| With the rapid development and wide popularization of high-speed rail,academic research on the ‘space-time compression effect’ brought by high-speed rail has gradually increased in recent years.Compared with traditional means of transportation such as ordinary rail and road,high-speed rail has a milestone impact on inter-city population movement due to its high efficiency and passenger-specific features.The opening of high-speed rail has significantly compressed the "space-time distance" and significantly shortened the time cost of population movement,thus bringing stronger spatial connection between people in different cities;compared to traditional means of transportation such as ordinary rail and road,where a significant part of the impact is limited to the movement of objects,high-speed rail is almost limited to the impact on the movement of population,and It is characterized by large-scale short-term movements from low-tier(third-and fourth-tier)cities to high-tier(first-and second-tier)cities for the main purpose of business,tourism,study,medical treatment,visiting friends and relatives,and other functional cross-city activities;the large-scale population movements are followed by enhanced social interaction,with soft elements such as knowledge,ideas,and culture colliding,influencing,and even merging with each other.In contrast to the already abundant studies on the impact of the opening of high-speed rail on regional economy,industrial structure and business operation,this paper focuses on how the massive intercity movement of people resulting from the opening of high-speed rail,which brings about the collision and integration of soft elements such as knowledge,ideas and culture,has an impact on the micro-level of the users of high-speed rail – ‘people’,especially on their consumption concepts and behaviors.Therefore,the impact of the opening of the high-speed rail provides us with the possibility to further open or verify the black box that influences the formation of ’people’s” consumption perceptions and thus explains the changes in consumption behavior.At present,most studies on population mobility focus on the causes of long-term population mobility such as labor force,social integration and the economic and social effects it brings,but rarely address the relationship between population mobility and individual psychology and consumption behavior,among which there is still a gap regarding the impact of short-term population mobility on the psychology and consumption behavior of individual consumers in ordinary prefecture-level(low-tier)cities.Based on the above considerations,this paper aims to study the micro-reactions of high-speed rail users – ‘people’-to the opening of high-speed rail.This paper focuses on two main questions: firstly,the opening of high-speed trains has led to large-scale short-term intercity movements of people from ordinary prefecture-level(low-tier)cities to provincial capitals(high-tier)cities with the main purpose of functional activities.What impact will this have on the psychology and consumption behavior of individual consumers in ordinary prefecture-level(low-tier)cities? In other words,will the opening of high-speed rail enable consumers in ordinary prefecture-level(low-tier)cities to follow and imitate the consumption behavior of consumers in provincial capitals(high-tier)cities,and create a convergence consumption effect? Does the opening of high-speed rail increase consumers’ preference and consumption of products that show more ‘identity and status’ in ordinary prefecture-level(low-tier)cities? What are the mechanisms by which this happens? Secondly,the opening of high-speed rail not only increases short-term intercity population movement,but also rapidly increases the overall level of intercity population movement in ordinary prefecture-level(low-tier)cities.That is,does the opening of high-speed rail promote the diversity of consumption among consumers in ordinary prefecture-level(low-tier)cities? What is the mechanism of action that occurs?In order to achieve the research purpose,this paper systematically compares and summarizes the literature on the opening of high-speed rail and convergent consumption,status consumption and diversified consumption,and takes the‘reference group effect’,‘compensation consumption effect’,which arising from the enhanced upward social comparison brought about by the large-scale cross-city population movement triggered by the opening of high-speed rail,and ‘Cultural diversity effect’ due to the improvement of urban cultural diversity,as the intermediary explanation mechanism.And also takes the variables of intercity mobility level,economic distance and symbolic value as the moderating factors to comprehensively study the impact of high-speed rail opening on individual psychology and consumption behavior.This paper makes a systematic and comprehensive study using questionnaire data at the individual level of consumers and objective data at the city level.First of all,through the Credamo research platform,a large-scale questionnaire survey was conducted on the basis of stratified sampling of consumers in cities with and without high-speed rail services and individual consumer-based questionnaire data were obtained,with consumers in cities with high-speed rail as the experimental group and consumers in cities without high-speed rail as the control group,to examine the impact and explanatory mechanisms of the opening of high-speed rail on individual psychology and consumption behavior;then,taking the data of opening of high-speed