When Old Meets New: How China’s ‘Double-Eleven’ Day Challenges Confucianism

Abstract

Abstract'Double-Eleven' Day (aka 11.11 [November 11 th ], Singles Day, and Bachelors Day) is an e-commerce shopping spree celebrated by millions of Chinese e-shoppers. Since 2013, Chinese e-tailers have experienced record one-day sales on that date. Qualitative secondary data about 'Double-Eleven' Day e-shoppers suggests they are short-term oriented and individualistic, anti-hierarchical in buyer-seller relationships, focused on immediate consumption and hedonic pleasure, and prone to spontaneous trust and superficial interactions when online. In contrast, traditional Chinese shoppers conform to long-established Chinese personal selling strategies by being long-term oriented, collectivistic, and seekers of long-term mutual trust in hierarchical buyer-seller relationships. Hence, Chinese e-tailersshould adapt their selling practices to Chinese e-shoppers' attitudes and behaviors.

Contextual influences on marketing and consumerism: an East Asian perspective

“…Confucianism defines legitimacy and the way the Chinese may achieve it (Yang and Su, 2013). It encourages a relationship-oriented society, with social harmony deriving partly from all Chinese knowing their place in the natural order and playing that part well (Zhou et al , 2017b). Confucius aspired to a society that conforms to a hierarchical order and achieves social harmony and stability under moral leadership.…”

“…Confucius aspired to a society that conforms to a hierarchical order and achieves social harmony and stability under moral leadership. To realize that aspiration, each person must play a specific role (Yang and Su, 2013; Zhou et al , 2017b). Interpersonal relationships are expected and regimented under Confucian guidelines (Zhou et al , 2017b).…”

“…To realize that aspiration, each person must play a specific role (Yang and Su, 2013; Zhou et al , 2017b). Interpersonal relationships are expected and regimented under Confucian guidelines (Zhou et al , 2017b). To achieve right-being and right-doing by people and society, all societal members must follow Confucian ethics, which is characterized by the Five Constants (Wǔcháng 五常 in Chinese): Rén (仁, benevolence, humaneness), Yì (義 / 义, righteousness, justice, appropriateness), Lǐ (禮 / 礼, proper rite, politeness, politicized moral codes), Zhì (智, wisdom, good judgment) and Xìn (信, integrity, trustfulness) (Zhou et al , 2017b).…”

“…Although personal differences remain, these tendencies are intense cultural manifestations of the previously discussed philosophical pillars. For instance, Confucian doctrines stress a relationship-based social structure and encourage conservatism in resource usage and allocation (Zhou et al , 2017b). The long-term orientation in Confucianism entails anticipating the future without forgetting the past (Zhang et al , 2012).…”

Consumers' human nature and their shopping channel choices in the emerging artificial intelligence era: based on Xunzi's humanity hypothesis

“…Chinese pre-Qin Confucianism made significant attempts to explore human nature, resulting in Mencius' "Human nature is good" and Xunzi's "Human nature is evil" (Cua, 2005). Mencius' hypothesis on benevolence, righteousness, ritual and wisdom has been considerably woven into marketing research to explain consumer behaviours (Zhou et al, 2017), while non-East Asian countries rarely mention Xunzi's hypothesis (Sungmoon, 2011), and to our knowledge, marketing scholars have yet to explore it. Xunzi's humanity hypothesis concerning profit and sensory satisfaction (Knoblock, 1994) is closely related to shopping; this makes it possible to analyse consumer channel choice behaviour using Xunzi's theory.…”