face consciousness and financial incentive policy, were added.

The results showed that psychological factors such as attitude, perceived ease of use, perceived risk, public engagement and face consciousness might affect carriers' intentions to use electric cargo vehicles in LMD service in Vietnamese cities. These results agree with the previous studies and confirm that attitude, perceived ease of use, perceived risk, public engagement and face consciousness might be important for shaping intention to use electric cargo vehicles in emerging markets.

This study has several limitations, first, the data were collected in Vietnam, a country with weak academic contributions. Therefore, these findings might not be generalizable to other areas. The authors expect to apply the same research framework to other countries to explore the similarities and differences across the countries. Second, the authors conducted the surveys in three cities; except for Hanoi, the other two cities are not really large markets in the LMD service sector. Third, the authors ignored the relationship between the demographic characteristics and electric cargo vehicles. Further studies should address this gap.

Based on the findings, manufacturers should ensure the high-quality performance of electric cargo vehicles in terms of extending driving range and shortening recharging time. Policymakers should develop the roadmaps for electric cargo vehicles, starting from switching from conventional cargo motorcycles to electric motorcycles. In addition, developing public charging infrastructure should be prioritized, which is the fundamental basis for operating electric cargo vehicles. Finally, manufacturers should research and develop a product that would improve the reputation of carriers because carriers with higher face consciousness are more likely to pursue brand-name and high-priced products in order to enhance their reputation.

This study contributes to the literature in two aspects: First, the authors investigated intentions to use electric cargo vehicles in LMD service, which is rare from other studies, and they further identified the psychological determinants of carriers' intentions. Second, the findings increase the knowledge of carriers' intentions and suggest implications for policymakers and manufacturers to promote the adoption of electric cargo vehicles in last-mile deliver service.

This study examines the effect of five price perception dimensions (price consciousness, price mavenism, sale proneness, price-quality schema, and prestige sensitivity) on consumer's perceived value (acquisition value, and transaction value), and how perceived value affects consumers' behavioral intentions (purchase intentions, and intentions to recommend). It also examines the moderation role of face consciousness.

A quantitative research methodology using online survey technique is employed to collect cross-cultural data from respondents from China (n = 371) and Egypt (n = 384). Structural equation model (SEM) via SmartPLS v.3.2.9 is conducted to analyze data.

The results show that consumers’ behavioral intentions toward suboptimal fresh produce are positively affected by both dimensions of perceived value. As well as, perceived value is influenced by different price perception dimensions. Moreover, face consciousness partially moderates the relationship between perceived value and behavioral intentions.

To best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first study to associate price perception dimensions with purchase value dimensions in the context of suboptimal products. It also contributes to utility and purchase value theory by employing the distinct measures of both perceived acquisition value and transaction value, to enable us to obtain a better understanding of the whole picture of perceived value. In addition, it contributes to regulatory focus theory through the inclusion of face consciousness in the purchase value model. Moreover, up to the researchers' knowledge, prior investigation on these issues in Egypt and China as a cross-cultural research does not exist.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between supervisor-subordinate deep-level similarity and employee taking charge behavior. Face consciousness (FC) and managerial competency of inclusion (MCI) are examined as moderators.

Responses from 193 employees and 51 supervisors were examined using hierarchical linear analysis to assess the relationship between the study variables because employee responses were nested within supervisor.

Supervisor-subordinate deep-level similarity is positively associated with employee taking charge behavior. Employee FC moderates the relationship between deep-level similarity and taking charge. MCI also moderates the relationships between deep-level similarity and taking charge.

The study is cross-sectional; longitudinal studies are needed to examine the relationships among study variables over time. This work should also be extended to the western context. The findings highlight deep-level similarity as predictive of taking charge while also identifying MCI and FC as important for understanding what predicts taking charge.

The findings can be used to develop managerial training programs that foster competency of inclusion. It is possible to develop organizational interventions (selection and training) to maximize employees and manager congruence/fit.

This study is a novel contribution that investigates facet of proactive behaviors. Examining the moderating roles of FC and MCI further elucidates how similarity fosters taking charge behaviors.

Synthesizing the unique Confucian cultural values and the common characteristics of emerging markets, the purpose of this paper is to examine how face drives consumers’ attitudes toward global consumer culture positioning (GCCP) as well as the moderating roles of social aggrandizement and susceptibility to normative influence (SNI).

The authors adopt the total effect moderation model to test the hypotheses using data collected from China.

The results show that face positively affects consumers’ attitudes toward GCCP through enhancing their pursuit for global myth. In addition, social aggrandizement positively moderates the influence of face on pursuit for global myth. SNI positively moderates the influence of pursuit for global myth on attitudes toward GCCP.

The findings of this study highlight the need to utilize local powers to promote brands globally and provide guidelines for “Think Globally, Act Locally” in Confucian societies.

This study represents an important step in the global branding literature regarding the advancement of culturally driven attitudes toward GCCP by taking root in the Confucian culture.

The continuous evolution of e-commerce with young consumers’ growing interest in online shopping has transformed the retail landscape across the world. With the surge in online sales, counterfeits of luxury goods have also found themselves from brick-and-mortar shelves to online e-commerce sites. Against this backdrop, this study aims to understand and analyse young consumers’ online counterfeit purchase behaviour (OCPB). Additionally, it also aims at identifying the determinants that influence their purchase decisions.

Following an extensive review of the literature, the present study pursued a quantitative approach in exploring critical demographic, psychographic, behavioural and situational factors influencing OCPB. The study was conducted in India through an online survey using a structured questionnaire.

The findings indicate that young consumers’ OCPB is significantly related to influencing factors like brand consciousness, fashion involvement, face consciousness, impulsive buying tendency, acquisition centrality and utilitarian shopping values. Furthermore, moderating effects of perceived anonymity (PA) and moral disengagement (MD) on OCPB were also observed and validated.

The study examined the critical factors and their linkages while building upon a structural framework on OCPB, keeping India as a representative sample. The proposed framework will bring more clarity and further insights that will help scholars expand the research domain with more cross-cultural studies and aid brand e-marketers to strategize their action towards developing strong brand aesthetic values.

The study contributes towards the literature by introducing PA and MD vis-à-vis building a framework for studying young consumers’ OCPB.