A tale of two social networking sites: How the use of Facebook and Renren influences Chinese consumers' attitudes toward product packages with different cultural symbols

Culture influences people's information processing and attitude formation. This study examined the effects of using social networking sites from a cultural perspective, based on the culture learning model in the acculturation literature. A total of 251 Chinese individuals residing in the U.S. participated in the experiment. They were randomly assigned to one of four product package conditions with different cultural symbols (either American cultural symbols or Chinese cultural symbols, or both, or neither). Their usage intensity of two social networking sites, U.S.-based Facebook and China-based Renren (“the Facebook of China”), was measured. It was found that participants' usage intensity of Facebook and Renren reflected their cultural orientation, language proficiency, and length of stay in the U.S. It was also discovered that more intensive Renren usage led to more favorable attitudes toward packages carrying Chinese cultural symbols. However, participants' willingness to pay for the products with different packages was not affected by their usage intensity of social networking sites, due to the country-of-origin effect.