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Despite the growing research into luxury symbolism and its influence on consumer behavior, few studies have investigated the underlying psychological processes that occur in different cultural contexts. This study investigates the relationships among luxury symbolism, psychological underpinnings of self-congruity, self-affirmation and customer loyalty, especially regarding how these relationships differ between consumers in China and those in the US.

Sample data were collected through surveys administered to 653 participants (327 in China and 326 in the US). A multi-group structural equation model was adopted to examine the conceptual model and proposed hypotheses.

The results show that luxury symbolism positively influences self-consistency, social consistency, social approval and self-esteem, and subsequently impacts self-affirmation and customer loyalty. However, for US consumers, self-esteem and social approval have significantly negative impacts on self-affirmation, while for Chinese consumers, social approval has no significant impact on self-affirmation. The authors also find that interdependent self-construal positively moderates the relationship between luxury symbolism, and social approval and social consistency. Independent self-construal positively moderates the relationship between luxury symbolism and self-consistency, and negatively influences the relationship between luxury symbolism and self-esteem.

Based on the theory of self-congruity and self-affirmation, this study fills a literature gap by revealing the psychological underpinnings regarding luxury symbolism and customer loyalty. It extends extant studies in luxury consumption by introducing self-construal (independent self vs interdependent self) as an important cultural moderator in luxury symbolism. This paper provides insights for luxury practitioners to create efficient marketing strategies by satisfying consumers' psychological needs in different cultures.

This paper aims to identify the role of blogs in helping women victims of intimate partner sexual violence to restore their self-integrity.

The authors’ research uses an interpretive stance, supported by motivational and “self” theories to analyze 33 blogs reporting the experiences of women in Brazil who suffered sexual violence perpetrated by an intimate partner.

This study identifies the reasons why women who suffer violence from intimate partners write blog posts. It also develops an analytical framework that bridges the gap between the design and use of IT-artifacts and the context of sexual violence from an intimate partner. Women who suffer violence from intimate partners look for blogs in order to find a safe space for expression, a knowledge hub and a social support network. Blogs play a pivotal role in supporting the journey of reconstructing their self-integrity.

The results help to understand the role of blogs in helping victims in vulnerable situations trying to restore their self-integrity. It also contributes to improve the design and functionality of such platforms as an important resource for social support networks.

This study shows the positive impact of blogs as a tool to support victims in the process of restoring their self-integrity.

This study aims to promote the use of digital artifacts such as blogs as a complementary instrument to fight violence against women.

The analytical framework used in this paper helps to understand the role of IT-artifacts in the context of sexual violence from an intimate partner.

We review the interventions that promote motivation in academic contexts, with a focus on two primary questions: How can we motivate students to take more STEM courses? Once in those STEM courses, how can we keep students motivated and promote their academic achievement?

We have approached these two motivational questions from several perspectives, examining the theoretical issues with basic laboratory research, conducting longitudinal questionnaire studies in classrooms, and developing interventions implemented in different STEM contexts. Our research is grounded in three theories that we believe are complementary: expectancy-value theory (Eccles & Wigfield, 2002), interest theory (Hidi & Renninger, 2006), and self-affirmation theory (Steele, 1988). As social psychologists, we have focused on motivational theory and used experimental methods, with an emphasis on values – students’ perceptions of the value of academic tasks and students’ personal values that shape their experiences in academic contexts.

We review the experimental field studies in high-school science and college psychology classes, in which utility-value interventions promoted interest and performance for high-school students in science classes and for undergraduate students in psychology courses. We also review a randomized intervention in which parents received information about the utility value of math and science for their teens in high school; this intervention led students to take nearly one semester more of science and mathematics, compared with the control group. Finally, we review an experimental study of values affirmation in a college biology course and found that the intervention improved performance and retention for first-generation college students, closing the social-class achievement gap by 50%. We conclude by discussing the mechanisms through which these interventions work.

These interventions are exciting for their broad applicability in improving students’ academic choices and performance, they are also exciting regarding their potential for contributions to basic science. The combination of laboratory experiments and field experiments is advancing our understanding of the motivational principles and almost certainly will continue to do so. At the same time, interventions may benefit from becoming increasingly targeted at specific motivational processes that are effective with particular groups or in particular contexts.

This paper aims to examine the effect of self-reflection on employee creativity in China. The authors identify individual intellectual capital (IIC) as a mediator and concerns for face as a moderator for this relationship.

