A major challenge facing female sportscasters resides in their being frequently judged based on physical appearance. However, little is known about the influence of audience perceptions of female sports podcasters’ physical attractiveness when their image is unavailable. Drawing from source credibility and social role theories, the present study employed a posttest-only quasi-experimental design to examine whether Chinese female sports podcasters’ auditory cuteness influences audience perceptions of their credibility, information satisfaction, and podcast continuance intentions. Results demonstrate that female podcaster auditory cuteness is positively connected with audience information satisfaction and perceived attractiveness, both of which further predict perceived expertise. Moreover, audience gender role beliefs dampen their perceived expertise, which along with information satisfaction, is positively associated with podcast continuance intentions. Finally, stronger gender role believers rely more on perceived attractiveness when rating the female sportscaster’s expertise—and less on perceived expertise—when evaluating their podcast continuance intentions.

The current study drew from emotional contagion and source credibility theories to investigate whether watching differentially sourced panda videos may influence attitudes toward the “brand” image of China. An experiment (N = 245) conducted with a U.S. college student sample showed that perceived source credibility and nature relatedness were positively linked to emotional response toward the video. A non-governmental video source was perceived to be more credible than a governmental video source in influencing attitude toward Chinese culture, emotional response toward the video, and attitude toward wildlife conservation. The latter two variables and nature relatedness likewise positively predicted attitude toward Chinese culture, which in turn had a positive effect on attitude toward Chinese people; attitude toward Chinese people further positively affected attitude toward Chinese government. These findings suggest that panda diplomacy as a soft-power nation-branding device might have been relatively effective in building goodwill toward Chinese culture, people, and government overtime.

The past several decades have witnessed China’s urbanization. In keeping with the one-child policy, many Chinese parents have become empty nesters at a younger age when their only children leave home for further development. Drawing from uses and gratifications and self-determination theories, the current study utilized an online survey to investigate whether Chinese midlife empty-nest parents differ in their WeChat learning and gaming behaviors from those non-empty nesters. Results showed that midlife empty-nest parents were lonelier, played more WeChat mini-games, and engaged in fewer learning activities than non-empty nesters. Loneliness increased WeChat gaming while reducing motivation to learn which, in turn, drove learning activities on WeChat. A positive relationship between loneliness and WeChat learning existed only among highly proficient WeChat users. <!----> <!----> <!----> <!---->