Does consciousness of social face matter? Understanding sharing behavior towards online charitable crowdfunding information

Abstract

Information-sharing behavior constitutes one of the key elements for the success of online charitable crowdfunding (OCC) projects, but it has received relatively limited academic attention so far. From a relational perspective, this study proposed a conceptual model to better understand the relationship between consciousness of social face, two types of impression management motivations, OCC information-sharing behavior, and perceived relational value. An online survey was conducted among 1,166 Internet users in China (47.2% were male; 70.8% fell within the age group of 18–35 years old). The finding showed that consciousness of social face was positively associated with information-sharing behavior through the positive mediation of promotion-focused impression management motivation and the negative mediation of prevention-focused impression management motivation. Furthermore, information-sharing behavior was positively associated with perceived relational value. This study sheds light on the impact of social face consciousness on prosocial information-sharing behavior through impression management motivations and offers practical implications concerning how to promote individuals’ OCC information sharing behavior on social media.

Keywords

• online charitable crowdfunding
• information-sharing behavior
• consciousness of social face
• impression management
• perceived relational value