Direct and indirect relationship between social stressors and job performance in Greater China: The role of strain and social support

This study examined the direct relationship between two social stressors (interpersonal conflict and organizational politics) and supervisor-rated job performance among employees in three Chinese societies in Greater China. The potential moderating effects of social support on the relation between social stressors and job performance were also investigated. Further, the potential mediating role of strain between stressors and job performance was tested. Data were collected from 1032 employees in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Taipei. The results showed that both types of social stressors were positively correlated with strain, and negatively related with job performance. There was evidence supporting that social support was a significant moderator of the social stressor–performance relationship. Further, results were consistent with the hypothesis that strain could be a mediator between social stressors and job performance.     

The influence of visual perception of self-motion on locomotor adaptation to unilateral limb loading

Self-perception of motion through visual stimulation may be important for adapting to locomotor conditions. Unilateral limb loading is a locomotor condition that can improve stability and reduce abnormal limb movement. In the present study, the authors investigated the effect of self-perception of motion through virtual reality (VR) on adaptation to unilateral limb loading. Healthy young adults, assigned to either a VR or a non-VR group, walked on a treadmill in the following 3 locomotor task periods--no load, loaded, and load removed. Subjects in the VR group viewed a virtual corridor during treadmill walking. Exposure to VR reduced cadence and muscle activity. During the loaded period, the swing time of the unloaded limb showed a larger increase in the VR group. When the load was removed, the swing time of the previously loaded limb and the stance time of the previously unloaded limb showed larger decrease and the swing time of the previously unloaded limb showed a smaller increase in the VR group. Lack of visual cues may cause the adoption of cautious strategies (higher muscle activity, shorter and more frequent steps, changes in the swing and stance times) when faced with situations that require adaptations. VR technology, providing such perceptual cues, has an important role in enhancing locomotor adaptation.     

Parent Education for Migrant Mothers of Left‐Behind Children in China: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Although numerous studies have indicated the significance of parental support and parent–child communication in alleviating the adverse effects of parental departure on left‐behind children, researchers have rarely addressed the impact of parent education on migrant parents. On the basis of the results of a pilot randomized controlled trial, the study reported here involved examining the possible outcomes and feasibility of a parent education program for rural‐to‐urban migrant mothers of left‐behind children in China. Informed by an existential–narrative approach to parent education, the program was composed of six 2.5‐hour sessions. The sample included 56 migrant mothers recruited from a social service center in Shenzhen, China, who were randomly assigned to either the immediate group (n = 28, M = 34.82 years, SD = 4.12, aged 23–43) or the waitlist control group (n = 28, M = 34.68 years, SD = 4.53, aged 28–43). The hypotheses of the trial were twofold: that the program would positively affect participants’ parental identity and that it would improve mother–child relationships and parenting practices. The results revealed no significant difference in parental identity between the intervention group and the waitlist control group at the post‐test assessment after ruling out the effects of pretest survey scores. However, significant differences did emerge in parent–child relationships and parenting practices. Overall, the results corroborate the feasibility of examining the current program for migrant mothers in China in a full trial. The findings also offer insights into developing empirically supported parent education programs for migrant parents.     

Job stress and job performance among employees in Hong Kong: The role of Chinese work values and organizational commitment

