Social Behavior and Personality

Editors’ Newsroom: Why our integrity as researchers matters

Keren Segal — 2024-07-03

In this edition of Editors’ Newsroom, Dr. Keren Segal joins Managing Editor, Alexandra Cheyne, to discuss research integrity: why it matters and how to protect it.

Physical exercise and college students’ mental health: Chain mediating effects of social–emotional competency and peer relationships

Yanying Liu — 2024-07-03

Physical exercise plays an important role in promoting college students’ mental health, but the mechanism of the effect of physical exercise on mental health is still under investigation. We conducted a survey with 1,168 Chinese college students using stratified cluster random sampling. Physical exercise, social–emotional competency, peer relationships, and mental health were assessed by using standard scales. Physical exercise was found to be positively correlated with mental health. Social–emotional competency and peer relationships had both independent and chain mediating effects on the link between physical exercise and mental health. These results reveal the mechanism of the relationship between physical exercise and mental health, and provide a preliminary basis for studying the causal relationship between them. Our findings also provide practical insights for intervention in and promotion of college students’ mental health.

Effect of temporal landmarks on consumers’ preference for attribute alignability: The mediating role of creative self-efficacy

Jingran Sun — 2024-07-03

In the face of a rapidly changing consumer market, companies strive to innovate their products by either adopting a strategy of enhancement of attributes or focusing on uniqueness. Using the structural alignment model, we conducted two studies to investigate the influence of temporal landmarks on consumers’ diagnosticity of product attributes and the mediating role of creative self-efficacy in this link. Results indicated that consumers relied more on nonalignable (vs. alignable) attributes to evaluate a product when a start (vs. end) temporal landmark was activated. These findings have implications for marketing theory and companies’ product-communication strategies.

Empowering leadership and employee constructive deviance: Role breadth self-efficacy as a mediator

Xinyi Liu — 2024-07-03

Although researchers have demonstrated the significance of leadership style in facilitating employee constructive deviance, there is still limited understanding of the precise process via which an empowering leadership style contributes to the promotion of constructive deviance. Based on social cognitive theory, we constructed a model to explain why empowering leadership can increase employees’ constructive deviance, and tested it with data obtained from 217 supervisor–subordinate dyads in South Chinese enterprises. An examination using structural equation modeling revealed direct and indirect positive associations between empowering leadership and constructive deviance, mediated by role breadth self-efficacy. The findings of this study establish a theoretical framework and offer practical recommendations for leaders seeking to implement effective empowerment tactics aimed at motivating staff to engage in constructive deviance.

Psychometric properties of the Range and Differentiation of Emotional Experience Scale among Chinese teachers

Ying Cao — 2024-07-03

The Range and Differentiation of Emotional Experience Scale (RDEES) is a useful assessment of individual differences in emotional complexity. We recruited 721 Chinese primary and middle school teachers to examine the psychometric properties of the RDEES for use with this population. The results supported a two-factor model, comprising the range of emotional experience and the differentiation of emotional experience. The Chinese version of the RDEES showed a significant correlation with the Chinese version of the Emotional Intelligence Scale. Internal consistency coefficients ranged from .58–.86 and test–retest reliability ranged from .59–.66. Therefore, the Chinese version of the RDEES can be used for measuring emotional complexity in Chinese primary and middle school teachers.

A systematic review of factors influencing the childbearing intentions of college students in developed and developing countries

Yuanyuan Xu — 2024-07-03

This paper provides in-depth knowledge regarding the fundamental factors influencing college students’ childbearing intentions. We used PubMed, ProQuest Dissertations, Web of Science, EBSCOhost, Scopus, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure to search for relevant articles published between January 1946 and April 2023. Among these, we incorporated 51 studies conducted in 20 countries into a quantitative synthesis. The results indicated that there were differences between developed and developing countries in terms of the factors influencing college students’ childbearing intentions. The primary factors affecting childbearing intentions in developed countries were fertility knowledge, personal pursuits, and partner relationships. However, the influencing factors in developing countries were more complex: Financial pressures and personal pursuits deterred college students from their aspirations to have children, and these challenges delayed their intended reproductive age. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Student–faculty interaction and students’ psychological well-being: The mediating role of resilience

Wenjuan Yu — 2024-07-03

Despite the growing interest in identifying psychological strengths that contribute to students’ psychological well-being, the underlying mechanisms that students deploy specifically during college remain poorly understood. To address this gap, we conducted a cross-sectional survey to investigate the mediating role of resilience in the relationship between student–faculty interaction and psychological well-being among college students. Participants comprised 224 Chinese college students who completed self-report questionnaires. The results obtained from structural equation modeling indicated that resilience partially mediated the association between student–faculty interaction and college students’ psychological well-being. These findings contribute to understanding of the potential mechanism underlying the link between student–faculty interaction and the psychological well-being of college students, and provide new insight into potential strategies for strengthening these capabilities.

