Subjects: Psychology >> Developmental Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) is an important research topic which has drawn more and more attention from the organizational behavior field in recent years. Yet, it’s worth noting that the conceptualization of UPB is somewhat vague. Based on the motivational perspective, this paper deeply deconstructs and analyses the conceptual ambiguity of UPB in terms of definition, characteristic, motivation and type, and form a systematic concept connotation of UPB. Further, following the motivation-related logic behind UPB, this paper systematically reviews the influencing factors of UPB, and explains the mechanisms of these influencing factors on UPB. Finally, this paper provides specific suggestions for future research in terms of subtype, measurement, research perspective, influencing factor, inhibition mechanism, influencing mechanism and localization.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： The highly competitive and uncertain external environment requires higher levels of organizational flexibility and adaptability. Therefore, organizations and scholars have paid more attention than ever to employee's organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), as it can improve viability, competitiveness, and performance of the organization. Although scholars have exerted considerable efforts to investigate OCB, the dominant approach in the existing literature frames OCB as a relatively stable variable, omitting a dynamic understanding of OCB in the workplace. From the organizational socialization perspective, the current study particularly focuses on how OCB changes over time in newcomers' or job changers' organizational socialization processes as well as its associated mechanism and boundary conditions. This study contributes to a comprehensive theoretical framework of how to motivate employees to continuously show higher levels of OCB.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： In the recent decade, unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB), defined as unethical behaviors conducted by employees to potentially benefit the organization, has become a hot topic in the organizational behavior research field. Since the concept of UPB was put forward, scholars have widely investigated the formation mechanisms of UPB. In comparison, the research on the effects of UPB is rather limited. Until now, little has been known about the social interaction mechanism of UPB that happens between coworkers and has UPB characteristics. Learning from and inspired by some views of correspondent inference theory and social cognitive theory, this study develops a social interaction model of UPB between coworkers. This theoretical model involves two roles, namely actors and observers, and consists of three correlated parts. In the first part, based on the perspective of outcome expectation, we discuss the observers' psychological and behavioral reactions to UPB. Specifically, given that UPB can bring short-term benefits to the organization, we propose that observers will have positive expectations about the outcomes that UPB brings to the actors. Thus, the more UPB observers witness, the more positive outcomes observers will expect. Furthermore, we posit that observers' reactions to the positive outcome expectations will be contingent on the levels of observers' integrity. For observers high in integrity, positive outcome expectations may trigger moral anger, which in turn prompts observers to punish actors by undertaking workplace negative gossip. In contrast, observers low in integrity may be motivated by the positive outcome expectations, thereby engaging in moral disengagement and then conducting UPB. In the second part, based on the perspective of motive attribution, we explore the observers' psychological and behavioral reactions to UPB. Specifically, given the analysis of the outcomes of UPB in the first part, we contend that when observing UPB, observers will attribute self-interested and pro-organizational motives to the UPB actors. The attributed self-interested motives may result in moral anger and subsequently encourage observers to engage in workplace negative gossip, while the attributed pro-organizational motives may attenuate the relationship between the attributed self-interested motives and moral anger. We further argue that the aforementioned relationships will vary across individuals. For observers high in integrity, the attributed self-interested motives may exert stronger impacts on moral anger, while the moderating effect of the attributed pro-organizational motives may become weaker. In the third part, based on the perspective of intent inference, we analyze the actors' behavior changes in accordance with observers' feedback. Specifically, if actors find that many observers also conduct UPB, they will form a perception that UPB is accepted by the working unit and then maintain or increase the levels of UPB. In contrast, when actors hear negative gossips from the observers, they will interpret the gossips as a kind of warning and thus reduce UPB subsequently. Moreover, considering that Chinese people value the maintenance of interpersonal harmony, we deem that workplace negative gossip may likely prompt actors to shift their behaviors from UPB to organizational citizenship behavior directed at observers to improve the interpersonal relations. In conclusion, the present study not only narrows the extant research gap of the impacts of UPB to some extent, but also deepens the understanding of the social interaction mechanism of UPB. Meanwhile, our model offers practical implications for managers to control the contagion of UPB in organizations. Finally, we put forward some future research directions of this theoretical model in terms of observers' moral judgment to UPB, cognitive appraisals related to the unethical attribute of UPB, and the internal mechanisms of behavior changes of UPB actors.