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The purpose of this study is to explore how gender and gender role identity separately and jointly affect managerial aspirations.

The study was cross-sectional in nature. Survey data were collected from Chinese Government sectors. Two-way analysis of variance was used to test the research hypotheses.

The results showed that gender role identity and combination of gender and gender role identity predict management aspirations while gender alone does not affect management aspirations. Androgynous individuals self-reported higher scores of managerial aspirations. Female managers who perceive themselves as androgynous and masculine tend to possess higher management aspirations. However, when they perceive themselves to exhibit feminine traits, they are more likely to hold lower management aspirations. Moreover, male managers with androgynous and feminine traits are inclined to have higher management aspirations.

Due to cross-sectional survey data, research results may be biased by common method variance. In addition, because of a convenient sample, the research results may lack generalizability. Moreover, with participants from different organizations, the percentage of men and women in the organization and participants’ role conflicts between work and family life would impact the gender role identity of individuals. Future research should control for the gender composition of the workplace and participants’ role conflicts between work and family life.

The findings can help narrow the gender gap of managerial aspirations through focusing on gender role identity in selecting managers and designing the leadership training program, ultimately resulting in diminishing disparity in top leadership positions between men and women.

This study examines how gender and gender role identity separately and jointly affects managerial aspirations in the Chinese context.

The authors wanted to assess the relevance of gender and gender role identity in developing managerial ambitions because of the shortage of females in top positions worldwide. The Chinese context was interesting because of the rapid social changes there.

The researchers collected data from participants attending a leadership training programme organized by three Chinese universities in Beijing in 2018. Most were from lower and middle-level managers in various government sectors from all over China. The authors distributed questionnaires with the aid of supervisors.

The study confirmed that individuals of either gender with stereotypically masculine characteristics have higher management aspirations. Results also showed people with androgynous traits tend to be more ambitious to be leaders. But female managers who perceive themselves as androgynous and masculine tend to possess higher management aspirations than females who see themselves as exhibiting feminine traits.

The authors of the study said the results would help companies to reach a better understanding of how to reduce the disparity in numbers of men and women in management positions.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how subjective characteristics of social network sites (SNSs) affect consumers' positive and negative word-of-mouth (WOM) sharing.

The data used for this study were obtained from an online survey with a sample size of 369 consumers. Structural equation modeling was performed to test hypotheses and examine the research questions.

The authors found that the perceived anonymity of an SNS is negatively correlated with its perceived interpersonal closeness of friends, and the number of friends in an SNS is positively correlated with its perceived interpersonal closeness of friends. With regard to positive WOM, the perceived anonymity of the SNS has a significant negative influence on consumers' WOM, and both perceived interpersonal closeness and the number of friends have a significant positive influence on consumers' WOM. But, in the case of negative WOM, only perceived interpersonal closeness of friends has a significant positive influence on consumers' WOM.

When attempting to promote positive WOM, marketers should choose consumers who possess the “right” subjective characteristics of SNSs (i.e. low anonymity, high interpersonal closeness of friends and a large number of friends). At the same time, marketers should monitor the emergence of consumers' negative WOM, especially those consumers who have a high level of interpersonal closeness of friends in SNSs, and respond to the content of negative WOM without delay.

This study investigates the influence that subjective characteristics of SNSs have on consumers' WOM sharing and therefore contributes to the literature on the antecedents of WOM generation and also contributes to the research that compares positive WOM with its negative counterpart.

The objective of this study was to examine the effects of human model backgrounds (concrete backgrounds vs. solid backgrounds) on consumer responses (attention and attitude) and to determine the mechanism and boundary conditions behind such effects.

The research consisted of one eye-tracking experiment and two experimental studies.

The results showed that consumers notice faster and pay more attention to the central figure against solid backgrounds. However, concrete backgrounds elicit more favorable attitudes toward products, and mental imagery mediates the effects of image backgrounds on consumers' attitudes. The authors also found that the situation moderates the relationship between image background and attitude.

The study also supplements the literature on the effects of image backgrounds on consumer responses and the literature on online presentation using human models. Last, the study combines questionnaires with an eye-tracking experiment to obtain a clearer and more comprehensive understanding of the results.

The objective of this study is to examine the effects of pictures (consumer pictures vs. product pictures vs. no pictures) in online consumer reviews on product evaluation and to determine the mechanism and boundary conditions behind such effects.

The research consisted of three laboratory experiments.

The results showed that consumer pictures led to the most favorable product evaluation. Study 1 showed that persuasive effect was the mechanism behind the main effect. Study 2 showed that for problem-solving products, consumer pictures increased product evaluation significantly; for enhancing products, there was no significant difference of product evaluation among consumer pictures, product pictures and no picture. The results of Study 3 showed that for the unfamiliar brand, consumer pictures significantly enhanced product evaluation; for the highly familiar brand, there was no significant difference among consumer pictures, product pictures and no picture. The present research used persuasive effects to examine the mechanism behind the interaction effects.

The study provides managerial implications for online store owners about how to manage pictures in online reviews.

This study supplements the literature on online consumer reviews and enriches the study of effects of pictures.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how informativeness and entertainment, two important online store characteristics, influence consumers’ approach behaviors. The current research also investigates the mechanism and boundary condition behind these relationships.

The study proposed a conceptual framework that included five variables to understand consumers’ approach behaviors toward online stores. By surveying 307 Chinese online shoppers using a comprehensive questionnaire, the authors collected data that were then used to test the hypotheses. Data were examined using regression analysis.

The results showed that online store informativeness and entertainment significantly affected consumers’ approach behaviors. In the relationship between these two online store characteristics and consumers’ approach behaviors, pleasure played a mediating role. Hedonic value moderated the effect of informativeness on consumers’ approach behaviors. However, the moderating role of hedonic value was not significant in the relationship between entertainment and consumers’ approach behaviors.

The present study supplements the research on online store characteristics based on the perception of overall online store environmental cues. This paper also examines the online shopping experience of consumers in emerging markets like China.

Honey peaches are rich in a variety of vitamins and are well known in China as the queen of fruit. However, as highly climacteric fruit, peach is too easy to affect its economic value. In this paper, a new passive modified atmosphere packaging system was proposed to solve the lack of water vapour removal capacity – which is still the technical bottleneck of passive modified atmosphere packaging. This paper aims to address this issue.

Under the conditions of relative humidity 85−90% and temperature 28°C−38°C, the influence of new passive modified atmosphere packaging on the shelf life and quality of 70% ripe peaches was studied in the paper. The effect of the new passive modified atmosphere packaging (PMAP) on fruit appearance, colour, taste, flavour, soluble solids, Vitamin C and titratable acid was investigated.

Regardless of whether 1-Methylcyclopropene is added or not, the research results show that the new PMAP has a significant effect on extending the shelf life and maintaining the quality of peaches. Compared with the control group, the shelf life of peaches treated with modified atmosphere packaging and 1-Methylcyclopropene was prolonged by 7 and 11 days, increasing the retailer's revenue by 44 and 75%.

A new integrated structure, which is composed of two types of films with high oxygen and high water vapour permeability was designed for the retail of peaches at room temperature. The former was mainly responsible for regulating the concentration of O₂ and CO₂, while the latter was for removing water vapour and regulating the relative humidity in PMAP.