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Past research has suggested that up-regulating displays of happiness leads to positive social outcomes. In my dissertation research, I suggest that whether the up-regulation of displays of happiness leads to positive outcomes depends on observers’ culture. I developed and tested a model of how one aspect of observers’ culture, analytic-holistic thinking, influences the relation between expressers’ displays of happiness and observers’ prosocial behavior. In two studies, I examined how observers’ analytical-holistic thinking moderates the effect of expressers’ inauthentic displays of happiness (regulated through surface acting) and expressers’ authentic displays of happiness (regulated through deep acting) on observers’ prosocial behavior and trust inferences. In a laboratory experiment (Study 1), observers’ analytical-holistic thinking moderated the effect of project leaders’ inauthentic displays of happiness (vs. neutral emotional displays) on observers’ trust in the expresser, but not on observers’ prosocial behavior (time taken to edit a cover letter). In a field fundraising experiment (Study 2), observers’ analytical-holistic thinking moderated the effect of fundraisers’ inauthentic displays of happiness (vs. authentic displays of happiness) on observers’ trust in fundraisers, intentions to volunteer for the charity organization, and monetary donations to the charity organization. Further, observers’ trust in fundraisers mediated the moderating effect of observers’ analytical-holistic thinking on the relation between fundraisers’ inauthentic displays of happiness and observers’ intention to volunteer. Contributions to the literature on the social effects of emotions and to the literature on fundraising and helping as well as practical implications are discussed.

Past research has suggested that up-regulating displays of happiness leads to positive social outcomes. In my dissertation research, I suggest that whether the up-regulation of displays of happiness leads to positive outcomes depends on observers’ culture. I developed and tested a model of how one aspect of observers’ culture, analytic-holistic thinking, influences the relation between expressers’ displays of happiness and observers’ prosocial behavior. In two studies, I examined how observers’ analytical-holistic thinking moderates the effect of expressers’ inauthentic displays of happiness (regulated through surface acting) and expressers’ authentic displays of happiness (regulated through deep acting) on observers’ prosocial behavior and trust inferences. In a laboratory experiment (Study 1), observers’ analytical-holistic thinking moderated the effect of project leaders’ inauthentic displays of happiness (vs. neutral emotional displays) on observers’ trust in the expresser, but not on observers’ prosocial behavior (time taken to edit a cover letter). In a field fundraising experiment (Study 2), observers’ analytical-holistic thinking moderated the effect of fundraisers’ inauthentic displays of happiness (vs. authentic displays of happiness) on observers’ trust in fundraisers, intentions to volunteer for the charity organization, and monetary donations to the charity organization. Further, observers’ trust in fundraisers mediated the moderating effect of observers’ analytical-holistic thinking on the relation between fundraisers’ inauthentic displays of happiness and observers’ intention to volunteer. Contributions to the literature on the social effects of emotions and to the literature on fundraising and helping as well as practical implications are discussed.

Along with China's economic growth and opening to the outside world, Chinese young people (mainly the post-80s and the post-90s) are affected by the commercialized culture. When targeting young consumers across cultures, many international advertisers prefer to use standardized visual advertisements. However, culture plays a key role in international advertising as the interpretation of advertising messages varies across cultures. Based on the framework of Analytic/Holistic Thought and Hybridity Theory, this study argued that Chinese and American young consumers adopt different thought patterns to process advertising messages. Looking at two important factors in advertising---image type and product type, this study advocated that marketers need to match the image type with their advertised products or brands, and to adopt congruous images that fit into young Chinese and American consumers' thought patterns. Past research on cultural studies and sociology has contributed to our understanding of how culture shapes the construction and deconstruction of advertising messages, and of the importance of image type used in advertising. In addition, marketing research helps us understand global consumer behaviors, the relationship between consumers' interpretations of ad messages and their attitudinal responses, and the importance of product type. Further, studies from cognitive psychology have provided useful framework for us to analyze the nature of human advertising behaviors and responses. Given the literature, this study sought to understand how culture influences consumers' interpretations of ad messages and how the interpretations further influence their evaluations of the ad and product, and their purchase intentions. This study employed a quantitative experimental design that included qualitative open-ended questions. The experiment tested the effect of culture on generating product/brand thoughts, examined the interaction effect of image type and product type on young consumers' attitudes and purchase intentions, and explored the relationship between the number of generated product/brand thoughts and ad effectiveness. The qualitative questions sought to explore how consumers across cultures recalled different types of objects from the ads and generated different types of product/brand thoughts. In conclusion, the study noted the following two key points: First, Chinese young consumers are less analytic than their American counterparts and tend to be more likely influenced by ad setting while recalling people portrayed in ads. Therefore, advertisers targeting young Chinese consumers may consider using a lifestyle format ad and focusing on portraying the attributes of focal people and objects as well as adding more visual pieces of context information. In contrast, advertising targeting American young consumers can adopt a personalized format, and focus on portraying the attributes of focal people and objects and on linking the attributes of focal people/objects to the product. Second, there is an interactive effect between product type and image type on ad effectiveness. For functional product advertising, using implicit images can be a creative strategy, especially for young Chinese consumers, as they may still infer the performance-related attributes (utilitarian attributes) of the products from background information. However, for symbolic product advertising, it is found that using implicit images discourages both Chinese and American participants from generating product/brand thoughts and from endowing the product with a typical product-user image from the ad.

Escalation of commitment in new product development has been studied extensively for the last four decades but the impact of culture on the escalation phenomenon remains largely unexplored. This study investigates how culture impacts the decision to escalate or deescalate commitment to new products. Americans are analytic thinkers whereas Chinese tend to be holistic thinkers. When it comes to decision making, analytic thinkers focus on field independent and abstract factors and believe that future is linear and static, whereas holistic thinkers focus more on contextual factors and believe that future is dynamic and nonlinear. Hence, Chinese are more likely to escalate their commitment relative to Americans on receiving a negative performance report in the new product development process. A lab experiment using weekend MBA students and managers was used to test this underlying hypothesis. The findings confirmed that analytical thinkers use fewer factors than holistic thinkers in making new product decisions, and that Chinese managers are more likely to escalate their commitment relative to American managers. The decision to escalate or de-escalate was moderated by perceived product innovativeness.

The current workforce climate has naturally led the way for wanting more systemic thinking individuals. This increasing complexity demands that universities train engineering students to be able to handle such difficulties amidst the interconnectedness of the world. This study aims to aid in understanding what will help the future leaders of the world become more equipped to handle these global and complex systems. College engineering students were the target population of this study. It was found that neither gender, educational level, grade point average, nor having an internship or co-op helped aid students to have higher systems thinking skills. However, employment status was found to affect the systems thinking skills scores. Laying the foundation for understanding engineering students’ ability to be more or less holistic thinkers, this research aims to help evolve engineering education.