Journal of Theoretical Social Psychology最新文献

Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is often hailed for its positive linkages to individual outcomes and organizational effectiveness. Despite these findings, research on OCB often fails to consider how an individual's past OCB may influence the outcomes stemming from current OCB performance. Such a contextually bland image truncates our understanding of the impact of these behaviors. Furthermore, the theories that drive literature on OCB (e.g., social exchange, expectancy, and conservation of resources) are socially focused. However, there is limited research examining how coworkers' responses to others' OCBs, in light of past OCB performance, may alter the nature of their perceptions and behavioral reactions to changes in OCB. Recent literature on OCB also calls for consolidation of OCB-related typologies, but few efforts test the efficacy of composite frameworks. Accordingly, this effort investigates the impact that fluctuations (increase vs. decreases) in different types of OCB (orientation vs. direction) have on coworker perceptions and responses to OCB performers. This effort also explored the impact that coworker's assumptions regarding another employee's motivations for OCB has on the outcomes that stem from OCB. Limitations, implications, and future directions are discussed.

The own-anchor effect concerns the assimilation of judgments of other people's external characteristics such as age, weight, and height toward the estimator's own characteristics. The phenomenon is related to theories of social projection and classical anchoring. It has previously been described as an estimation bias in studies of eyewitness accuracy and has been measured by the correlation between the estimates and the participants' own corresponding characteristics. We suggest that the term own-anchor effect should be reserved for cases when the estimate and the estimator's own value both are bigger than the target person's value, or when both are smaller than the target person's value. Two subtypes of own-anchoring and their association to different target persons of different ages and sizes are also described. A new index of own-anchoring based on the deviation between the estimate and the target persons' values is introduced, and differences between the two measures are discussed, as well as the implications for moderation by gender.

Despite substantial evidence supporting the positive impact of employee work engagement on organizational outcomes, it remains unclear how engagement changes in demanding work settings within a given time frame. Drawing on the job demands–resources model, we examine the weekly dynamic patterns of vigor, dedication, and absorption (three dimensions of work engagement), as well as the relationship between self-efficacy and the trajectories of these three dimensions. Two field studies were conducted to examine our hypotheses. In Study 1, with the use of a sample of 111 entrepreneurs participating in a 5-day-long Gobi hike designed to enhance professional development, we found that vigor, dedication, and absorption declined over time and that self-efficacy was positively associated with initial vigor, dedication, and absorption. In Study 2, to extend the findings of Study 1, we collected data from 106 employees in various industries using a daily diary survey across five consecutive workdays. Analyses of linear growth models indicates a consistent decline in dedication and absorption, with a positive effect of self-efficacy on all three dimensions of daily engagement.

Research has investigated how each of numerous indicators of attitude strength separately affect an attitude's stability, resistance to persuasion, and utility in predicting behavior. More recent studies, however, have revealed interactive effects of attitude certainty and objective ambivalence. High (vs. low) certainty strengthened an attitude low in objective ambivalence (e.g., higher resistance to persuasion and attitude stability) but weakened an attitude high in objective ambivalence (e.g., lower resistance and stability). Extending these findings, we show that attitude certainty also moderates the effect of an attitude high or low in subjective ambivalence on attitude stability. Moreover, we generalize an interaction perspective on indicators of attitude strength by showing that attitude knowledge also interacts with ambivalence and certainty regarding attitude stability. Findings are discussed in regard to the interplay of different strength indicators more generally.

Perceived organizational support (POS) is considered a central factor in employees' work-related attitudes and behaviors. Drawing on the relational model of authority, we propose that perceived authority legitimacy, which reflects subordinates' identification with and acceptance of authority directives and power, may mediate the effect of POS on employees' work-related outcomes, including job satisfaction, affective commitment, organizational citizenship behavior, and work deviance behavior. We analyzed the data from a cross-organizational sample of n = 343 employees using structural equation modeling with latent constructs. Results indicated perceived authority legitimacy partially mediated the relations of POS with work-related outcomes. When organizations recognize their employees' contributions, acknowledge their importance, and demonstrate an interest in their needs, employees tend to better accept the authority directives. Perceived authority legitimacy is then echoed in employees' functioning. While the benefits of POS have mostly been discussed as reflecting exchange processes, our findings point to identity-based processes emphasizing the important role of perceived authority legitimacy. The paper concludes by discussing implications for human resource management theory and practice.

