This study examined the image of Henan people(sincerity, law-abidingness, and education), the image of Henan region(economy, cultural history, and attractiveness), favorability toward Henan, and attachment to Henan in relation to the image of the Henan. In addition, we examined the moderating effect of prejudice against Henan Province, and the differences in path analysis between the two groups, focusing on those who live in Henan Province and those who live in other provinces. The results were as follows.
First, all factors except attractiveness have a positive effect on favorability. In addition, all other factors except cultural history and attractiveness have a positive effect on regional attachment. We also find that favorability has a positive effect on regional attachment. Second, in terms of moderating effects of prejudice, we found moderating effects of sincerity, law-abidingness, and education among person image factors, and moderating effects of prejudice between favorability and local attachment. Third, looking at the significance of the path coefficients between groups and the results of the difference analysis for the path coefficients, a total of 8 significance levels were found for the out-of-towners living in Henan Province. On the other hand, only 5 significance levels were found for out-of-towners in other province.
To check whether the difference in path coefficient values between the two groups is statistically significant, we conducted an equivalence constraint model test that imposes constraints on each path, and found that the two paths that show statistically significant differences are ‘education→favorability’ and ‘education→ regional attachment’.