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-27 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract： Against the backdrop of fierce competition in the workplace, conflicts of interest and interpersonal frictions in enterprises occur frequently. With cold violence increasingly prevalent, workplace ostracism raises extensive concern for its frequent occurrence, invisibility, and long-term hurtfulness. Compared to Western society, the traditional tolerance and restraint of Chinese culture intensifies the hurtfulness to those who are ostracized. Additionally, the fuzzy work-family boundary of Chinese culture displaces this hurtfulness onto their family through their emotions, attitudes, and behavior, which impairs their lives and future work. Previous studies have found that workplace ostracism has negative effects on the inner workings of an organization from the perspectives of psychology, attitude, behavior, and performance. However, the spillover effect of workplace ostracism on organizations is rarely discussed. Compared with Western society, Chinese employees maintain relatively vague boundaries between work and family, and the bad experiences of employees in the workplace are more likely to spillover to the family field through employees’ psychological and emotional states, thus affecting their family life and follow-up work. Based on the conservation of resources theory, this paper discusses the spillover effect of workplace ostracism on family undermining and family satisfaction from the perspectives of decreasing positive spillover and increasing negative spillover. Individuals feel threatened and stressed when they lose resources. In light of this, this study constructs and verifies the mediating effect of work stress between workplace ostracism and family undermining and family satisfaction. Furthermore, this study also verifies the boundary effect of individual need for affiliation and work-home segmentation preference in spillover. Two samples were collected to test the hypotheses. For the first sample, we collected the data at three timepoints with one-month intervals from 16 tourism-service enterprises in Guizhou and Shandong provinces. A total of 264 effective questionnaires were returned. For the second sample, with a one-week interval, the survey was administered to five tourism-service enterprises in Guizhou province, and the final sample consisted of 239 effective questionnaires. We employed hierarchical multiple regression and bootstrapping analyses to test the hypotheses. The results indicated the following: (1) workplace ostracism had a positive effect on family undermining and a negative effect on family satisfaction; (2) workplace stress mediated the relationship between workplace ostracism and family undermining and family satisfaction; (3) need for affiliation positively moderated the effect of workplace ostracism on work stress, while moderating the indirect influence of workplace ostracism on family undermining and family satisfaction via work stress; (4) work-home segmentation preference moderated the effect of work stress on family undermining and family satisfaction, while moderating the indirect influence of workplace ostracism on family undermining and family satisfaction via work stress. This study has several theoretical and practical implications. Based on the conservation of resources theory, this study demonstrates an increase in negative spillover and a decrease in positive spillover; moreover, this study maps the antecedent variables of family undermining and family satisfaction in the workplace. Furthermore, this study shows that work stress is a key transmission mechanism by which workplace ostracism penetrates the work-family interface and causes a spillover effect, which is a response to the a calling for disclosing “the black box” of the spillover effect of workplace ostracism. Finally, by constructing a moderated mediation model and investigating the influence of workplace ostracism on individuals with a unique need for affiliation and work-home segmentation preference, this study specifies the boundary conditions of the spillover effect for workplace ostracism and contributes valid evidence for the conservation of resources theory. In practice, our study can help service enterprises and their managers to understand the spillover effect of workplace ostracism on the family domain more accurately, and to reduce the negative impact of workplace ostracism by taking effective measures, such as building a harmonious, tolerant, and friendly organizational cultural atmosphere.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-27 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract： The parallel system of position and rank enlarges the separation of power and status within the organization. In particular, a large number of green hand were promoted to leadership positions, and the disadvantages brought by the separation of power and status became prominent. The high position (power) but lack of corresponding prestige (status), which largely limits the leader’s voice and control in the work, also endangers the leader's sense of control and self-worth. Therefore, exploring the abusive supervision and its intervention mechanism has profound theoretical and practical value when matching the leaders' status with their power is difficult. To address this gap, the current study aims to explore the mediating effect of leaders' ego-depletion as well as the moderating effect of leaders’ mindfulness and trust from senior managers. This study aims to explore the reasons why low-status leaders adopt abusive supervision and how to prevent this negative leadership style. Based on the three attributes of low-status compensation theory, this paper constructs a two-stage moderated mediation model and designs two studies. In Study 1, a total of 373 valid participants were collected from 58 departments, and