This study investigates the direct and moderating effects of Chinese work values and organizational commitment on the stress‐job performance relationship. Chinese work values are the work‐related Confucian values of Chinese societies, and include collectivism, hardworking, endurance, and harmonious social relationships (guanxi). A three‐component (affective, continuance, and normative) conception of commitment (Meyer & Allen, 1991) is used. A self‐administered questionnaire survey collected data from two samples of Hong Kong employees during 2001. These samples included 386 (197 males, 179 females, 10 unidentified) and 145 (51 males, 94 females) respondents. The purpose of recruiting two samples was to replicate the stress‐performance relationship in a Chinese setting to enhance generalization of the results. The results consistently revealed that sources of pressure and self‐rated job performance were negatively related. Furthermore, organizational commitment and Chinese work values were positively related to job performance. A series of hierarchical regressions, while controlling for age, tenure, and job level, revealed that Chinese work values and organizational commitment were significant stress moderators. Chinese work values were found to be significant moderators of the stress‐performance relationship in both samples. However, those values only safeguarded performance when work stress was low or moderately high. When work stress was very high, employees with high levels of Chinese work values reported lower job performance. Organizational commitment, in contrast, protected employees from the negative effects of stressors and moderated the stress‐performance relationship in a positive direction, but for the first sample only. The implications of the study are that it is essential to nourish work values among employees and cultivate employees' commitment to their organizations. However, in very high stress situations, it is more appropriate to alter the work environment to reduce stressors at work, in order to enhance job performance. Cette étude visait à examiner les effets directs et modérateurs des valeurs de travail chinoises et de L'engagement organisationnel sur les relations entre le stress et la performance. Dans la présente étude, les valeurs de travail chinoises impliquent les valeurs confucéennes reliées au travail, lesquelles sont communément acceptées dans les sociétés chinoises. Elles comprennent le collectivisme, L'ardeur au travail, L'endurance et les relations sociales harmonieuses (guanxi). Une conception tripartite de L'engagement (Myers et Allen, 1991) fut utilisée. Celle‐ci inclut L'affectivité, la continuité et L'engagement normatif. Les données furent recueillies auprès de deux échantillons d'employés de Hong Kong, durant un intervalle de 7 mois, en 2001. Pour chaque échantillon, 386 (197 hommes et 179 femmes) et 145 (51 hommes et 94 femmes, 10 non identifiés) répondants, respectivement, ont complété un questionnaire d'enquête autorapporté. Le but de recruter deux échantillons était d'examiner les relations stress‐performance dans deux milieux chinois afin d'augmenter la générabilité des résultats. Les résultats révèlent que les sources de pression et la performance rapportée sont négativement associées. De plus, L'engagement organisationnel et les valeurs de travail chinoises sont positivement liés à la performance. Une série de régressions hiérarchiques, en exerçant un contrôle sur L'âge, le poste et le niveau d'emploi, révèlent que les valeurs de travail chinoises et L'engagement organisationnel sont des modérateurs significatifs du stress. Les valeurs de travail chinoises sont des modérateurs significatifs des relations entre le stress et la performance pour les deux échantillons. Cependant, elles favorisent la performance seulement lorsque le stress au travail est faible ou modérément élevé. Quand le stress au travail est très élevé, les employés dont les valeurs de travail chinoises sont fortes rapportent des niveaux plus faibles de performance. Concernant L'engagement organisationnel, celui‐ci protège les employés des effets négatifs des stresseurs et il modère la relation stress‐performance dans une direction positive, pour le premier échantillon seulement. Sur le plan des implications, cette étude soulève qu'il est essentiel de nourrir les valeurs de travail chez les employés et de cultiver L'engagement dans leurs organisations. Cependant, dans des situations hautement stressantes, il serait davantage approprié de modifier L'environnement de travail pour réduire les stresseurs, afin d'améliorer la performance des employés. Este estudio se propone investigar los efectos directos y moderadores de los valores chinos hacia el trabajo y el compromiso con la organización sobre las relaciones entre estrés y rendimiento en el trabajo. En este estudio, los valores chinos hacia el trabajo se refieren a los valores de Confucio relativos al trabajo, aquéllos sobre los que existe acuerdo entre las sociedades chinas, que incluyen el colectivismo, la dedicación al trabajo, la resistencia y las relaciones sociales armoniosas (guanxi). Se empleó una concepción de compromiso formada por tres componentes (Meyer & Allen, 1991), que incluye el compromiso afectivo, continuo y normativo. Se recogieron datos de dos muestras de empleados de Hong Kong con 7 meses de intervalo entre una y otra durante el 2001, de 386 (197 hombres, 179 mujeres, 10 no identificados) y 145 (51 hombres, 94 mujeres) respectivamente, mediante el empleo de un cuestionario auto‐administrado. La razón por la que se reclutó dos muestras fue llevar al cabo una réplica de las relaciones entre estrés y rendimiento en un contexto chino, para mejorar la generalidad de los resultados. Es más, se encontró una relación positiva entre compromiso con la organización y rendimiento en el trabajo. Los resultados de una serie de regresiones jerárquicas, después de controlar la edad, definitividad y jerarquía, revelaron que los valores chinos hacia el trabajo y el compromiso con la organización moderaban de manera significativa las relaciones entre estrés y rendimiento. Se encontró que los valores chinos hacia el trabajo moderaban de manera significativa las relaciones entre estrés y rendimiento en ambas muestras. No obstante, los valores chinos hacia el trabajo salvaguardan el rendimiento sólo cuando el estrés es bajo o moderadamente alto. Cuando el estrés en el trabajo es muy alto, los empleados con niveles altos de valores chinos manifiestan bajo rendimiento. Respecto al compromiso con la organización, éste protege a los empleados de los efectos negativos de los estresores y modera la relación entre estrés y rendimiento en una dirección positiva, pero sólo para la primera muestra. Las implicaciones de este estudio son: es esencial fomentar los valores hacia el trabajo entre los empleados y cultivar su compromiso para con sus organizaciones. Sin embargo, bajo situaciones de estrés extremo, será más apropiado alterar el ambiente laboral para reducir los estresores, y así mejorar el rendimiento en el trabajo.     