Do humble leaders build more flexible teams?

Fangmei Lu — 2024-07-03

Researchers have suggested that humility is an adaptive strength at the individual level, but the questions of whether, and how, leader humility influences team adaptation are yet to be addressed. In this study we explored the relationship between leader humility and team flexibility. Drawing on social information processing theory, we theorized that humble leaders would promote team flexibility directly and indirectly by fostering team reflexivity. Analysis of survey data collected from 625 employees of a company in China provided empirical evidence for the proposed relationship of leader humility with team reflexivity and team flexibility. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Charismatic leadership influences employees’ improvisation ability: Harmonious passion as a mediator and job insecurity as a moderator

Qiong Jia — 2024-07-03

Improvisation ability has become an important competency for employees to adapt to dynamic, volatile work environments. However, the effect of charismatic leadership style on the improvisation ability of employees is yet to be revealed. We used self-determination theory and conservation of resources theory to explore the effect of charismatic leadership on employees’ improvisation ability, with job insecurity as a moderator and harmonious passion as a mediator. Our goal was to enrich research on leadership styles shaping employee behavior and employee competencies. We collected 267 valid questionnaires through the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform, and conducted model testing using SPSS 25.0. Results of empirical analysis showed that charismatic leadership positively affected employees’ improvisation ability. Employees’ harmonious work passion mediated the effect of charismatic leadership on employees’ improvisation abilities, and job insecurity played a moderating role in enhancing the positive effect of charismatic leadership on employees’ improvisation ability. We discuss the practical implications for how organizations can improve employees’ improvisation ability in a dynamic and changing internal and external environment.

Pursuing stability in crisis: The impact of COVID-19-related work changes on information search and job-seeking behaviors

Mengzhe Liu — 2024-07-03

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly altered the way employees work and has had a significant impact on their subsequent behaviors. In this study we applied affective events theory and developed an adjustable mediation model to examine how COVID-19-related work changes influence employees’ behaviors. We conducted an online survey and collected data from 571 people employed in various businesses across several provinces in China. The results indicated that COVID-19-related work changes positively predicted work-related information seeking and job-seeking behaviors, with job insecurity serving as a mediator. Furthermore, job embeddedness amplified the positive relationship between job insecurity and the search for work-related information. The theoretical and practical consequences of these results are discussed.

Impact of brand image on the brand experience of consumers in China: Brand loyalty as a mediator

Qingqing Nie — 2024-07-03

We investigated the impact of brand image on brand loyalty, and assessed the mediating role of brand experience in this relationship. The sample comprised 439 consumers in China. The results showed there was a significant positive correlation between brand image and brand loyalty. Additionally, brand experience played a mediating role in this relationship. Our research findings contribute to better understanding of the relationships between brand image, brand loyalty, and brand experience among consumers in China. These discoveries also offer practical insights for business operators seeking to enhance consumer brand loyalty. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Childhood trauma and nonsuicidal self-injury in vocational students: A moderated mediation model

Ling Yang — 2024-07-03

It is a matter of public concern that the risk of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is high among vocational college students. The benefits and barriers model of NSSI considers childhood trauma an important vulnerability factor that influences NSSI through negative self-schema. Therefore, exploration of possible protective factors is necessary to inform NSSI interventions. We investigated the potential protective function of Chinese cultural beliefs about adversity and whether negative self-schema mediates the connection between childhood trauma and NSSI. Questionnaires were completed by 898 vocational college students aged 18–23 years. The results indicated that childhood trauma directly predicted NSSI and also indirectly predicted NSSI via negative self-schema. Additionally, Chinese cultural beliefs about adversity, as a vulnerability protective factor, moderated the relationship between childhood trauma and NSSI (i.e., the first half of the mediation effect). Thus, a self-schema and adversity belief-based intervention can help to prevent NSSI behavior among vocational college students.

Catastrophic effects of bullying on school belonging

Georgios Sideridis — 2024-07-03

Our aim was to understand students’ sense of school belonging as a function of their engagement with academics and their experiences of bullying. Due to the complex pattern of relationships, we applied linear and nonlinear models. Participants were 4,778 fourth graders from Saudi Arabia from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 2021 cohort. Data were analyzed using linear modeling as well as the cusp catastrophe. The results fully supported the premises of the cusp catastrophe model, in that level of bullying, in principle, had a negative impact on the development of school belonging, but once the level of bullying crossed a critical threshold, students’ sense of belonging became unpredictable and chaotic. Previous empirical studies found that the cusp model has significant predictive validity. We can conclude that bullying may act as a moderating factor that distorts relationships such as that between student engagement and school belonging.