polynomial regression and response surface methodology were used to examine the effect of leaders’ power and status mismatch (power is lower than status, power is higher than status) on abusive supervision. Study 2 aims to further explore the mechanism and interventions that lead to abusive supervision when leaders have more power than their status. In Study 2, 61 samples were collected by the department as a unit. Regression analysis, Bootstrap method, and Johnson-Neyman (J-N) technology were used to examine the moderated mediation effects of two-stage moderated mediation model. The analyses of the two studies showed that (1) leaders with inconsistent hierarchies are more inclined to implement abusive supervision than those with consistent hierarchies, (2) ego-depletion is deemed a significant operation mechanism for supervisors to realize the transformation of abusive supervision in the context of the inferiority of their status to their power, and (3) the combination of supervisors' mindfulness and trust from senior managers can jointly effectively moderate the effect caused by status which is inferior to their power on abusive supervision through ego-depletion, indicating that they are crucial mechanisms for preventing hierarchical inconsistency leading to compensatory abusive supervision. The research has the following theoretical contributions. First of all, this paper deepened the research on the pre-causes of abusive supervision, indicating that the latter is not only a manifestation of leaders' abuse of power but may also be caused by the lack of status. Second, this paper reveals the mechanism and intervention mechanism of abusive supervision by low-status leaders. Third, this paper extends the low-status compensation theory from social fields (e.g., school shooting, terrorism, murder, and other "hot" violent behaviors) to the workplace. This study also provides management implications for preventing the conflict caused by the separation of power and status.#hierarchical inconsistency, ego-depletion, abusive supervision, mindfulness, trust, low-status compensation
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-27 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract： In organisations, some employees are heralded as rising stars, whilst others are considered underdogs with no prospects. Scholars define individuals’ perceptions that others view them as unlikely to succeed as underdog expectation. The traditional view indicates that when individuals experience underdog expectations from others, they will reduce their subsequent performance through a sense of self-efficacy. This phenomenon, in which one’s performance is manipulated by someone else’s negative assessment, is also known as the Golem effect. Indeed, some studies have suggested that underdog expectations can enhance their desire to prove others wrong to improve performance. However, such studies have only focused on the influence of underdog expectations on employee behavior as social-situation cues but have disregarded its interaction with individuals’ traits. By integrating the preceding arguments, we proposed a comprehensive model based on trait activation theory, which examines the Golem and underdog effects. Specifically, under the moderating effect of underdog expectations, employees with fixed mindsets have a negative impact on subsequent task performance through feedback- avoiding behavior. Meanwhile, employees with growth mindsets have a positive impact on subsequent task performance by proving others wrong. The task context (task focus vs. future focus) plays a role in inhibiting and amplifying the two interactions. This study aimed to explore the reasons why employees who are trapped in underdog expectations become a Golem manipulated by fate and how to counter strike and become an underdog in the workplace. This study constructed a three-term interaction model of nested moderated mediation model. Three studies were designed to explore the internal and intervention mechanisms of the Golem and underdog effects activated by underdog expectations. In the first study, the existence of three interactions was initially examined through a multi-source, multi-point questionnaire of 341 employees. To test the stability of the three interactions and the extensibility of the research conclusions in different groups, a second multi-source and multi-time questionnaire survey involving 650 employees and a field study based on a quasi-experiment were designed for retesting. Regression analysis, bootstrap method and Johnson-Neyman (J-N) technology were used to analyse the questionnaire data to examine the moderated mediation effects of the three-term interaction. T-tests were used to analyse data from the field study. The analyses of the study showed the following results. (1) The interaction between underdog expectations and fixed mindsets positively affects subsequent task performance through feedback-avoiding behavior. (2) The interaction between underdog expectations and growth mindsets positively affects subsequent task performance through the desire to prove others wrong. (3) Lastly, task focus reduces the positive moderating effect of underdog expectations on fixed mindsets, and future focus strengthens the positive moderating effect of underdog expectations on growth mindsets. Findings of our research have several theoretical and practical implications. This study revealed the causes of the Golem and underdog effects, thereby enriching and expanding the research on implicit theory. It showed that fixed and growth mindsets have different paths in processing negative information, which is helpful in integrating the research on underdog and topdog employees. It also provided a theoretical explanation and transformation idea for the emergence and popularity of the depressed culture represented by the lie down and Buddha-like mindsets.
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