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Secret consumption refers to consumption of a product in a private situation, with the intent or behavior of hiding the consumption from others. This study contributes to the secret consumption literature by identifying the antecedents of secret consumption along with the explaining mechanism and boundary condition.

An online study with experiment design was conducted to examine the impact of extroversion/introversion, self-presentation and product scarcity on secrete consumption.

The results show that consumer extraverted disposition and the self-presentation motive negatively influence secret consumption intention and suggest this relationship is explained by the self-presentation need. The findings also revealed that perceived product scarcity attenuated the negative impact of extraversion and self-presentation on secret consumption intention.

The findings provide interesting insights into advertising and retailing. In recognizing that secret consumption is a prevalent phenomenon in consumer behavior that may improve actual consumer product evaluation and preference, retailers or brand managers may encourage consumers to consume secretly.

This empirical study is a first attempt to explore the antecedents, mediating mechanism and boundary condition of consumer intention to engage in secrete consumption. The findings of the study provide important implication to theoretical development and managerial applications in advertising and retailing.

This study aims to investigate diners’ self-presentation mechanism as manifested in foodstagramming. Drawing upon the social cognitive and self-presentation theories, this study develops a conceptual model to examine the relationships among food experiential value (i.e. extrinsic value and intrinsic value), self-efficacy, strategic self-presentation and self-presentation outcomes.

The authors adopt a multi-study approach with two empirical studies (Study 1: tourists, n = 254; Study 2: residents, n = 252) and use partial least squares structural equation modeling to test the proposed model.

The results consistently show significant effects of extrinsic value, intrinsic value and self-efficacy on strategic self-presentation, which subsequently evokes perceived enjoyment and behavioral intention. The impact of food experiential value on self-efficacy varies between tourists and residents. The mediating effects of self-efficacy and strategic self-presentation are also confirmed.

Restaurant managers and destination marketers should acknowledge the importance of food experience as expressive capital and recognize self-presentation as a meaningful tool that links restaurant food experience with consumers’ personal branding. Businesses should strive to create a desired experiential setting shaped by food price, restaurant service, food aesthetics and consumers’ feelings, allowing diners to translate these stimuli into self-presentational resources.

This study dives into an important, yet under-examined, phenomenon of foodstagramming. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to theoretically link food experience to foodstagramming behavior via a self-presentation mechanism. Findings provide important theoretical and managerial implications.

The purpose of this paper is to solve the challenges in knowledge outcome (e.g. knowledge contribution, knowledge exploration) improvement at the post-adoption phase in the context of e-communities. This study develops a model by integrating dedication-constraint framework and self-presentation theory. The model proposes that knowledge outcomes at the post-adoption phase rely on relationship development between community members, conceptualized as commitment. The authors also hypothesize that members’ perceived online self-presentation quality, theorized as personal control and social influence, serves as the key means to motivate members’ commitment.

This study used survey instrument to collect data and adopted partial least squares to test the proposed hypotheses.

The results show that perceived online self-presentation quality positively affects relationship development, which in turn affects continuance intention for knowledge outcomes.

This study expands the dedication-constraint framework by integrating the self-presentation theory. This study contributes new knowledge by proposing a model that delineates the relationship between online self-presentation quality, relationship development, and knowledge outcomes at the post-adoption stage.

This study shows that members’ perceived online self-presentation quality affects both affective commitment and calculative commitment, which in turn affect knowledge outcomes, suggesting the important role of the perceived quality in stimulating a member’s post-adoption reactions.

This study contributes to the research on post-adoption behavior in an e-community context by accounting for the influence of e-community features in self-presentation quality and dedication-constraint mechanisms on post-adoption phenomena.

The primary objectives of the article are to systematically investigate the effects of differentiated functions of WeChat use (social use and recreational use) on university students' online self-presentation, social support and sense of belonging.

The data were collected from a web-based survey on a sample of 485 university students in mainland China. Correlation analyses and structural equation modeling (SEM) were implemented to address the corresponding hypotheses.

The results demonstrate that the social use of WeChat is positively related to online self-presentation, whereas recreational use is unrelated to such behavior. Additionally, the findings verify that online self-presentation is a significant predictor of both social support and sense of belonging. Furthermore, online self-presentation could mediate the influence of social use of WeChat on social support and sense of belonging.

Theoretically, the study represents an initial effort to elucidate the joint impact of differentiated functions of WeChat use and online self-presentation on social support and sense of belonging. Practically, these findings identify the crucial mediation role of online self-presentation in assisting individuals to acquire social support and promote sense of belonging.

Although mobile social media has brought dramatic revolutions in interaction and interpersonal behaviors, the empirically studies regarding the potential influences of its utilization are equivocal. These outcomes may shed meaningful light on the comprehending of unique characteristics of WeChat communication and how it could impact people's psychosocial development in the digital era.

This study aimed to investigate positive associations between three main motivations (social interaction, information and entertainment) for the use of social network sites (SNSs) and users' well-being, as well as the multiple mediating effects of perceived social support, positive and honest self-presentation.