This research expands knowledge of individual tendencies to “pay it forward,” as a result of commitment to the organization. It is desirable for organizations to have employees who go above and beyond their prescribed work duties, resulting in positive outcomes and increased organizational performance. The critical role that organizational citizenship behavior plays in providing internal and external benefits for the organization highlights the importance of research in this field. This is particularly important in dynamic work environments with an increase in non-traditional (e.g., decentralized and remote) working arrangements. This work conceptually confirms that the generalized social exchange driven behavior of paying it forward (PIF) is an organizational citizenship behavior distinct from other conceptualizations. The research proposes and empirically tests a conceptual model contributing to literature examining individual tendencies to engage in social exchange and organizational citizenship behavior in organizations. The research uses a single, cross-sectional descriptive research design and data are analyzed using regression analyses. The findings confirm that a positive relationship exists between organizational commitment and PIF. Age and gender are confirmed moderators of this relationship, with younger respondents and males exhibiting the highest levels of PIF. Key practical implications from this research relate to furthering the understanding of individual tendencies to engage in organizational citizenship behavior, as a result of their commitment to the organization. This provides managers insight into fostering desired behavior, which assists with the creation of a self-reinforcing, positive behavioral cycle.

Humans are naturally social, and according to relational models theory (RMT), they use cognitively represented and motivationally operative models (i.e., relational models) to structure and understand their social interactions. RMT proposes that the fit between the expected and perceived relational model (i.e., RM fit) in a given social interactive situation is related to perceptions of justice, while an RM misfit is related to injustice perceptions. The experience of RM fit/misfit is motivationally operative for generating behavior intended to either strengthen a just relationship or transform an unjust relationship. Building on these theoretical considerations, it is argued that RM fit (misfit) is positively (negatively) related to perceived justice which in turn is positively related to willingness to help and negatively related to willingness to hide one's knowledge from an interaction partner. Willingness to help and sharing information are of particular practical importance in the context of teamwork and for cooperative relationships in organizations more generally. Three experimental studies (n₁ = 441, n₂ = 618, n₃ = 455) were conducted in which RM fit/misfit was manipulated as an independent variable in three different work scenarios (vignettes). We assessed participants' justice perceptions and willingness to exhibit (un)cooperative behavior (i.e., more or less helping and knowledge hiding) toward their interaction partners. All three experiments confirmed the hypothesized relationships. The results are discussed with respect to the theoretical relevance of RMT for explaining mechanisms underlying justice perceptions, helping behavior, and knowledge hiding at work in teams and organizations.

Past research has demonstrated that precise first offers (e.g., $4,983) serve as an anchor in negotiations and reduce counteroffers relative to round first offers (e.g., $5,000). Precise offers are frequently perceived as indicating greater competence and knowledge of the person making the offer. Three studies were conducted to determine if knowledge of precise offers as a negotiating tactic would reduce the effect of precision on counteroffers. Precise offers elicited smaller counteroffers than round offers in all three studies, and this effect persisted even when participants were aware of precision as a negotiating tactic. Despite its effectiveness at reducing counteroffers, participants receiving precise offers were more likely to decide to negotiate compared to participants receiving a round offer in two of the three studies. Perceptions of the other party and scale granularity were examined as mediators of the relationship between anchor type (precise or round offer) and counteroffers. Perceived fairness of the offer emerged as a mediator in all three studies. These results suggest that a precise first offer can be effective at reducing counteroffers, even when the other party suspects that it is a negotiating tactic.

Overwhelming evidence suggests that job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) are positively related. Although researchers have generally assumed that satisfaction has a genuine relationship with OCB, we argue that the satisfaction–OCB relationship may be largely spurious. We tested the degree of spuriousness within the satisfaction–OCB relationship in two studies—a meta-analysis (Study 1) and a two-wave primary study (N = 420; Study 2). In both studies, we examined the strength of the satisfaction–OCB relationship after controlling for environmental variables (i.e., job characteristics, job stressors, and leader behaviors) and personality variables (i.e., five factor model characteristics and core self-evaluations). Across the two studies, we observed several instances in which the satisfaction–OCB relationship was significantly weaker after we controlled for a third variable, but a meaningful relationship was still present. And in some instances, the satisfaction–OCB relationship was rendered statistically nonsignificant or practically nonsignificant once controls were included. These findings suggest that satisfaction and OCB is at least partially spurious.

Investigators frequently rely on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as a conceptual framework to explain and predict human behavior in a variety of behavioral domains. Much of this research has focused on predicting behavioral intentions from attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control, typically by examining the additive effects of these constructs. However, in the original formulation of the TPB, perceived behavioral control was postulated to moderate the influence of attitude and subjective norm on intention. This tenet of the TPB has been drawing increasing attention in recent years. In a preregistered program of research conducted in two European countries (Germany and UK) concerning two different behaviors (exercising and reducing energy consumption), we found empirical support for the postulated moderating effects. The results suggest that as scores on perceived behavioral control increase, the strength of the association between attitude and intention increases as well, whereas the strength of the association between subjective norm and intention decreases. Implications of these findings for theory and future research are discussed.