Binyao Ning

Agricultural livestreaming often struggles to convert viewers from passive spectators into active co-creators of value. Guided by Social Cognitive Theory, this study examines whether and how viewers’ psychological engagement functions as the consumer-side mechanism that links perceived livestream cues to product-centered participation. A structural model was developed integrating streamer characteristics (i.e., credibility, likability, rural identity salience), product attributes (i.e., information, quality, cost-value ratio), and scene features (i.e., authenticity, transparency). Data from a survey of 479 Chinese viewers underwent analysis via PLS-SEM. Findings indicate that all cues except likability exert a substantial effect on psychological engagement, with rural identity salience and scene transparency demonstrating the most pronounced impacts. Psychological engagement substantially predicts four forms of customer participation in value co-creation behaviors: information seeking, information sharing, responsible behavior, and personal interaction, with the first two exhibiting the largest effect sizes. Findings extend Social Cognitive Theory to agri-product commerce by showing that cognitive and affective engagement connects environmental cues to customer participation in value co-creation. Identity-based and scene-based signals carry greater weight than interpersonal warmth in credence-dominant contexts, highlighting a credibility-over-charisma pattern. Practically, the study recommends identity performance by grassroots streamers, scene-transparent storytelling that viewers can verify on camera, clear cost–value communication, and platform features that support multi-angle on-site visuals and real-time interaction.

Purpose: This study aims to examine the intergenerational transmission of ethnic culture among the Yao minority in China, focusing on how rapid societal changes and modernization impact cultural identity maintenance. The research seeks to understand the perspectives of different generations of Yao individuals regarding their traditional culture, external influences and ethnic identity. The study aims to identify factors that facilitate or hinder cultural transmission, assess the effectiveness of current cultural preservation efforts and uncover potential strategies for maintaining ethnic identity in a rapidly changing society. Additionally, the research investigates the role of traditional elements, such as ethnic clothing, in connecting younger generations to their cultural heritage.Design/methodology/approach: This study employed a qualitative approach using grounded theory methodology to explore the intergenerational transmission of Yao ethnic culture in China. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 Yao individuals representing different generations. Participants were purposively selected from two Yao villages in southern China. Data collection also included researcher observations and memos. Interviews were conducted in Chinese, translated to English and analyzed using NVivo12 software. The analysis followed the grounded theory approach of open, axial and selective coding. Triangulation was achieved through discussions with participants' peers and family members. Ethical considerations included obtaining informed consent, ensuring participant anonymity and securing institutional review board approval.Findings: The study revealed three distinct generational attitudes towards Yao culture: rejection among older generations, semi-openness in middle-aged groups and initiated closeness in younger generations. Despite government policies supporting population growth, ethnic identity is not effectively transmitted across generations. Economic disparities between Yao communities and external society significantly influence cultural preservation, with younger generations prioritizing economic opportunities over traditional practices. However, traditional Yao clothing emerged as a potential link between younger individuals and their cultural heritage, offering a promising avenue for cultural preservation. The research also highlighted the impact of education, technology and media on shaping attitudes towards traditional culture and external influences across different age groups.Originality/value: This study provides insights into the cultural transmission within the Yao minority in China, a previously understudied ethnic group. It uniquely examines the interplay between economic development, government policies and intergenerational attitudes in shaping ethnic identity maintenance. The research reveals an unexpected potential for traditional clothing to serve as a bridge between younger generations and their cultural heritage, offering a fresh perspective on cultural preservation strategies. By identifying distinct generational attitudes towards cultural identity, this study contributes valuable knowledge to the fields of ethnic studies, cultural anthropology and social psychology, while also informing policymaking for minority cultural preservation in rapidly modernizing societies.

Economic pressure frequently prompts farmers in developing regions to prioritize immediate financial returns over long-term land conservation. This study examines how land intermediary organizations affect Chinese farmers’ willingness to conserve cultivated land. Using bounded rationality and property rights theories, we conducted quantitative research involving 564 farmers across five provinces in mainland China. The results show that intermediary organizations improve farmers’ willingness to conserve land, mediated by land tenure stability. Notably, both human capital (education level) and social capital (village cadre status) negatively moderated the impact of intermediary organizations’ involvement in farmers’ willingness to conserve cultivated land. The results of this study indicate the necessity of improving land conservation practices, considering the role of institutional support and individual characteristics of farmers. In terms of policy implications, there is a need to adapt intermediary services to align with the capital levels of farmers, enhance the security of land-use rights by streamlining registration procedures, and implement targeted information systems and incentive schemes. Limitations of this study include its cross-sectional design and potential regional variations.

