Prototypical supervisors shape lay‐off victims’ experiences of top management justice and organizational support

Job loss is a pervasive experience affecting millions of workers around the globe annually. To investigate lay‐offs from the perspective of those who are affected, we conducted a lagged study examining lay‐off victims’ experiences of supervisory justice, top management justice, and organizational support. We test the hypotheses that the relationships between supervisory justice and lay‐off victims’ subsequent experiences of top management justice as well as organizational support are moderated by supervisors’ prototypicality of their team. Results from our study conducted during lay‐off process indicated that supervisory justice had a positive lagged impact on lay‐off victims’ unfolding experiences of both (1) top management justice and (2) organizational support for supervisors who were viewed as highly (but not lowly) prototypical of the team that both supervisors and subordinates were part of. Our study identifies a theoretically grounded moderator that may account for the presence (or absence) of cross‐foci effects found in previous multifoci justice studies. Moreover, our results shed light on the development of justice perceptions by demonstrating the impact of lower‐level supervisors in translating subordinates’ perceptions of justice of the supervisor to that of the top management. Findings suggest that supervisors have an important role to play in managing (for better or worse) the potentially harmful consequences associated with organizational redundancies.

Practitioner points

• Prototypical supervisors are ‘gatekeepers’ who are able to influence their subordinates’ relationship with the organization and its management.
• Involving supervisors in critical events such as lay‐offs may be important to effectively manage employees’ concerns.
• It may not be well advised to overly centralize responsibility for communicating information regarding lay‐offs under human resource departments.

     

Perceived overqualification,felt organizational obligation,and extra-role behavior during the COVID-19 crisis: The moderating role of self-sacrificial leadership

Past research has found that employees who view themselves as overqualified for their jobs tend to hold negative job attitudes and be unwilling to go beyond the call of duty. In challenging situations such as during the COVID-19 crisis, when having “all hands-on deck” may be important to an organization's survival, mitigating the negative tendencies of these employees becomes important. Adopting a sensemaking perspective on crisis management, we examine whether supervisors' self-sacrificial leadership can mitigate these negative tendencies. First, we propose that employee perceived overqualification is associated with lower levels of felt obligation to the organization and thereby lower levels of extra-role behaviors (i.e., helping and proactivity). We next propose that supervisors' self-sacrificial leadership during the COVID-19 crisis can evoke, especially when COVID-19 more strongly impacts the organization, a sense of collectivism toward the organization, which mitigates the negative association of perceived overqualification with felt obligation and thus extra-role behaviors. We tested our theorizing in samples from the UK (n = 121, pilot study) and US (n = 382, main study) in studies with a multi-wave, time-lagged design. Findings from both studies provide support for our theorizing. We discuss implications for research and practice concerning perceived overqualification during a crisis.     

仪式动作、象征意义和积极情绪增强控制感：双路径机制

以中国普米族人的传统文化仪式“敬锅庄”为例, 采用回忆任务、创设新颖仪式等方法考察仪式动作、象征意义和积极情绪对普米族青少年及成人的控制感的影响。结果表明, 熟悉敬锅庄仪式的动作、象征意义或者具有更多情感体验的青少年的控制感更强。仪式动作与象征意义对控制感的影响存在双路径机制：仪式动作直接增强个体的控制感, 象征意义通过积极情绪间接增强个体的控制感。象征意义与控制感的关系还因仪式主体不同有所区别：祈求庇佑通过积极情绪间接增强青少年的控制感, 表达感恩通过积极情绪间接增强成年人的控制感。研究结果对探究仪式动作、象征意义和积极情绪对个体控制感的影响有重要启示。     

Explaining the Sense of Family Coherence Among Husbands and Wives: The Israeli Case

ABSTRACT

This study examined variables belonging to the family environment that explain the sense of family coherence among husbands (n = 133) and wives (n = 133) in Israel. Specifically, the explanatory variables tested were spousal power relations (as expressed in equality in the division of household labor and decision making), and perceived family conflict. In general, the sense of family coherence among spouses was found to be high. Perceived family conflict contributed to explaining the sense of family coherence for both husbands and wives. Equality in the division of household labor and in decision making had a greater impact on husbands than wives. Family coherence correlated negatively with age for husbands and positively with income for wives. The explanatory variables had a greater impact on the sense of family coherence among husbands than among wives.     

I Am So Happy ‘Cause My Friend Is Happy for Me: Capitalization,Friendship, and Happiness Among U.S. and Turkish College Students

ABSTRACT

Friends usually share positive events in their lives with each other. Referred to as capitalization, this process promotes individual happiness when the discloser perceives that the responses display genuine support. Yet, the specific mechanisms explaining why capitalization is associated with happiness are not known. The present study addresses this empirical issue by testing a mediational model positing that friendship quality would mediate the relationship between capitalization and happiness among U.S. and Turkish college students. Although the psychosocial well-being of the U.S. participants was significantly higher than Turkish participants, the proposed model was supported in both groups. This suggests that part of the reason capitalization is associated with happiness is because of friendship experiences. The authors also provide suggestions for future research.     

