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This paper aims to examine whether social comparison in a prior, nonconsumption circumstance (e.g. in an academic setting) affects consumers’ materialism and subsequent spending propensity, and explores the incidental feeling of envy as the underlying mechanism.

Four experiments have been conducted to test these hypotheses. Study 1 manipulated social comparison in an academic domain, and measured undergraduate students’ materialism after they compared themselves to a superior student or to an inferior student. Study 2 used a recall task to manipulate social comparison and examine the mediating role of envy. Study 3 examined which of the two types of envy (benign or malicious) affected materialism. Study 4 examined the downstream consequences on spending propensity in both public and private consumption contexts.

The results suggest that consumers place greater importance on material goods and are more likely to spend money on publicly visible products after making upward social comparisons than after making downward social comparisons or no comparisons. Furthermore, envy acts as the mediator for the observed effect of incidental social comparison on materialism.

First, this study improves our understanding of the consequences of social comparison and envy by demonstrating that incidental envy (both benign and malicious) experienced in a prior, unrelated social comparison can motivate materialistic pursuits. Second, the present research contributes to the compensatory consumption literature by revealing that, in a social comparison context, envy is the affective underpinning that gives rise to the motivation to engage in compensatory consumer behavior. Third, the findings also enrich materialism research by exploring an important situational antecedent in driving materialistic orientation.

The purpose of this paper is to explore answers to two research questions: what types of conflicts do top management team (TMT) members in Chinese firms deal with; and what approaches do they take to handle them?

Interview data were collected from 52 TMT members in 16 Chinese entrepreneurial high tech firms, and were transcribed, coded and analyzed according to Thomas's typology of conflict handling approaches.

Results show that conflicts in those TMTs were mostly task‐related and integration/ collaboration was the most frequently used approach to handle conflicts, in contrast to the findings of previous studies with Chinese managers that reported avoidance to be most preferred. It was found that the most preferred approach used in the team also relates to the leadership style of the team leader.

Methodologically, the paper did not apply any quantitative approach to triangulate the findings for greater reliability nor did it propose predictors of any type of conflict‐handling approach. Also, analyses were done at the individual level. However, the results add to the conflict‐resolution literature, and provide insights on conflict resolution processes in Chinese TMTs, which, in turn, will help to understand better Chinese TMT processes.

The results provide very practical guidance to TMTs and help generalize the theories that have been developed based on Western practices.

The study is first of its kind to examine conflict type and conflict handling approaches; and in Chinese high tech firms. It offers some interesting insights to the topic.

This article aims to present the second part of an interview with Dr Xiao-Ping Chen. The focus is on her experience in, and insight on, Chinese management research.

This paper is based on a recent interview with Dr Xiao-Ping Chen.

Dr Xiao-Ping Chen shared her research experience and insight in the following aspects: identifying topics in Chinese management research, collaborating with Chinese domestic scholars, and approaching a research question or idea to make research fruitful with evolving research agenda on Chinese guanxi. She also shared her insights on exploring new research topics vs following or extending others' ideas, and how the gap between research and practice might be bridged.

Dr Chen's research experience and insights provide an exemplary case for junior scholars to deal with the challenges in conducting and publishing Chinese management research, particularly in how to take an “insider's view” in identifying and engaging in interesting and valuable research.

The interview profiles a picture of a scholar in Chinese management research.

The purpose of this study is to promote Chinese indigenous research by examining a case in which adopting social capital (SC) scales developed in the Western context for Chinese samples can decontextualize inter-firm guanxi management in the Chinese context.

Adopting the existing Western scales to measure SC, we collected data from Chinese executives participating in executive master of business administration programs on buyer–supplier relationship. Using the same items and data source, we identified post hoc factors representing guanxi dimensions. Ordinary least squared regressions were used for both guanxi and SC dimensions to test the hypotheses.

Our analysis showed that Chinese natives responded to the Western SC items according to their understanding and mindsets rooted in guanxi. This was evidenced by the results from the post hoc-derived guanxi dimensions with the same data, which show better regression results for the hypotheses tested, although the construct validity was comparable. Adopting Western SC measurement scales deconceptualized the intricate Chinese context and inter-firm interactions.