rail in Chinese cities from 2007 to 2015 and the monthly data of passenger car sales in China as sample data,the "quasi-natural experiment" of high-speed rail opening is used,with consumers in cities with high-speed rail opening as the experimental group and consumers in cities without high-speed rail opening as the control group.The effect of HSR opening on consumers’ consumption behavior was further verified by using the double difference method(DID),and the propensity score matching-double difference method(PSM-DID),placebo test,changing the sample period,and constructing instrumental variables based on geographic environment information were used in addition to the parallel trend test.Robustness tests were conducted.As a result of the study,the following main findings were obtained:Firstly,the opening of high-speed rail has a significant positive impact on‘convergent consumption of consumers in low-tier cities and high-tier cities’,‘status consumption’ and ‘diversified consumption’.1.The opening of high-speed rail has a significant positive effect on the‘convergence of consumption between consumers in ordinary prefecture-level(low-tier)cities and consumers in provincial capitals(high-tier)cities’.That is,the consumption preferences and choices of consumers in ordinary prefecture-level cities with high-speed rail converge with those of consumers in provincial capitals compared with those in ordinary prefecture-level cities without high-speed rail.Further,the consumption preferences and choices in terms of brand category,color category,and payment method category are more similar to those of consumers in provincial capitals than those in prefecture-level cities without high-speed rail.2.The opening of high-speed rail has a significant positive effect on ‘status consumption’.In other words,consumers’ preference for status products is significantly higher in ordinary prefecture-level(low-tier)cities with high-speed rail compared to those without high-speed rail.Further,consumers in ordinary prefecture-level(low-tier)cities with high-speed rail have a significantly higher preference for products with joint-venture brands or premium specifications that show‘identity and status’ than those in ordinary prefecture-level(low-tier)cities without high-speed rail.3.The opening of high-speed rail has a significant positive effect on ‘diversified consumption’.That is,compared with ordinary prefecture-level cities without high-speed rail,consumers in ordinary prefecture-level cities with high-speed rail have significantly increased their consumption preferences for brand diversity and color diversity.Secondly,upward social comparison and reference group influence play a mediating role in the effect of the opening of high-speed rail on convergent consumption.That is,compared with the ordinary prefecture-level(low-tier)cities without high-speed rail,the large-scale population movement from ordinary prefecture-level(low-tier)cities with high-speed rail to provincial capitals(high-tier)cities causes consumers in ordinary prefecture-level(low-tier)cities to spontaneously strengthen their upward social comparison with consumers in provincial capitals(high-tier)cities,which in turn leads to a significant increase in the influence of reference groups of consumers in provincial capitals(high-tier)cities and triggers the following and imitation,resulting in the convergence of consumers’ consumption preferences and choices in ordinary prefecture-level(low-tier)cities with high-speed rail to those in provincial capitals(high-tier)cities.The consumption preferences and choices of consumers in ordinary prefecture-level(low-tier)cities with high-speed rail converge with those of consumers in provincial capitals(high-tier)cities.Thirdly,upward social comparison and perceived status threat play an intermediary role in the impact of the opening of high-speed rail on status consumption.That is,compared to ordinary prefecture-level(low-tier)cities without high-speed rail,the large-scale population movement from ordinary prefecture-level(low-tier)cities with high-speed rail to provincial capitals(high-tier)cities causes consumers in ordinary prefecture-level(low-tier)cities with high-speed rail to spontaneously strengthen their upward social comparison with consumers in provincial capitals(high-tier)cities,which in turn leads to a significant increase in the perceived status threat of consumers in ordinary prefecture-level(low-tier)cities with high-speed rail,resulting in consumers in ordinary prefecture-level(low-tier)cities with high speed rail to increase their demand for status consumption.Fourthly,cultural diversity and diversity seeking play a mediating role in the impact of the opening of high-speed rail on diversity consumption.That is,compared to ordinary prefecture-level cities without high-speed rail,the large-scale population movement brought by the opening of high-speed rail enhances the cultural diversity of ordinary prefecture-level cities,and the cultural diversity of the cities shapes people’s cultural values of positive evaluation and high tolerance for diversity behavior,which leads to a significant increase in consumers’ social motivation for diversity seeking and thus stimulates consumers’ consumption behavior for diversity seeking.Fifthly,the level of intercity mobility plays a moderating role in the impact of the opening of high-speed rail on upward social comparison,convergence consumption,and status consumption,as well as in the impact of the opening of high-speed rail on cultural diversity and diversity