Consciousness of Social Face: The Development and Validation of a Scale Measuring Desire to Gain Face Versus Fear of Losing Face

Abstract

This article describes the development and validation of a scale that measures two distinct needs for individuals to manage their social "face". Scale development process resulted in an 11-item Consciousness of Social Face (CSF) scale made up of the following two correlated dimensions: desire to gain face and fear of losing face. The two-factor correlated structure of CSF scale was stable across multiple samples of both students and non-students subjects. The construct validity of CSF scale, including convergent validity, discriminant validity, and criterion-related validity was also demonstrated by examining relationships with other personality or demographical variables.

Anticipating regret and consumers' preferences for counterfeit luxury products

“…Consumers of counterfeit luxury products tend to hold social-adjustive attitudes because they desire luxury products for self-presentation and to convey a high social status (Wilcox et al, 2009). Consumers desire to gain face (e.g., maintain relationships, or attain approval in social situations) and fear to lose face (e.g., lose friends, or attain disapproval in social situations) (Wilcox et al, 2009;Zhang, Cao, & Grigoriou, 2011). A consumer who is less face-conscious (low need to present himself/herself with a high social status) may be more likely to choose a non-conspicuous counterfeit due to the anticipation of regret effect.…”

“…Using the same procedure as Study 1, participants were presented two images of counterfeit Chanel handbags, and chose between purchasing a conspicuous or non-conspicuous counterfeit. Participants then answered 11 questions designed to measure their consciousness of social face (Zhang et al, 2011). Participants were told that the questionnaires in the packet (consciousness of social face manipulation, anticipation of regret effect, and choice of conspicuous or non-conspicuous counterfeit options) were unrelated to one another.…”

Need for uniqueness as a mediator of the relationship between face consciousness and status consumption in China

“…In contemporary society, one judges or is judged by others primarily through consumption. Considering the exchangeability of financial capability and face in social interactions, owning expensive brands and products is a way of presenting a wealthy appearance and gaining face (Zhang, Cao, & Grigoriou, ). Therefore, in comparison with Western consumers, Asian consumers lay more stress on publicly visible possessions (Wong & Ahuvia, ).…”

An IRT analysis of motive questionnaires: The Unified Motive Scales

“…1 Likewise, to our knowledge, only one fear scale has been published so far for the power domain 2 : fear of losing face (Zhang, Cao, & Grigoriou, 2011). As this scale has been published afer our data collection has been finished, it is not included in the presented studies.…”