The Influence Of Self-construal And Relational Mobility On The Possibility Of Accepting The Favor Of Acquaintances Mediated By Cultural And Affective Factors Among Chinese Sub-groups

The current study intends to explore the underlying reasons for intercultural differences among Chinese in social interactions by investigating the effect of self-construal and relational mobility on the possibility to accept favors from acquaintances,as well as the mediating effect of affective attributes(indebtedness and appreciation)and Chinese cultural values(renqing and reciprocity).The quantitative study employs 272 participants through the online survey platform.Five parts including self-developed scenario questions,Self-Construal Scale,Relational Mobility Scale,measures of renqing and reciprocity,and demographic information are incorporated into the questionnaire,with high reliability for each part.Based on the data analysis via SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 22.0,the key findings include:(1)Interdependent self-construal(InterSC)is negatively related with the possibility of accepting favors from acquaintances,mediated by the feeling of indebtedness,renqing,and reciprocity;(2)Independent self-construal(IndSC)is positively related with the possibility of accepting favors from acquaintances,mediated by the feeling of appreciation;(3)Relational mobility is positively related with the possibility of accepting favors from acquaintances,mediated by the feeling of appreciation.As a result,a structural equation model has been constructed to illustrate the interrelationships between major outcome variables.Additionally,how demographic factors,including age,hometown & current location(rice and wheat categorization,county tier level,GDP per capita level,distance moved from hometown to current location),education level,profession,and single child or not,exert effects on multiple outcome variables has also been displayed.For instance,people from rice region of China(mainly southern China)are more likely to accept favors from acquaintances;people from counties with higher tier levels and higher GDP per capita levels also incline to favor acceptance.The advancement of this study is that it reveals the intercultural differences in people's favor acceptance behaviors among Chinese individuals and sub-groups by examining the interactive effects of factors at both individual and societal level,and by highlighting cultural values from an emic view.