A sample of 351 dyads of full-time employees and their immediate supervisors from various Chinese companies were surveyed. Regression analysis and structural equation modeling were used to test the research model.

Three dimensions of self-reflection significantly affect IIC and subsequently lead to employee creativity; IIC mediates the relationship between three dimensions of self-reflection and employee creativity; concern for face negatively moderates the effect of IIC on employee creativity.

Managers can facilitate employees’ creativity by motivating them to conduct self-reflection and develop IIC, and by nurturing a safe atmosphere that allows individuals to take risks without losing face.

This is one of the first empirical studies to investigate the mediating effects of IIC and the moderating effects of concerns for face on the relationship between self-reflection and creativity.

Employing cognitive dissonance theory, this study examines how consumers’ preexisting attitudes toward an issue, value involvement with the issue and consumer-company identification (CCI) influence their reactions to corporate social advocacy (CSA) through cognitive dissonance.

Study 1 conducted a 2 (CSA position: pro vs anti) × 3 (preexisting issue attitude: pro vs neutral vs anti) online quasi-experiment. The CSA messages were created in the context of same-sex marriage(s). Study 2 tested the hypotheses using an online survey in the context of gun control.

The results indicated that a conflict between consumers’ preexisting attitudes and a corporation’s stance on a controversial issue led to cognitive dissonance, which further led to consumers’ perceptions of the corporation being biased in both studies. Study 1 and Study 2 suggested a mixed effect of cognitive dissonance on participants’ inclination to disidentify with the corporation. Preexisting CCI appeared to have a direct negative influence on cognitive dissonance; however, value involvement and preexisting CCI were not found to significantly enhance the influence of consumers’ attitudes toward CSA on cognitive dissonance.

The study first extended the theoretical discussion of cognitive dissonance to a trendy strategic communication context. The results help public relations practitioners to better understand the segmented public groups and the risk of taking a stance on controversial issues.

The study integrates organizational demography theory into person-environment fit theories to question the assumption that all employees can afford to strive for person-environment fit. The ethnic/racial diversity in organizations is investigated as a boundary condition in order to develop implications to mitigate the challenges of employees with precarious jobs, especially persons of color (POCs), in the society.

Publicly accessible and objective data from organizations in the S&P 1500 index were collected through Compustat, ExecuComp, the Bloomberg Terminal and the websites of Fortune, the United States Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Labor. A path analysis of time-lagged data was performed to support causal relationships between the examined constructs while controlling for alternative explanations.

Unsafe working conditions moderate the U-shaped relationship between ethnic/racial diversity and turnover and turn it into an inverted U-shaped relationship because employees in precarious jobs, especially POCs, cannot afford to leave unsafe working conditions. Organizations with unsafe working conditions are more likely to invest in sustainability initiatives. However, organizations' financial performance does not benefit from this investment.

The circumstance that not all employees can afford person-environment fit and its organizational outcomes are identified and empirically tested. Scholars can integrate this boundary condition in future research. Implications for practice and policy are also derived.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of self-affirmation on African American smokers' intentions to quit smoking sooner and desire to stop smoking altogether in response to viewing graphic cigarette warning labels. It also tested the mediating role of perceived susceptibility and self-efficacy in explaining the impact of self-affirmation.

African American smokers (N = 158) were recruited to participate in a controlled experiment. Participants first completed a short questionnaire about their demographic background and smoking-related attitudes and behavior. They were then randomly assigned to engage in either a self-affirmation task or a control task and viewed two graphic cigarette warning labels subsequently. Participants then responded to a questionnaire about their perceived susceptibility to smoking-related diseases, perceived self-efficacy to quit smoking, intentions to quit smoking and desire to stop smoking altogether.

Results showed that engaging in self-affirmation prior to exposure to graphic cigarette warning labels increased African American smokers' perceived susceptibility to smoking-related diseases, but decreased their perceived self-efficacy to quit smoking. Furthermore, self-affirmation indirectly enhanced smokers' intentions to quit smoking sooner and desire to stop smoking altogether through increased perceived susceptibility. It also had an unexpected negative indirect effect on intentions to quit smoking sooner through decreased self-efficacy.

This study is one of the few studies that investigates the effect of self-affirmation on African American smokers' responses toward graphic cigarette warning labels.