Gross overactivity: A study by direct observation

A group of children who were rated as grossly overactive by a clinician was compared with a matched control group on various measurements of their behavior in a clinical interview situation and in a psychological test situation. An observational schedule was developed to discern those behaviors related to the concept of overactivity. These behaviors were operationally defined to enable reliable replication. The experimental group showed an excess in quantity of mechanically recorded movement as well as an increase in a cluster of behaviors including distractibility and disinhibition. Situational effects on those symptoms were noted. The symptoms were best observed in a semistructured clinical interview situation.This project was carried out while S. L. Luk was a research worker at the Institute of Psychiatry, London, supported by the University of Hong Kong. The authors express sincere thanks to Dr. S. Sandberg for her help in the reliability study, to Dr. J. Bacon-Soong for his statistical advice, and to Miss Ivy Wong for secretarial help.The coding scheme is available from the author.     

Exploring the Dimensions of Chinese Person Perception with Indigenous and Imported Constructs: Creating a Culturally Balanced Scale

This research compares the relative effectiveness of imported and indigenous measures of personality perception for Hong Kong Chinese. The first study reports on the extraction of six factors of self-perception using bipolar, adjective rating scales from the U.S.A. tapping the Big Five (Digman, 1990), and Openness to Experience (McCrae & Costa, 1985; 1987). The second study reports on the extraction of six factors of self-perception derived from scales developed indigenously by Chinese psychologists. In the third study, the overlap of the imported and the indigenous dimensions is examined, and their relative power in explaining various criterion measures is assessed. The imported factors adequately explained all but one of the indigenous factors, although in complex combinations. Neither scale was better than the other in predicting the criterion variables. Imported measures may cut the phenomenal world differently from indigenous measures, but still enable scientists to predict behaviours just as effectively. In consequence, if replicated with other criterion variables, the present results would challenge the investment required to develop local instrumentation on scientific grounds.     

