Subjects: Psychology >> Applied Psychology submitted time 2024-04-28
Abstract： As an important extra-role behavior in the workplace, helping behavior refers to voluntarily caring for others and helping them deal with work-related affairs. To date, most studies focused on either the antecedents of helping behavior or its influences on helping providers and receivers. However, the discussion on the effects of helping behavior on observers is still limited. According to social comparison theory and the peer influence literature, this research argues that observed coworker helping behavior influences observers’ cognitive and emotional reactions and, ultimately, their behaviors. On the one hand, after witnessing coworker helping behavior, observers may experience higher indebtedness toward coworkers and shame emotions, which enhances their helping behavior. On the other hand, we propose that after witnessing coworker helping behavior, observers may experience lower organization-based self-esteem and pride emotions, which reduces their helping behavior. Based on social comparison theory, we further focus on observers’ helping behavior and consider that it can moderate the effects of observed coworker helping behavior.
Hypotheses were tested using a multi-wave survey and three experiments from the Eastern and Western samples. An original sample (Study 1) of participants in a food supply company in China were invited to participate in the survey. An experiment (Study 2) manipulated observed coworker helping behavior and observers’ helping behavior and then measured observers’ indebtedness toward coworkers and organization-based self-esteem. An experiment (Study 3) manipulated indebtedness toward coworkers and organization-based self-esteem, and then measured observers’ emotions and helping behavior. Another experiment (Study 4) manipulated observed coworker helping behavior and observers’ helping behavior and then measured the remaining variables of the model.
The above studies supported our hypotheses. Results demonstrated that observed coworker helping behavior is positively related to observers’ indebtedness toward coworkers and shame emotions, which, in turn, is positively related to observers’ helping behavior. At the same time, observed coworker helping behavior is negatively related to observers’ organization-based self-esteem and pride emotions, which, in turn, is negatively related to observers’ helping behavior. Observers’ helping behavior moderates the effects of coworker helping behavior. Specifically, when their helping behavior is higher (versus lower), the effects of coworker helping behavior on indebtedness toward coworkers and organization-based self-esteem are weaker.
This study contributes to the helping behavior literature in several ways. First, our study provides a new direction for existing research on helping behavior by introducing the third-party perspective. Different from the previous studies, this study examines the psychological and behavioral responses of observers to observed coworker helping behavior, which transfers the traditional research perspective to the observers in the process of helping. Second, this study considers both positive and negative ways of observed coworker helping behavior in influencing observers’ helping behavior, explaining why observed coworker helping behavior is a double-edged sword for observers. Thus, this study provides a more complete picture of the psychological mechanisms by which observed coworker helping behavior affects observers’ subsequential behavior. Third, this study focuses on observers’ initial helping behavior as the boundary condition and explains when observers are more likely to react positively or negatively to observed coworker helping behavior. This examination helps us understand the third party’s response to observed coworker helping behavior more comprehensively and accurately.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-27 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract： Based on conservation of resources (COR) theory, this paper examines how and when employee mindfulness influences spouse family satisfaction and work engagement. It proposes that employee mindfulness as an important resource is positively related to spouse family satisfaction and work engagement by strategic emotional connecting display. Meanwhile, COR theory suggests that threats to resources would urge individuals to protect rather than consume the remaining resources. Thus, this study considers spouse family negative emotional expression as a moderator in the relationship between employee mindfulness and employee strategic emotional connecting display. We collected data from front-line employees in a commercial bank in Northern China and their spouses by experience sampling methodology. At Time 1 (one week before the start of the daily surveys), we invited 129 front-line employees to offer demographic information. We also asked their spouses to provide demographic information and rate the variable at the between-person level (i.e., family negative emotional expression). During 10 workdays, we invited participants to rate the variables at the within-person level. At 9 a.m., spouses received a link to assess their work engagement. At 8:30 p.m., employees and their spouses received a link respectively. Employees rated their mindfulness and strategic emotional connecting display, and spouses were asked to rate their family satisfaction. The final valid sample consisted of 114 employees and 114 their spouses. Mplus 8.0 and the bootstrap technique were used to test our hypotheses. As hypothesized, our study found that employee mindfulness was positively and significantly related to employee strategic emotional connecting display. Employee strategic emotional connecting display was positively and significantly associated with spouse family satisfaction and work engagement in the next morning. Additionally, employee strategic emotional connecting display mediated the effects of employee mindfulness on spouse family satisfaction and spouse work engagement in the next morning. Moreover, spouse family negative emotional expression moderated the positive relationship between employee mindfulness and employee strategic emotional connecting display. That is, when spouse family negative emotional expression was higher rather than lower, the positive relationship between employee mindfulness and employee strategic emotional connecting