A sample of 759 active users of SNSs (WeChat Moments, Qzone and Weibo) aged 14–43 years was measured with online questionnaires. Correlation analysis and structural equation modeling were implemented to examine the corresponding hypotheses.

The results showed the overall intensity of motivations was positively associated with users' well-being; perceived social support and positive self-presentation played intermediary roles and honest self-presentation and perceived social support had a chain mediation effect. However, the motivations of social interaction, information and entertainment indirectly affected users' well-being through three different mediation paths.

Although some studies have investigated the effects of motivations (including social interaction, information and entertainment) for SNS use on users' well-being, there has not been a consistent conclusion. The findings may shed light on the motivations for SNS use and how they may affect people's well-being in the digital era, thereby promoting their healthy use of SNSs as well as improved interface design and user management of SNSs.

Previous research suggests that self-presentation causes people to have a reflective tendency to produce electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). Drawing on the theory of the reflective-impulsive model (RIM), this paper aims to examine whether self-presentation also could motivate an impulsive tendency to produce eWOM. Self-monitoring is suggested as a possible moderator in the relationship between self-presentation and impulsive eWOM production.

Data were collected based on an online survey of members from a consumer panel. The effective sample size was 574 respondents. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data.

The findings show that self-presentation may drive both impulsive and reflective eWOM tendencies; however, that the relationship between self-presentation and impulsive eWOM tendency is contingent on high levels of self-monitoring.

By including self-monitoring as a moderator, this study is the first to show a relationship between self-presentation and impulsive eWOM production. Moreover, the findings show that both impulsive and reflective eWOM tendencies are associated with an enhanced tendency to produce eWOM, thereby demonstrating the usefulness of the RIM theory in understanding eWOM behavior. Overall, the findings shed light on how companies may stimulate eWOM production, and consequently provide insight into creating more effective eWOM campaigns.

The purpose of this paper is to propose the self-presentation styles of advertising influence consumer self-image, which in turn influence purchase intention.

Using virtual brands as stimuli in a series of experiments, this study collects data on consumer self-image and purchase intention in the conditions of different advertising styles.

While consumer self-image mediates the relationship between advertising self-presentation style and purchase intention, the consumption situation (public vs private) moderates the relationship between self-presentation style, consumer self-image and purchase intention. That is, self-enhancing advertising promotes customers’ ideal self, which in turn increases their purchase intention for publicly consumed products, whereas self-deprecating advertising solicits customers’ real self, which in turn increases their purchase intention for privately consumed products.

This study informs product/brand managers and marketers of the importance of aligning the self-presentation style of advertising with the consumption situation of the product being advertised.

Based on self-consistency theory, this study not only finds a relationship between the self-presentation style of advertising and purchase intention, but also uncovers the mediating role of self-image in this relationship. Furthermore, the relationship chain of “self-presentation style of advertising – self-image – purchase intention” is moderated by the consumption situation of the product. This is one of the first studies to explore the intricacies of these relationships.

This paper examines how and why online daters, differentiated by gender, strategically self-present in online dating profiles when pursuing two competing goals: attracting potential daters and avoiding detection as a liar.

A survey and a content analysis were employed to test four hypotheses.

The results revealed that seeking to project an attractive image in online dating was significantly associated with acquisitive self-presentation. The online daters adopted falsification more than any other strategies, and women were more likely than men to embellish their self-presentation, especially their physical appearance.

The findings clarify people's mate selection processes in light of the interpersonal deception theory (IDT) and the information manipulation theory (IMT) as well as take an evolutionary psychological perspective on computer-mediated communication. For practitioners, they provide a more nuanced picture of deceptive communication in online dating and, for online daters, can guide the adaptation of their online behaviors.

This paper aims to examine the influence of different self-presentation strategies (cultural, personal and informational posts) and interactivity on luxury brands’ social media advertising.

Three pre-tests and a main experiment collected responses from 459 Chinese participants in total.

Cultural posts significantly influenced brand attitudes, interest and purchase intention, and the effects were mediated by perceived reinforcement of the brand’s social media account. Informational posts added to perceived informativeness of the brand’s social media account, but were more likely to trigger a perception that the brand was conservative and distancing itself from consumers. Interactivity increased perceived closeness and reduced perceived inactiveness and conservativeness of the brand’s social media account and subsequently improved brand attitudes. Perception of brand’s social media accountfully mediated the effects of self-presentation strategies and interactivity on brand attitudes, interest and purchase intention.

Self-presentation transfers desirable brand associations to luxury brands, reinforces brand image, and subsequently influences responses to luxury brands. Interactivity largely influences relational perceptions and brand attitudes.

Curating content about brand heritage and culture creates a social media self-presentation that is effective and influential on consumers. Brand and product information satisfies informational needs. Interactivity maintains customer relationship.

A theoretical model of luxury brands’ advertising was generated from the findings.