It is inappropriate to borrow Western-developed scales for Chinese HRM research due to intricate differences in contexts. Doing so may run the risk of ignoring the Chinese context regarding the mechanisms and processes of complex human interactions, although it may produce superficial results consistent with the Western literature. Developing indigenous measurement scales should be considered not only as a preference but also as a requirement for Chinese management research.

We empirically compared the difference between Western-developed measurement scales and a Chinese indigenous construct, as well as their impact on relationship management in relation to indigenous Chinese management research.

This study aims to follow a rigorous approach to identify, critically analyze and synthesize 75 papers published from 2000 to 2022.

The study presents a systematic literature review on identity expressiveness (IE), clarifying and expanding what is currently known about the concept.

To synthesize current knowledge on IE, the study uses the overarching framework of antecedents-phenomenon-consequences, using this same framework to identify gaps and future research directions. The findings show individual and brand-related factors such as the need for uniqueness and anthropomorphism as antecedents of IE, and eWOM/WOM, impulse purchases and upgrading to more exclusive lines as consequences of IE.

The study contributes to theory by synthesizing and mapping current understanding of the state of knowledge on the concept of IE while highlighting gaps in the extant literature and paving future research directions for scholars in the field.

The study offers useful insights for practitioners, broadening marketers’ actionable options in identity-based marketing. Marketers can use insights from this study to inform marketing strategy and communication campaigns for different types of brands.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind and offers an integrative review of the current literature on IE, thus enhancing understanding of the concept, its antecedents and consequences. The study also contributes to knowledge by highlighting future research priorities for researchers in this field of enquiry.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and apply accurate and original models to understand and analyze the effects of the fabrication temperatures on thermal-induced stress and speed performance of nano positively doped metal oxide semiconductor (pMOS) transistors.

The speed performances of nano pMOS transistors depend strongly on the mobility of holes, which itself depends on the thermal-induced extrinsic stress σ. The author uses a finite volume method to solve the proposed system of partial differential equations needed to calculate the thermal-induced stress σ accurately.

The thermal extrinsic stress σ depends strongly on the thermal intrinsic stress σ₀, thermal intrinsic strain ε₀, elastic constants C11 and C12 and the fabrication temperatures. In literature, the effects of fabrication temperatures on C11 and C12 needed to calculate thermal-induced stress σ₀ have been ignored. The new finding is that if the effects of fabrication temperatures on C11 and C12 are ignored, then, the values of stress σ₀ and σ will be overestimated and, then, not accurate. Another important finding is that the speed performance of nano pMOS transistors will increase if the fabrication temperature of silicon-germanium films used as stressors is increased.

To predict correctly the thermal-induced stress and speed performance of nano pMOS transistors, the effects of fabrication temperatures on the elastic constants required to calculate the thermal-induced intrinsic stress σ₀ should be taken into account.

There are three levels of originalities. The author considers the effects of the fabrication temperatures on extrinsic stress σ, intrinsic stress σ₀ and elastic constants C11 and C12.

The purpose of this study is to modify guar gum (GG) into guar gum acetate (GGA) and phthaloyl guar gum (PHGG) by transesterification and phthaloylation, respectively.

GG has been modified into GGA through transesterification reaction between GG and vinyl acetate and PHGG through esterification reaction with phthalic anhydride. The modified GG was characterized by solubility test, Fourier-transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy, proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and thermogravimetric analysis. Swelling properties of GGA and PHGG hydrogels in water were evaluated.

These two types of modified GG have better solubility such as in dimethyl sulfoxide and N,N-dimethylformamide but no true organosolubility was achieved. The modifications were confirmed through FTIR with new absorption peaks at 1,733 cm⁻¹ for GGA and 1,709 cm⁻¹ for PHGG coupled with observed substitution peaks at 1.80 to 2.20 ppm and 7.40 to 7.90 ppm, respectively, from ¹H NMR spectroscopies. XRD revealed both GGA and PHGG are less crystalline than native GG. GGA was found to be more thermally stable than native GG, whereas PHGG was slightly less thermally stable than native GG. The swelling property in distilled water for native GG, PHGG and GGA was 918.43 ± 46.62%, 537.04 ± 2.87% and 393.04 ± 13.42%, respectively.

The GGA and PHGG hydrogels are expected to be useful for biomedical fields such as tissue engineering and drug-delivery.

Modifications of native GG into GGA using vinyl acetate and PHGG using phthalic anhydride are novel.