display was weakened. The moderated mediation model was also supported such that the indirect effects of employee mindfulness on spouse outcomes (i.e., family satisfaction and work engagement in the next morning) via employee strategic emotional connecting display were weakened when spouse family negative emotional expression was higher rather than lower. This study contributes to the mindfulness literature in multiple ways. First, our study enriches the interpersonal effects of mindfulness literature and advances research on the work-family interface by linking employee mindfulness to spouse work and family outcomes. Second, this study opens the “black box” between employee mindfulness and spouse outcomes by exploring the mediating mechanism of strategic emotional connecting display. This study also extends the antecedent of strategic emotional connecting display and enriches the nomological network of this construct. Third, this study explores the moderating role of spouse family negative emotional expression, which responds to the call of the previous studies and enhances our understanding of the boundary conditions of the effects of employee mindfulness. Finally, by adopting experience sampling methodology, this study can obtain a large number of ecological data sets to capture the dynamic nature of relationships in the model. In addition to the theoretical contributions, this study also provides useful guidance for management practice.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-27 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract： In recent years, scholars have gradually realized that proactive behavior is a self-regulatory process including not only overt behavioral element (i.e., enacting) but also covert behavioral elements (i.e., envisioning, planning, and reflecting). However, previous research on proactive behaviors focused only on the influence of overt behavioral element on a variety of individual and organizational outcomes but neglected the influence of covert behavioral elements and the synergistic effect of all elements in a proactive process. It leads to an incomplete understanding of proactive behavior. To address this problem, we draw on a process perspective and a configural approach to investigate: 1) the configural effects of all behavioral elements (i.e., envisioning, planning, enacting, and reflecting) in a proactive process on employees' job performance and emotional exhaustion; 2) the impact of task context (i.e., environmental uncertainty) and social context (i.e., felt trust) on the configural effects of all behavioral elements; and 3) incremental effect of configuration membership on employees' outcomes after controlling for the unique effects of each element and individual difference (i.e., proactive personality and neuroticism).By using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) and regression analysis, we conducted a longitudinal study to test our hypotheses and examine research questions. We examined the configural effects of all four elements on employees' job performance and emotional exhaustion, and then examined the impacts of task and social context and the incremental effect of these configurations. 426 full-time employees and their direct supervisors from an education and training company in China participated in a questionnaire survey and reported data at two time points two weeks apart. Supervisors reported their subordinates' job performance at time 2. The final sample size was 383.The findings reveal that: 1) a configuration with high level of enacting alone is not sufficient for generating high job performance; 2) a configuration with low (high) levels on all four elements is sufficient for producing low (high) job performance regardless of the level of environmental uncertainty; 3) when environmental uncertainty is high, a configuration with high level of envisioning, planning, and reflecting is sufficient for producing high job performance regardless of the level of enacting; 4) a configuration with high level of enacting and low level of envisioning, planning, and reflecting is sufficient for generating high emotional exhaustion; 5) when felt trust is high, a configuration with high level of envisioning, planning, and reflecting is sufficient for producing low emotional exhaustion regardless of the level of enacting; 6) in general, after controlling for the unique effects of each element and individual difference, the configuration membership can still predict employees' job performance and emotional exhaustion whereas elements in a proactive process cannot.Our research contributes to the literature on proactive behavior. First, our research presents a novel perspective on the process of proactive behavior. The process perspective of proactive behavior provides a fresh window onto why the consequences of proactive behaviors vary between employees and studies. Second, our research advances the understanding of proactive behavior by revealing the configural effects of four elements in a proactive process on employees' outcomes. Third, our research demonstrates the usefulness of a configural approach in studying process-related issues in proactive behavior research.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-27 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract： Extant emotional intelligence (EI) research has documented its intrapersonal benefits and has begun to examine its interpersonal effects. However, this line of research has primarily focused on the interpersonal effects of EI in the work context, while ignoring the potential influences from non-work domain. Considering employees’ family may have a spillover effect on their work behaviors, in this research, we propose that spouse EI will affect employees’ work engagement. Specifically, integrating effort-recovery model with the EI literature, we argue that spouse EI exerts a positive impact on employee work engagement through improving employees’ life well-being. Furthermore, we argue that employee gender alters the aboved relationships such that the positive interpersonal influences of spouse EI will be stronger among male employees than among female employees. We conducted two studies to examine the hypothesized model. In Study 1, we collected two-wave survey data from a large bank. At time 1, 126 employees and their spouses rated their own EI and provided their demographic information. At time 2, two weeks later, 126 employees