Consciousness of Social Face: The Development and Validation of a Scale Measuring Desire to Gain Face Versus Fear of Losing Face

ABSTRACT This article describes the development and validation of a scale that measures two distinct needs for individuals to manage their social "face". Scale development process resulted in an 11-item Consciousness of Social Face (CSF) scale made up of the following two correlated dimensions: desire to gain face and fear of losing face. The two-factor correlated structure of CSF scale was stable across multiple samples of both students and non-students subjects. The construct validity of CSF scale, including convergent validity, discriminant validity, and criterion-related validity was also demonstrated by examining relationships with other personality or demographical variables. Keywords: social facegain facelose facescale development and validation Acknowledgments This study is supported by research grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 70872075), the Chinese Ministry of Education (grant no. 07JC630033), and the Shanghai Planning Office of Philosophical and Social Science (grant no. 2009BSH001). The research is also sponsored by the Shanghai Pujiang Program. The first author thanks the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University for hosting him as a postdoctoral fellow when this article was written. Additional informationNotes on contributorsXin-an Zhang Xin-an Zhang is currently an Associate Professor at the School of Management at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. His research focuses on how Chinese cultures influence management and marketing practices. Qing Cao Qing Cao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Management, University of Connecticut. Her research focuses on management and strategy. Nicholas Grigoriou Nicholas Grigoriou is the Principal of Monash College in Guangzhou, People's Republic of China. He has particular interest in studying consumer behavior and marketing practices in China.