How “Face” Matters: Chinese Corporate Tourists in Australia

Abstract

Corporate travel is a growing segment within the Chinese tourism market, yet despite the widespread belief that cultural values influence behavior, little research has examined the touring experiences of Mainland Chinese corporate travelers. This study, based on participant observations of 12 corporate group package tours, suggests that the "face" concept underlies the touring experiences of Chinese corporate travelers. The travelers emphasized the need to pay appropriate respect to one's superiors, maintain relationships through gift-giving, and participate in social networking to establish and maintain positive relationships. Implications for tourism scholars and planners are provided.

Managing Asian attractions, Generation Y and face

“…In essence, consumption is a means of showing distinctive Face with "distinctiveness", as advocated by Li and Su (2007) and Sun, Chen and Li (2015), explaining why they are happy to pay more for "Face" goods, as well as the increased significance of reference groups. Thus, Face appears to retain its importance amongst Gen Y and attractions might consider the introduction of elements of the experience that will encourage positive face consumption through, for example, the opportunity to purchase bespoke gifts and souvenirs (Kwek & Lee, 2015) Although it would appear that cultural forces are a possibly stronger explanatory variable for Gen Y in the context of Asia, the outcome is actually similar to the West in the specific context of visitor attractions. For example, in both Asia and the UK it would appear that the ideal Gen-Y friendly visitor attraction is one that offers active involvement; adventure and excitement; is time-flexible; experientially compelling; and an attraction that is to be enjoyed and shared with others.…”

“…Whilst the concept of Face is relatively well known and broadly understood by an international audience (see for example, Goffman, 1972;Cardon & Scott, 2003) it is, however, a complicated phenomenon and effects many elements of life and behaviour amongst Asian communities (Qi, 2011, Zhu, 2003. Kwek and Lee (2015) reinforced the importance of Face and identified a strong emphasis on rank and position; social harmony; and group consensus; demonstrating how strongly these socially shared meanings, and importantly the concept of Face, are embedded in Asian society.…”

Value creation and co-creation in tourist experiences: an East Asian Cultural Knowledge Framework approach.

“…East Asian values were found to be the core base for Chinese corporate tourists, wherein the Chinese concept of 'face' played a vital role in determining their behaviour during the trip (Kwek and Lee, 2015). We should also be keenly aware that 'East Asian'-ness is not singular.…”

Chinese Outbound Tourism: an Epilogue

“…The authors speculated that the Chinese cultural value of "saving face" may be the factor explaining such differences. Kwek and Lee's (2015) study explicitly examined how "face", as a prevailing Chinese cultural phenomenon, exerted its influence on corporate sponsored mainland Chinese travelers' behaviors in Australia. The study notes that "face" is an important concept in understanding Chinese outbound travelers, and gift purchase and giving is a significant outbound tourist activity to maintain face and harmonious social relations for Chinese outbound tourists.…”

“…Chan, Hsu, & Baum, 2015;Song, Lin, & Liu, 2015;Wong & Li, 2015) to investigations applying qualitative methods (e.g. informal conversations and participant observation in Kwek and Lee's (2015) study) and examining the seemingly "soft" issues (e.g. perceived tensions in Loi and Pearce's (2015) study).…”