Shopping cart abandonment remains a challenge for many e-retailers despite the continued growth of the e-commerce industry worldwide. However, the issue of online shopping cart abandonment (OSCA) has not been explored extensively in the literature. Grounded by the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model, this study explores a sequential mediation model comprising consumers' wait for lower prices as an antecedent, hesitation at checkout and OSCA as mediators, perceived transaction inconvenience as a moderator, and decision to buy from a land-based retailer (DBLR) as an outcome. An online questionnaire was designed and distributed to 883 online consumers in Mainland China. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to analyze the survey data. The results show that waiting for lower prices positively influences hesitation at checkout, and subsequently, impacts both OSCA and DBLR. Hesitation at checkout and OSCA play sequential mediating roles in the framework path. In addition, perceived transaction inconvenience strengthens the relationship between waiting for lower prices and hesitation at checkout. Overall, this study contributes to theory and serves as a guideline for e-retailers in reducing the OSCA rate.

Zhong-Yong thinking is seen as an indigenous concept that best fits the Chinese context and guides people’s actions and decisions. However, its influence on business and management remains unclear and less studied, with little understanding of both theoretical and practical lenses. This paper synthesizes 41 articles by systematic review and employs the TCCM framework (theory, context, characteristics, and methodology) to evaluate research on the role of Zhong-Yong thinking in business and management. It also distinguishes between studies using Zhong-Yong thinking as a moderating variable and as an independent variable. The study develops two conceptual frameworks as the basis for future research to explore Zhong-Yong thinking and ten related themes.

The intergenerational transmission of an occupation between two generations of frontline workers in Chinese factories shows a copy–paste phenomenon, whereby a new generation of workers not only undertakes the same work as their parents but also remains at the same level of technical ability. This phenomenon runs contrary to the literature on the intergenerational transmission of occupations and is unsuitable for China’s national conditions. More importantly, it restricts the sustainable development of the manufacturing industry in China. This study used a grounded theory approach to interview 30 workers to identify and analyze the factors and influences that created this new generation. The results show that the workers’ drawing of comparisons between and within generations not only limits their technical skills but also affects subsequent generations of workers through the intergenerational transmission of occupation. We draw on our findings to discuss the reasons for and impacts of these comparisons and make suggestions for future research.

This study uses the grounded theory approach to explore factory workers to factory worker interaction (FWI) in the context of Chinese factories and proposes a model of FWI in the workplace. Human interaction in the workplace is indispensable in most sectors. Compared with large-scale factories, China’s small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) factories lack capital resources and technological advancement, and sustainably managing factory workers is essential for the development of Chinese SME factories. However, previous studies have ignored FWI in Chinese factories. The model developed in this study considers the types, driving factors, and influential outcomes of FWI. The main factors affecting FWI are the individual characteristics of the workplace and external environmental factors and, among types of FWI, information sharing is the most dominant and prevailing. The managers’ management style and the emotional state of factory workers are playing moderating roles in FWI. Results show that factory managers can take advantage of the positive impacts of FWI to improve the efficiency of factory workers and avoid its negative effects to achieve sustainable development of the factory. Theoretical and managerial implications are provided.

Purpose: Ethnic food is a pivotal polysemic artifact, yet commonly studied based on experience. This leaves an eclipse in understanding its overall significance and implications. The purpose of this paper is to explore the interactions of experience, intimacy and embodiment from the lens of alternative tourism and Asia as a destination image.Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted four focus group that include Asians who take experiential learning trips and spiritual journeys across Asia-Pacific.Findings: Alternative tourists promote the growth of ethnic foodies who value impact which they determine as quality food-scape, longitudinal caring interactions with and the constant assurance of consuming food which are safe and healthy to their physical, emotional and spiritual well-being.Research limitations/implications: Although our research does not employ any quantitative technique and devoid of inferential analysis, the rich qualitative data offer insights for further work that benefit ethnic food industry.Practical implications: Industry and policy makers are encouraged to generate contextual solutions for management of the ethnic food industry. Ethnic food consumption may flourish if the industry leads its growth through a post-modernist approach.Social implications: A broad perspective in growing the frontiers of ethnic food tourism beyond the landscape of an economic or consumerism-dominated approach would benefit the cross-mobility of quality talents and skills as this fosters cross-cultural literacy.Originality/value: The authors develop the Ethnic Foodies Perspective-Ethnic Food Destination Image Matrix as a pathway to further motivate knowledge cross-fertilization in ethnic food tourism studies and leverage on the transdisciplinary science, innovation, socio- and sensuous geographic arena. A constellation of ethnic food innovation should link the economic side of exotic differentiation and heritage with food processing, safety and traceability.