consumption.That is,the higher the intercity mobility,the greater the rise in upward social comparison and convergence consumption and status consumption caused by the opening of high-speed rail.Furthermore,the higher the frequency and accessibility of intercity mobility,the greater the increase in upward social comparison and convergence consumption and status consumption caused by the opening of high-speed rail.At the same time,the higher the level of intercity mobility,the greater the rise in cultural diversity and diversity consumption caused by the opening of high-speed rail.Further,the higher the frequency and accessibility of intercity mobility,the greater the rise in cultural diversity and diversity consumption caused by the opening of high-speed rail.Sixthly,economic distance plays a moderating role in the effect of the opening of high-speed rail on upward social comparison and convergent consumption.That is,the closer the level of economic development is to the provincial capital city,the greater the rise in upward social comparison and convergent consumption after the opening of high-speed rail in ordinary prefecture-level(low-tier)cities.Seventhly,symbolic value moderates the effect of reference group influence on convergent consumption,as well as the effect of status threat perception on status consumption.That is,the stronger the consumers’ perception of the product’s ability to symbolize the consumption characteristics of ‘provincial city people’,the greater the increase in convergence consumption due to reference group influence.At the same time,the stronger the consumers’ perception of the product as a symbol of ‘status and position’,the greater the increase in the preference for the status product due to status threat perception.There are three main contributions in this study:Firstly,the study broadens the study of the "micro effects" of high-speed rail opening and enriches the theory of individual psychology and consumption behavior of population mobility.This paper is the first to study the impact of high-speed rail on the individual psychology and consumption behavior of high-speed rail users,that is,the impact of high-speed rail on the ‘convergence of consumption between consumers in low-tier cities and consumers in high-tier cities’ from the perspective of large-scale cross-city population mobility and significantly enhanced social interaction caused by the opening of high-speed rail.The study examines the impact of high-speed rail on the individual psychology and consumption behavior of high-speed rail users,in other words,the impact of high-speed rail on the ‘convergence consumption between consumers in low-tier cities and consumers in high-tier cities’,‘status consumption’and ‘diversity consumption’.At present,research on the ‘spatial and temporal compression effect’ of high-speed rail is mainly focused on the macro ‘economic effect’,that is,the effect on economic development,industrial structure,and business operation,and such research has been abundant.However,there is a lack of research on the impact of large-scale population movement triggered by the opening of high-speed rail,especially the short-term cross-city movement with business,travel,family visits and other functional activities on individual psychological and consumption behaviors,and this study is a good remedy for this gap.This study focuses on the psychological and consumption behaviors of ‘people’ who are users of high-speed trains,which significantly enhances the social interaction triggered by the opening of high-speed rail,broadens the research on the ‘micro-effects’ of high-speed rail,and enriches the theoretical research on the psychological and consumption behaviors of individuals due to population mobility.It also enriches the theoretical research on the psychological and consumption behavior of individuals due to population mobility.Secondly,using a real upstream social comparison situation triggered by the‘quasi-natural experiment’ of high-speed rail opening,the study investigates the impact on individual psychology and consumption,enhancing the external validity of existing social comparison theories.Based on the ‘quasi-natural experiment’,the study investigates that the opening of high-speed rail enhances the upward social comparison tendency of consumers in low-tier cities with those in high-tier cities from the social psychological perspective,which in turn brings about the psychological effects of reference group influence and perceived status threat and affects individual consumption behavior,enriching and improving the relevant studies of social comparison theory.Currently,most scholars use experimental methods to explore the effects of social comparison on consumption and the mechanisms of action,analyzing the cognitive or behavioral outcomes of subjects after receiving social comparison stimuli simulated from the laboratory.However,it is not possible to create a real,long-term consumption environment in the laboratory,and the effects of social comparison on consumers’ real,long-term consumption behavior are difficult to be effectively explored.This study uses a real upstream social comparison situation triggered by a ‘quasi-natural experiment’ of high-speed rail to study its effect on individual consumption,which can better fill this gap and enhance the external validity of existing social comparison theories.Thirdly,the study enriches the relevant theories of the influence of culture on diversified consumption.Based on the perspective of cultural diversity,this paper empirically examines the impact of