Today’s society has become increasingly sensitive to humanity’s impact on the environment. Corporations are now measured by their scores pertaining to the environment, sustainability, and governance, or benchmarked for their level of corporate social responsibility. Another dimension of individuals’ environmental practices is purchasing merchandise such as clothing in the secondhand market. Consumers’ intention to buy in the secondhand market is rarely just related to economic concerns regarding such purchases, but rather to a deliberate nod to utilizing products fully rather than wasting them, therefore helping to reduce the negative environmental impact caused by human activities.

Despite a ban on international trade in parts and derivatives of endangered species, illegal killing, trading, and consumption of endangered wild animals have continued to be the major causes of their rapid decline. The numbers of some endangered species (e.g., tigers, rhinos, elephants, marine turtles etc.) have been declining at an alarming rate in recent decades due to the rising wealth and increasing desire to display their wealth in East and Southeast Asian countries, including China.

As Internet use has increased, customers have become more active at sharing their travel opinions through social media regarding their experiences with service organizations. Social media has become a ubiquitous tool that enables customers to share their travel experiences. In particular, members of Generation Y are more likely to be active on social media and more likely to share their experiences online. Understanding Generation Y’s online customer engagement preferences on different social media platforms may help to enhance brand loyalty. Customer engagement (CE) has been attracting the attention of both practitioners and academics because it may help to enhance both brand loyalty and purchase decisions. Social media platforms have become a significant communication tool for both customers and service providers, creating an opportunity to engage with customers. Interacting with active customers on the right social media platform can increase direct bookings, building brand loyalty. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to examine Generation Y’s brand loyalty preferences through its members’ engagement with social media. The results of this research will expand understanding of Generation Y customers’ online engagement through social media. This research may also suggest how hotels are able to utilize social media platforms in order to encourage online engagement with Generation Y by building brand loyalty.

China is the world’s largest social network market in the world. The importance of tapping this massive market with rapid growth rate can’t be overstated. It has been widely acknowledged that culture is a significant variable in consumer attitudes and consumer behavior. Given that culture may influence individual’s interaction and consumption through social media, it is imperative to examine cultures’ influence in social media usage where much of the information is usually user generated. Traditionally, demographics like age, gender, education etc., are also considered as the key socioeconomic factors determining consumers’ media selection and buying decisions. To fill the research gap, this study is designed 1) to investigate the relationship between cultural dimensions and social media usages in China by introducing mediating factors of attitudes toward social media; 2) to investigate the role of individual characteristics (e.g., gender and living location) play on social networks usage in China. Pretest among small groups was first conducted for the purpose of scale validity evaluation. Later, a translation and back-translation method was employed to achieve the translation equivalence. A random stratified sample was obtained from an online panel in China in January 2018. A computer-assisted web interviews was conducted with adults age above 18. Total 600 usable samples were obtained in China in January 2018. The findings of this study evidenced the important role culture plays in defining the social context within which individuals behave. The result showed a strong positive relationship between power distance and negative attitude toward social media. This study also found a negative relationship between masculinity and using social media for direct purchase. The finding supports the fact that social networking, which has a strong focus on relationship building, is a relatively feminine value. Thus, the members of social networking, which espouses feminine values, demonstrate a more social orientation and expectation of shared values. Marketers need to ensure that they make their social media outlets user friendly and their spaces encourage communication and connectedness for their users.

China, with its rapid growing wealthy consumers, is increasingly becoming a major market for luxury brands and products. It is believed that the growing consumption of wildlife products in China is one of the key factors in the acceleration of global extinction of endangered species. It is certainly not an easy task to reveal consumers’ true motivations behind their purchase, but is even tougher to change their behavior. In the field of wildlife conservation, despite many efforts so far have been made to de-market the consumption, the results are not encouraging. This study is designed to fill the research gap by treating ivory purchase as a type of luxury product purchase in China. Through studying the behavior and its underlying values and motivations, this research is aimed to identify effective communication strategies to curve the ivory consumption in China. Pretest among small groups was first conducted for the purpose of scale validity evaluation. A random stratified sample was obtained from an online panel in China in January 2018. Total 600 usable samples were obtained. The data analysis showed a strong and positive relationship between power distance and materialism; power distance and negative attitude toward social media. Materialism/collectivism is found a strong predicator of positive attitude toward social media and social media usage. While ivory likely buyers associate uncertainty avoidance with materialism and positive attitude toward social network, ivory purchase rejecters demonstrate a positive relationship between long term orientation and materialism; long term orientation and positive attitude toward social media. Based on the strong relationships between materialism and social media usage we found form this study, it is recommended to design a social media campaign to dissociate ivory products from social status; and to associate social status with healthier, greener alternatives (e.g., Tesla car). Advocating desired behavior (e.g., charitable works to save elephants in Africa) in social media and de-advocating the undesired behaviors by celebrities on TV (e.g., ‘No Trading - No Killing’ campaign by YaoMing) is likely to work for likely ivory buyers.