Job demands and employees’ unethical pro-organizational behaviors: Emotional exhaustion as a mediator

Feng-Hua Yang — 2024-07-03

We examined employees’ unethical pro-organizational behaviors (UPBs) during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our objectives were to determine the effects of job demands on UPBs and emotional exhaustion. We conducted a survey in three rounds with a sample of 339 employees in the financial industry in Taiwan, who were selected because they were in positions where they were unable to work from home during the pandemic. The results revealed that job demands and emotional exhaustion were associated with UPBs. This study sheds light on the challenges faced by frontline workers with specialized knowledge who were unable to work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, and expands understanding of the antecedents of UPBs. Implications, limitations, and future research directions based on the findings are discussed.

Influence of entrepreneurship curriculum experience on entrepreneurial intention

Liyan Yang — 2024-07-03

We used social cognitive career theory to investigate the influence of college students’ entrepreneurship curriculum experience on their entrepreneurial intention, and constructed a theoretical model to explain its mechanism. We collected data from 293 Chinese college students by distributing questionnaires. Results of structural equation modeling demonstrated that entrepreneurship curriculum experience was positively related to entrepreneurial intention, with entrepreneurial self-efficacy and outcome expectation entrepreneurship acting as mediators. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy played the more significant mediating role of the two. In addition, we demonstrated through an exploratory factor analysis that gender had a close correlation with the influence of entrepreneurship curriculum experience on entrepreneurial intention, such that men scored significantly higher than women did on the dimensions of outcome expectation entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial intention. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Korean adolescents’ sports apparel consumption: Quality attributes, purchase intention, and online word of mouth

Kwan Bae Kwon — 2024-07-03

A significant challenge in the sports apparel market of South Korea is comprehending adolescents, who exhibit distinct consumption behavior, as a major consumer demographic. Thus, we systematically analyzed the pathways connecting adolescents’ perception of the quality attributes of sports apparel, purchase intention, and online word of mouth. We conducted a survey involving 254 students from three schools in South Korea. The findings showed that among the perceived attributes of sports apparel brands, quality demonstrated a positive impact on adolescents’ purchase intention. Further, purchase intention exerted a favorable influence on online word of mouth. Our findings offer insight into the consumer behavior of adolescents in the sports apparel realm.

Self-esteem and social anxiety among college students majoring in music in China: The mediating role of fear of evaluation

Yue Mi — 2024-07-03

In the field of educational psychology, it is crucial to explore the mental health of students within specific disciplines. In this research we targeted 469 college students majoring in music, delving into the interplay between their self-esteem and social anxiety, and particularly analyzing whether fear of evaluation acts as a bridge between these two factors. The findings revealed a clear trend: lower self-esteem was associated with higher levels of social anxiety, with fear of evaluation playing a key mediating role in this dynamic. This insight provides a perspective on how self-esteem affects social anxiety among music students through the pathway of fear of evaluation. Educators and mental health professionals dedicated to student welfare should adopt a range of targeted intervention strategies aimed at boosting students’ self-esteem as an effective means to alleviate their social anxiety.

Exercise self-efficacy and aggressive behavior in college students: Interpersonal trust and prosocial behavior as chain mediators

Lina Ma — 2024-07-03

This study examined the relationship between exercise self-efficacy and aggressive behavior in college students, with interpersonal trust and prosocial behavior as mediators. We conducted a survey of 1,571 college students. The results were as follows: (a) exercise self-efficacy was significantly and negatively related to aggression, and the direct path of exercise self-efficacy to aggressive behavior was significant; (b) exercise self-efficacy positively predicted interpersonal trust and prosocial behavior, while interpersonal trust significantly and positively predicted prosocial behavior, and prosocial behavior significantly predicted aggressive behavior; and (c) interpersonal trust and prosocial behavior played a significant mediating role in the relationship between exercise self-efficacy and aggressive behavior. These findings have important practical significance as guidance for reducing aggressive behavior in college students.

Customer satisfaction mediates the relationship between in-store music and stores’ brand equity

Yuhua Cui — 2024-07-03

One option for improving store appeal is leveraging the power of in-store music. This study explored the relationship between in-store music and stores’ brand equity, with a particular focus on the mediating effect of customer satisfaction. We administered a paper-based survey to a sample of 268 customers of four Korean apparel stores situated in the northeast region of China, where Korean music was utilized to attract customers. Data analysis was conducted using structural equation modeling. The findings revealed a positive and direct association between a favorable perception of in-store music and stores’ brand equity. Moreover, customer satisfaction played a significant mediating role in this relationship. These findings, which shed light on how in-store music can enhance customer satisfaction and promote stores’ brand equity, will be particularly useful for retailers.