cultural diversity brought about by the opening of high-speed rail on consumer diversity preferences,using characteristics such as different provinces from which the urban migrant population originates to represent cultural differences.Although there are some studies on the impact of cultural diversity on economic development,business operation and innovation,there is still a research gap regarding the impact of cultural diversity on individual psychology and consumption behavior,and this study better fills this gap and enriches the theories related to the study of the impact of culture on diversity consumption.The findings of this study have positive practical implications for the development of high-speed rail construction and planning,corporate marketing management,and consumer purchasing decision-makings.First of all,it has certain inspirational effects on the construction and planning of high-speed rail in China.The study shows that the opening of high-speed rail not only promoting economic growth,industrial restructuring,business operation and innovation,but also has stimulated ‘convergent consumption between consumers in low-tier cities with high-speed rail and high-tier cities’,‘status consumption’,which significantly increased the willingness and consumption level of consumers in ordinary prefecture-level(low tier)cities.This is important for China to deepen the supply-side structural reform in the field of consumption,give full play to the advantages of China’s mega market and the potential of domestic demand,effectively promote the formation of a new development pattern with a large domestic cycle as the mainstay and dual domestic and international cycles promoting each other,and promote the high-quality development of China’s economy and society.Therefore,China should adhere to the strategy of promoting the country by high-speed rail and continue to increase the construction of high-speed rail.At the same time,in the development of high-speed railway construction planning,China should focus on the layout of high-speed railway construction in ordinary prefecture-level(low-tier)cities,and coordinate the number of high-speed railway stations,lines and frequency throughout the region to achieve the synergistic development of ordinary prefecture-level(low-tier)cities and first-and second-tier(high-tier)cities.Then,there is a greater inspiration for enterprise marketing management.1.In the market expansion mode,it is selectable that ‘fostering paradigm in first-tier cities and comprehensively sinking in third-and fourth-tier cities’.Since the consumption patterns can converge,consumers in third-and fourth-tier cities want to have the products and experiences that consumers in first-and second-tier cities can consume.Enterprises can build a ‘market model’ based on the first-and second-tier cities,and then promote their business philosophy and development model to the third-and fourth-tier cities.2.In the advertising strategy,it should highlight the symbolic value of the products and shape the "memory point" of the products.In the style of advertising message execution,elements matching with the life fragment or lifestyle of first-tier cities can be introduced to highlight the symbolic value of purchasing and using the products to present consumers with the image of first-tier city consumers and higher economic and social status,which will more easily trigger consumers in lower-tier cities to follow and imitate,thus enhancing brand sales.At the same time,advertising emphasizes that companies can provide products with different appearance and color combinations and welcome consumers to participate in the production and operation process,which can meet their needs for self-expression and diversity.3.In the construction of local brands,it is necessary to vigorously enhance the symbolic value of local brands.With the increase in consumer income and brand preference,domestic enterprises should attach great importance to,and strengthen brand building,enhance the symbolic value of local brands,to meet the growing consumer demand for status products consumption,in order to achieve the prosperity of domestic brands.4.In the product portfolio strategy,the diversified needs of consumers should be fully meet.Enterprises should take the initiative to provide a diverse product portfolio for consumers to choose.Companies can also use "consumer participation" as a marketing strategy,for example,companies can provide more DIY activities,allowing consumers to customize the appearance of different colors of products to enhance customer satisfaction,experience and corporate performance.At the same time,it also has some inspiration for consumers’ purchasing decision-makings.Consumers should be clearly aware of the impact of the opening of high-speed rail on ‘convergence consumption’,‘status consumption’ and ‘diversity consumption’,and be able to rationally choose products that represent the image and higher economic and social status of consumers in high-tier cities within their purchasing capability,and should not fall into the misconceptions of luxury consumption and excessive comparison;they can also purchase products with different appearance and colors to show their self-expression and diversity needs.At the same time,consumers need to be careful to identify false and expansive information in corporate advertising and to fully seek advice from relevant reference groups such as friends and relatives in high-tier cities in order to make a reasonable choice in a highly involved purchase decision. |
PDF Full Text Request