evaluated their own life well-being and work engagement. The final valid sample consisted of 124 employee-spouse dyads. In Study 2, we collected three-wave survey data from an internet company. At time 1, 80 employees assessed their own EI and some control variables (i.e., leader EI, coworker EI, job demands, and job control); and their 80 spouses evaluated their own EI and provided their demographic information. At time 2, one month later, 78 employees rated their own life well-being. At time 3, another month later, 73 employees rated their own work engagement. The HR department of the company provided the archival data of employees’ demographic information. The final valid sample included 73 employee-spouse dyads. Regression analysis and bootstrapping technique were used to test the mediation, moderation, and moderated-mediation effects. In line with the hypotheses, two studies consistently showed that: (1) Spouse EI was positively related to employee life well-being; (2) Employee life well-being was positively related to employee work engagement; (3) Employee life well-being served as a mediator to transmit the effect of spouse EI on employee work engagement; (4) Employee gender moderated the relationship between spouse EI and employee life well-being such that when employees were male, the positive effect of spouse EI on employee life well-being was stronger; (5) Employee gender also moderated the indirect effect of spouse EI on employee work engagement via employee life well-being such that the indirect effect was stronger among male employees than among female employees. Our theoretical contributions are threefold. First, our research has deepened our understanding on EI, as it is among the first to establish a link between spouse EI and employee work engagement and supports the interpersonal effects of EI from the family to the work domain. Second, our research identifies employee life well-being as a key mediator that explains how spouse EI affects employee work engagement. Third, our research highlights the role of employee gender and unravels the conditions under which spouse EI exerts more or less effects on employee work engagement. Practically, our research offers implications to improve employee life well-being and work engagement through improving spouse EI, especially wife EI.
Subjects: Psychology >> Management Psychology submitted time 2023-03-06
Abstract： In recent years, scholars have gradually realized that proactive behavior is a self-regulatory process including not only overt behavioral element (i.e., enacting) but also covert behavioral elements (i.e., envisioning, planning, and reflecting). However, previous research on proactive behaviors focused only on the influence of overt behavioral element on a variety of individual and organizational outcomes but neglected the influence of covert behavioral elements and the synergistic effect of all elements in a proactive process. It leads to an incomplete understanding of proactive behavior. To address this problem, we draw on a process perspective and a configural approach to investigate: 1) the configural effects of all behavioral elements (i.e., envisioning, planning, enacting, and reflecting) in a proactive process on employees’ job performance and emotional exhaustion; 2) the impact of task context (i.e., environmental uncertainty) and social context (i.e., felt trust) on the configural effects of all behavioral elements; and 3) incremental effect of configuration membership on employees’ outcomes after controlling for the unique effects of each element and individual difference (i.e., proactive personality and neuroticism). By using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) and regression analysis, we conducted a longitudinal study to test our hypotheses and examine research questions. We examined the configural effects of all four elements on employees’ job performance and emotional exhaustion, and then examined the impacts of task and social context and the incremental effect of these configurations. 426 full-time employees and their direct supervisors from an education and training company in China participated in a questionnaire survey and reported data at two time points two weeks apart. Supervisors reported their subordinates’ job performance at time 2. The final sample size was 383. The findings reveal that: 1) a configuration with high level of enacting alone is not sufficient for generating high job performance; 2) a configuration with low (high) levels on all four elements is sufficient for producing low (high) job performance regardless of the level of environmental uncertainty; 3) when environmental uncertainty is high, a configuration with high level of envisioning, planning, and reflecting is sufficient for producing high job performance regardless of the level of enacting; 4) a configuration with high level of enacting and low level of envisioning, planning, and reflecting is sufficient for generating high emotional exhaustion; 5) when felt trust is high, a configuration with high level of envisioning, planning, and reflecting is sufficient for producing low emotional exhaustion regardless of the level of enacting; 6) in general, after controlling for the unique effects of each element and individual difference, the configuration membership can still predict employees' job performance and emotional exhaustion whereas elements in a proactive process cannot. Our research contributes to the literature on proactive behavior. First, our research presents a novel perspective on the process of proactive behavior. The process perspective of proactive behavior provides a fresh window onto why the consequences of proactive behaviors vary between employees and studies. Second, our research advances the understanding of proactive behavior by revealing the configural effects of four elements in a proactive process on employees’ outcomes. Third, our research demonstrates the usefulness of a configural approach in studying process-related issues in proactive behavior research.
Peer Review Status:
Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Management Psychology submitted time 2020-10-29
Abstract：文章基于资源保存理论，采用体验抽样法收集了一家商业银行114名员工及其配偶的数据。结果表明，在个体内层面，员工正念通过员工情感联结策略的中介作用影响其配偶家庭满意度及第二天早上工作投入；在个体间层面的配偶家庭负面情感表达调节了员工正念与员工情感联结策略的关系及员工情感联结策略的中介作用，即配偶家庭负面情感表达水平越高，员工正念对员工情感联结策略的影响及员工情感联结策略的中介作用相对更弱。
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
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