Racial disparities in smoking knowledge among current smokers: Data from the health information national trends surveys

Although African-Americans (Blacks) smoke fewer cigarettes per day than European-Americans (Whites), there is ample evidence that Blacks are more susceptible to smoking-related health consequences. A variety of behavioural, social and biological factors have been linked to this increased risk. There has been little research, however, on racial differences in smoking-related knowledge and perceived risk of lung cancer. The primary goal of the current study was to evaluate beliefs and knowledge that contribute to race disparities in lung cancer risk among current smokers. Data from two separate nationally representative surveys (the Health Information National Trends surveys 2003 and 2005) were analysed. Logistic and hierarchical regressions were conducted; gender, age, education level, annual household income and amount of smoking were included as covariates. In both studies, Black smokers were significantly more likely to endorse inaccurate statements than were White smokers, and did not estimate their lung cancer risk to be significantly higher than Whites. Results highlight an important racial disparity in public health knowledge among current smokers.     

Parents as Social Skills Trainers and Evaluators of Children

This study evaluated the effects of a 4-week group parent training program on parents' conceptual knowledge regarding social skills and perceptions of their children's social competence and psychosocial adjustment. It also examined the concordance prior to parent training between the parent measures and independent sociometric measures of children's acceptance by peers. Participants were 79 normal children enrolled in second grade and 45 parents. A group pretest-posttest design compared experimental and wait-list control parent groups before and after parent training for the experimental group. Parent training produced a significant effect in parents' conceptual knowledge and perceptions of children's social skills over time, and follow-up assessment 6 weeks later suggested maintenance of training effects. Psychosocial adjustment levels were within the normal range before and after treatment. Correlational analyses between parent measures and peer acceptance ratings indicated significant positive relationships between parents' and peers' perceptions on most measures. The findings support the potential value of parents as trainers and evaluators in programs to enhance children's social skills.     

Neuroticism,Extraversion, Perceived Social Support,and Escape Television Viewing as Determinants of Psychological Distress in Crime Victims

This study describes a longitudinal analysis of the relationship among neuroticism, extraversion, educational level, perceived social support, escape viewing, and psychological distress in crime victims. A sample of 170 crime victims completed self-report measures of these concepts. Personality traits, educational level, and baseline rates at 3 months postcrime of perceived social support and escape television viewing were modeled as predictors of psychological distress at 6 and 9 months postcrime. Neuroticism and extraversion significantly predicted psychological distress following victimization. Escape viewing had direct effects on distress and mediated the relationship between neuroticism and distress. Distress symptoms at 3 months were the strongest predictors of distress at 6 and 9 months postcrime.     

Assessment of stress and self-efficacy for the NIH Toolbox for Neurological and Behavioral Function

Background and Objectives: The NIH Toolbox for Neurological and Behavioral Function assessment battery contains measures in the domains of cognitive function, motor function, sensory function, and emotional health. It was designed for use in epidemiological and clinical trials health-related research. Design: This paper describes the first phase of instrument development for the stress and self-efficacy subdomain of emotional health. Based on an extensive literature review and expert consultation, 127 measures were initially considered for inclusion in this subdomain, including measures of stress, self-efficacy, emotion regulation, and coping. Results: Several measures, including emotion regulation and measures of coping strategies, did not meet criteria that were a priori established for inclusion. Psychometric properties of the remaining candidate measures were evaluated using data from five independent samples (combined N = 3175). Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses indicated the Perceived Stress Scale and the General Self-Efficacy Scale each assessed single dimensions. Conclusions: Based on their psychometric performance, these two instruments were selected for inclusion and subsequent national norming for the NIH Toolbox.     

Hassles,anxiety, and negative well-being

Adult volunteers (N = 234) responded to a “decontaminated” hassles scale plus measures of trait anxiety, perceived stress, psychiatric symptomatology, and minor physical ailments. All but the anxiety scale were time-referenced to the past month. Major findings were as follows: (1) Hassles and trait anxiety contributed positively to perceived stress, both individually and interactively, accounting altogether for 55% of the variance; highly anxious subjects showed lower increments in perceived stress with increasing hassles-exposure than did low anxious subjects. (2) Hassles and trait anxiety had a positive synergistic effect on psychiatric symptomatology which, along with the nonsignificant marginal main effects, accounted for 64% of the variance. (3) Hassles and trait anxiety had a positive synergistic effect on minor physical ailments in men; however, highly anxious women, who showed very high levels of illness under even low hassles-exposure, responded less to incremental stress than did low-anxious women. The significant Sex x Hassles x Trait-Anxiety interaction effect and all the implicated lower-order effects jointly accounted for 22% of the variance in minor ailments.