Social media advertising strategies, including using traditional celebrity endorsers and micro-celebrity influencers, are prevalent marketing tools. However, the trend of using virtual influencers to endorse products is a novel potential way to attract young consumers. This present study aims to analyze the influence of the three types of endorsers (traditional celebrity, micro-celebrity, and virtual influencers) source credibility (i.e., physical attractiveness, expertise, and trustworthiness) on the purchase intention of the Chinese Generation Z, under varying levels of product involvement, through the mediating effect of emotional attachment. The Hayes Process Macro was used as a statistical analysis tool for our research propositions. Overall, our findings highlight the effectiveness of attachment theory in social media endorsement advertisements. Furthermore, these findings can guide marketers, who desire to respond to the purchase trends of Generation Z, to adjust their marketing strategies accordingly.

In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic devasted public health agencies and the federal government across the world. Bridging the gap between underserved populations and the healthcare system, the donation-based crowdfunding campaign has opened a new way for suffering individuals and families to access broader social network platforms for financial and non-financial assistance. Despite the growing popularity of crowdfunding during the pandemic crisis, little research has explored the various signals that attract potential donors to donate. This study explores the effects of signaling theory on the success of a crowdfunding campaign for food relief launched in GoFundMe during which the United States was severely affected by the pandemic with a surged number of coronavirus infected cases from 1 March with 134 confirmed COVID-19 infected cases to 29 July with 4,295,308 infected cases according to World Health Organization. The following results show that the three different signal success measures are important to the success of crowdfunding campaigns: (1) signals originating from the campaign (Title, Description, Spelling Error, Location, and Picture); (2) signals originating from the fundraiser (Social Network, and Update); and (3) signals originating from the social interaction of the fundraiser with the crowd (Comment, Follower, and Share). These findings provide insight and bring additional knowledge contribution to the crowdfunding literature.

Global trends towards men grooming behavior about their appearance are considered as one of the drivers behind the growing popularity of cosmetic products. Previous research on male cosmetics has focused much effort on the effect of factors on the attitude of male consumers towards the consumption of cosmetics with very little emphasis on hedonic and utilitarian value. This study investigates the mediating impact of two values: hedonic and utilitarian values between independent variables (brand reliability, facial attractiveness value, male identity reflection value, and health care value) and dependent variable (purchase intention). Both hedonic and utilitarian values are found to influence all proposed variables. The results also support predicted differences in the relative influence of hedonic and utilitarian values on male consumption of cosmetics.

Chinese men are now confronted by the very same pressures that women have faced in attempting to attain the ideal physical appearance which leads to more men are spending money on skincare products. This paper applies the ABC (affect-behavior-cognition) model of attitudes and aims to identify factors that influence the affective and cognitive attitude of young Chinese male consumers towards purchasing intention of men’s facial care products. The conceptual model was tested using sets of questionnaires that are distributed to male university students. The total sample consists of 402 respondents. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used as a statistical method to assess the statistical significance of the proposed relationships among sets of observed variables. The results indicated that social recognition, social expectation, and word-of-mouth significantly influence Chinese young men affective component to buy facial care products, while cognition component successfully mediated between word-of-mouth, aesthetic appearance, health concern, and purchase intention. Although facial care products are traditionally associated with women, the current research contributes to knowledge of the importance and trend of the men’s facial care segment in Asia.

In 2016, China increased sustainability practices among companies listed on China’s stock market, making environmental regulations one of their integral policies. This states that highly polluting industries like the energy industry are required to comply with the sustainability requirements set. Concerning this event, research was conducted in 2016 to 2017, on the development of environmental disclosure (ED) practices in China and the impact of different variables on environmental disclosure index (EDI). Focusing on 150 energy companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchange, the findings show that if the company had a better ROA, firm size, leverage and environmental accreditation certificate, they would like to publish more relevant environmental information.

Chinese consumers have shown a strong preference for foreign brands (FBs) for many years. However, in recent years, rising patriotism has spurred Chinese consumers to source locally, indicating a shift in preference for patriotic brands (PBs). FBs operating in the world’s second-largest market are now framing their marketing strategies to appeal more to Chinese consumers. This study examines two culturally mixed co-branded product (CMCP) framing strategies:foreign × hostculture (FB × PB) andhost × foreignculture (PB × FB). The results show that the effects of product fit and cultural congruence on co-branding attitude forPB × FBis stronger than that ofFB × PB, and the influence of brand fit on co-branding attitude forFB × PBis stronger than that ofPB × FB. Additionally, the impact of the co-branding attitude on cultural sensitivity was significant forPB × FB, whereas that on product quality was significant for FB × PB. Furthermore, the effects of co-branding attitude on purchase probability were significant for both types of CMCP framing (FB × PB < PB × FB). Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the preferences of 479 Chinese consumers. This study provides significant recommendations for FBs and PBs to benefit from a strong wave of patriotism in China through culturally mixed framing and glocalization co-branding strategies.