Transformational Leadership and Employee Well‐Being: The Mediating Role of Trust in the Leader and Self‐Efficacy

Although transformational leadership (TL) is considered a kind of positive leadership, which can elevate followers in the long term, the mechanism of how TL influences employee well‐being remains a relatively untouched area. Based on survey data collected from 745 employees from the People's Republic of China (Beijing, n= 297; Hong Kong, n= 448), results revealed that employees' trust in the leader and self‐efficacy partially mediated the influence of TL on job satisfaction, and fully mediated the influence of TL on perceived work stress and stress symptoms. Implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed. Bien que le leadership transformationnnel (TL) soit considéré comme une sorte de leadership positif qui peut faire progresser les suiveurs sur le long terme, le mécanisme par lequel TL contribue à leur bien être reste relativement inexploré. Les résultats basés sur des données collectées auprès d’un échantillon de 745 employés de la République Populaire de Chine (Beijin, n = 297; Hong Kong, n = 448), montrent que la confiance des suiveurs dans le leader et l’auto‐efficacité sont en partie dus à l’influence du TL sur la satisfaction au travail et sont entièrement dus à l’influence du TL sur le stress perçu au travail et les symptômes de stress. Les implications de ces résultats pour la recherche et la pratique sont discutées.     

Eastern versus Western Control Beliefs at Work: An Investigation of Secondary Control, Socioinstrumental Control, and Work Locus of Control in China and the US

La théorie et la recherche concernant les croyances (LOC) et les perceptions du contrôle suggèrent que les Asiatiques tendent à obtenir des scores plus bas et àêtre plus passifs que les Américains, mais ces travaux ont été menés à l’aide de concepts et d’échelles développés principalement aux USA qui certifient une primauté du contrôle interne (ex: en changeant l’environnement pour l’adapter à soi). Une équipe de recherche internationale a étendu la notion de croyance dans le contrôle en développant des échelles qui permettent de reconsidérer la notion en faisant état de croyances secondaires dans le contrôle (ex: en adaptant le soi à l’environnement) et de faire état d’un concept nouveau de croyances socio‐instrumentales (ex: le contrôle par les relations interpersonelles) qui permettent de rendre compte de manière plus pertinente des croyances en un contrôle dans les cultures collectivistes. Nous nous attendions à ce que, par l’utilisation d’échelles culturellement appropriées, les Américains n’obtiennent pas une croyance en un contrôle plus importante que les Asiatiques. Les hypothèses ont été partiellement confirmées en ce que les Américains se sont montrés comme obtenant un contrôle plus bas que les Chinois (de Hong Kong et de RP de Chine) sur ces échelles. Il est suggéré que voir les Asiatiques comme évitant passivement le contrôle au travail peut être incorrect et dû aux insuffisances de contrôle socio‐instrumental. Research and theory concerning beliefs (locus of control) and perceptions of control suggest that Asians tend to be lower and more passive than Americans, but this work has been conducted mainly with US‐developed constructs and scales that assess primary control (i.e. changing the environment to adapt to the self). An international research team expanded the notion of control beliefs by developing scales to assess secondary control beliefs (i.e. adapting the self to the environment) and the new construct of socioinstrumental control beliefs (i.e. control via interpersonal relationships), both of which were thought to better fit the control beliefs of collectivist cultures than Western‐developed control scales. We expected that, when culturally appropriate scales were employed, Americans would not show higher control beliefs than Asians. Hypotheses were partially confirmed that Americans would be lower than Chinese (Hong Kong and PR China) on these new scales. It is suggested that views of Asians as passive avoiders of control at work may be incorrect and due to the overlooking of socioinstrumental control.     

A Review of Determinants of and Interventions for Proenvironmental Behaviors in Organizations

A review of empirical studies on proenvironmental behaviors in organizational contexts is presented. Twenty‐one studies met the inclusion criteria. Quantitative effect sizes were compared where statistics were available and research designs were comparable. Characteristics of the dependent variable and the targeted organizational (sub)populations were systematically examined. With respect to individual‐specific determinants, the results show relatively consistent effects for attitudinal determinants and past behavior. For organization‐specific influences, management and physical facilitation were frequently significant. Findings related to other factors are less conclusive. Given the available evidence and feasibility considerations, it is recommended that interventions focus on physical facilitation, tailored persuasive communication, and active engagement of middle management. It is further recommended that future research integrates the analysis of individual and organizational determinants.