Previous research has demonstrated that affirming an individual’s self-worth in intrinsic, stable aspects (e.g. personal attributes) enhances their pro-relationship tendencies, as compared to affirming extrinsic aspects of the individual (e.g. performance). This is especially so among people in certain dissatisfying relationships (e.g. romantic relationships). Extending this finding to organizational contexts, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of affirmation type (intrinsic vs extrinsic affirmations) on responses to workplace offenses among employees with high versus low job satisfaction.

Studies 1 (N = 224) and 2 (N = 358) examined the effects of intrinsic versus extrinsic affirmations on responses to hypothetical and real workplace offenses. Furthermore, to compare the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic affirmations to the baseline level, Study 3 (N = 441) added a control condition and examined the effects of affirmation type (intrinsic vs extrinsic vs control) on responses to workplace offenses.

For employees with low (but not high) job satisfaction, (1) intrinsic (vs extrinsic) affirmations promoted more prosocial responses (forgiveness and reconciliation) to workplace offenses; (2) although not as effective as intrinsic affirmations, extrinsic affirmations (vs baseline) also triggered prosocial intentions toward workplace offenses.

First, the study enriches the literature on workplace offenses by focusing on an individual-level factor – self-worth – that can be intervened (e.g. affirming one’s self-worth) by organizations and managers so as to promote prosocial responses to workplace offenses. Second, the study expands the scope of the self-affirmation theory in organizational contexts by examining the effectiveness of intrinsic and extrinsic affirmations in coping with workplace offenses. Third, practically speaking, the study provides a brief intervention (the writing task of describing an intrinsic or extrinsic affirmation experience) that can boost pro-relationships in the workplace.

Achievement motivation is not a fixed quantity. Rather, it depends, in part, on one’s subjective construal of the learning environment and their place within it – their narrative. In this paper, we describe how brief interventions can maximize student motivation by changing the students’ narratives.

We review the recent field experiments testing the efficacy of social-psychological interventions in classroom settings. We focus our review on four types of interventions: ones that change students’ interpretations of setbacks, that reframe the learning environment as fair and nonthreatening, that remind students of their personal adequacy, or that clarify students’ purpose for learning.

Such interventions can have long-lasting benefits if changes in students’ narratives lead to initial achievement gains, which further propagate positive narratives, in a positive feedback loop. Yet social-psychological interventions are not magical panaceas for poor achievement. Rather, they must be targeted to specific populations, timed appropriately, and given in a context in which students have opportunities to act upon the messages they contain.

Social-psychological interventions can help many students realize their achievement potential if they are integrated within a supportive learning context.

The rapid innovation of artificial intelligence (AI) technology promotes the prosperity of the AI product market. However, consumers seem to have negative attitudes (e.g. prejudice, aversion) toward AI products and services. Those negative attitudes are rooted in the fear that AI might replace humans. The authors thus propose that turning the image of AI from substitutes to facilitators can alleviate identity threat perception. This paper aims to examine how the image of AI products (facilitators vs substitutes) influences consumer evaluation and explores the underlying mechanism and boundary conditions.

This study uses four experiments with between-subjects designs to investigate whether the image of AI products (facilitators vs substitutes) will affect consumer evaluation in specific consumption and service scenarios. The same products (or services) were manipulated as “substitute” or “facilitator” through advertisement slogans. Participants were randomly assigned to a condition and read the advertisement, then they reported their evaluation. The mediator perceived identity threat and the moderator preconceived perceptions of AI risks were measured by scales. The moderator, self-affirmation, was manipulated through the instruction of the experiment.

This study demonstrates that consumers give higher evaluation of AI products in the image of the facilitator than in the image of the substitute (Study 1). The underlying mechanism is that the perceived identity threat caused by “facilitator” products is lower than “substitute” products (Study 2). The effect of AI image is moderated by consumers’ preconceived perceptions of AI risks (Study 3) and self-affirmation (Study 4). Specifically, for consumers who have a strong AI risk-perception, this effect exists, but it disappears for consumers who have a weak AI risk perception. When consumers are given a strong self-affirmation, the negative impact of the “substitute” image disappears.

This paper analyzes the psychological root of consumers’ negative evaluation of AI technology from the perspective of AI’s image. The proposed typology of “substitutes” and “facilitators” helps expand the vision on brand/product image and enriches the research on consumer self-identity in today’s highly informatized market. The findings shed light on how to choose appropriate image for AI products, which will be crucial for increasing consumers’ acceptance of AI products.