In this paper, we examine the interactive effects of positive affect and perspective-taking on workplace incivility and family incivility, through moral disengagement. We draw from broaden-and-build ...and moral disengagement theories to suggest a potential negative consequence of positive affect. Specifically, we argue that positive affect increases incivility toward coworkers and spouses through moral disengagement among employees with low, but not high perspective-taking. Data from two time-lagged field studies and one online experiment provide support for our hypotheses. These findings suggest that the beneficial effects of positive feelings are not universal, and the fostering of positive feelings at work might have unintended negative consequences, namely moral disengagement, and increased incivility at work and at home. Implications for theory and research are discussed.
We examine a counterintuitive effect of motherhood and parental leave policies: supervisors and coworkers may view early career women who have yet to have children (i.e., childless women) with ...greater uncertainty and inconvenience than their counterparts (i.e., childless men), especially in organizations offering more maternal than paternal leave. We propose that these “maybe baby” expectations manifest as workplace incivility, which predicts later career withdrawal. In a time-lagged survey study, we examined 474 early career employees' experiences of workplace incivility and career withdrawal cognitions one year later; we also collected objective data on organizations' maternal and paternal leave policies. As expected, childless women experienced more incivility than their counterparts, a difference that was greater in organizations with larger differences between maternal leave and paternal leave policies and positively associated with subsequent career withdrawal. Discussion focuses on the importance of examining individual- and organizational-level work-family antecedents for understanding modern workplace mistreatment and its career effects in context, as well as the effective design and implementation of work-family policies.
•We examined a counterintuitive effect of motherhood and parental leave: “maybe baby” expectations.•Namely, early career women's potential pregnancy inconvenience for her coworkers and supervisors manifests as incivility.•As expected, women reported more incivility if childless and eligible for more maternal leave (relative to paternal leave).•Targets' reported experiences of workplace incivility predicted subsequent career withdrawal one year later.•Our results highlight the importance of intersectional, individual and organizational work-family antecedents in context.
Empirical investigations concerning the interplay between supervisor support and supervisor undermining behaviors and their effects on employees yielded contradictory findings, with some studies ...suggesting that support buffers the adverse effects of undermining, and others suggesting that support exacerbates these adverse effects. Seeking to explain such contradictory findings, we integrate uncertainty-management perspectives with coping theory to posit that relational uncertainty is inherent in the mixture of supervisor support and undermining. Hence, whether supervisor support buffers or exacerbates the adverse effects of supervisor undermining on employee health and well-being depends on factors pertaining to employee ability to resolve and manage such relational uncertainty. Specifically, we hypothesize a buffering effect for employees with high self-esteem and high quality of work life, and an exacerbating effect for employees with low self-esteem and low quality of work life. Analyses of 2-wave data collected from a probability stratified sample of U.S. Air Force personnel supported our predictions. Two supplementary studies of the U.S. military replicated our core findings and demonstrated its practical significance.
This study tested a predictive and mediation model of teacher commitment. Teacher efficacy and sense of identification with school wee hypothesized to mediate the relations of an individual ...antecedent (teaching experience) and two organizational antecedents (perceived organizational politics and reflective dialogue) to teacher commitment. Multigroup structural equation modeling was used to test and validate the mediation model across two independent samples of teachers. Perceived organizational politics was found to be negatively related to teacher commitment, whereas reflective dialogue and teaching experience were positively related. Teacher efficacy and identification with school were found to completely mediate the relations between the three antecedents and teacher commitment.
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, affected the U.S. airline industry more than almost any other industry. Certain airlines emerged successful and demonstrated remarkable resilience while ...others languished. This investigation identifies reasons why some airline companies recovered successfully after the attacks while others struggled. Evidence is provided that layoffs after the crisis, although intended to foster recovery, instead inhibited recovery throughout the 4 years after the crisis. But, layoffs after the crisis were strongly correlated with lack of financial reserves and lack of a viable business model prior to the crisis. Digging deeper, the authors find that having a viable business model itself depended on the development and preservation of relational reserves over time. Our model shows that the maintenance of adequate financial reserves enables the preservation of relational reserves and vice versa, contributing to organizational resilience in times of crisis.
Disruptive behavior can harm high-quality care and is prevalent in many Western public health systems despite increasing spotlight on it. Comparatively less knowledge about it is available in Asia, a ...region commonly associated with high-power distance, which may limit its effectiveness in addressing disruptive behavior.
The aim of this study was to develop a comprehensive framework for tackling disruptive behavior among health care professionals in a public health system.
A nationwide cross-sectional study relying on the Nurse-Physician Relationship Survey was conducted in Singapore. Four hundred eighty-six public health care professionals responded.
Two hundred ninety-eight doctors (95.5%) and 163 nurses (93.7%) had witnessed a form of disruptive behavior. Doctors observed disruptive behavior committed by other doctors and nurses much more frequently than did nurses. Doctors made stronger associations between disruptive behavior and negative employee outcomes and between disruptive behavior and negative patient outcomes. Qualitative analyses of participants' open-ended answers produced a multipronged three-dimensional approach for tackling disruptive behavior: (a) deterrent measures, (b) development of knowledge and skills, and (c) demonstration of organizational commitment through proper norms, empathizing with staff, and structural reforms.
Disruptive behavior is a multifaceted problem requiring a multipronged approach. Our three-dimensional framework is a comprehensive approach for giving health care professionals the capability, opportunity, and motivation to address disruptive behavior effectively.
Nodal and Activin are morphogens of the TGFbeta superfamily of signaling molecules that direct differential cell fate decisions in a dose- and distance-dependent manner. During early embryonic ...development the Nodal/Activin pathway is responsible for the specification of mesoderm, endoderm, node, and mesendoderm. In contradiction to this drive towards cellular differentiation, the pathway also plays important roles in the maintenance of self-renewal and pluripotency in embryonic and epiblast stem cells. The molecular basis behind stem cell interpretation of Nodal/Activin signaling gradients and the undertaking of disparate cell fate decisions remains poorly understood. Here, we show that any perturbation of endogenous signaling levels in mouse embryonic stem cells leads to their exit from self-renewal towards divergent differentiation programs. Increasing Nodal signals above basal levels by direct stimulation with Activin promotes differentiation towards the mesendodermal lineages while repression of signaling with the specific Nodal/Activin receptor inhibitor SB431542 induces trophectodermal differentiation. To address how quantitative Nodal/Activin signals are translated qualitatively into distinct cell fates decisions, we performed chromatin immunoprecipitation of phospho-Smad2, the primary downstream transcriptional factor of the Nodal/Activin pathway, followed by massively parallel sequencing, and show that phospho-Smad2 binds to and regulates distinct subsets of target genes in a dose-dependent manner. Crucially, Nodal/Activin signaling directly controls the Oct4 master regulator of pluripotency by graded phospho-Smad2 binding in the promoter region. Hence stem cells interpret and carry out differential Nodal/Activin signaling instructions via a corresponding gradient of Smad2 phosphorylation that selectively titrates self-renewal against alternative differentiation programs by direct regulation of distinct target gene subsets and Oct4 expression.
This study investigated factors that have previously been implicated in male sexual aggression towards women, using a structural equation modelling approach to assess their relative influence on ...sexually coercive behaviours in young Singaporean men. Variables were classified under three major headings: childhood experience, personality, and attitudes facilitating violence. Non-sexual aggression against women was included in order to investigate its relationship to sexual aggression as well as its own causal antecedents. Results suggest that sexual and non-sexual aggression have different antecedents, and confirm the primacy of sexual variables (sexual experience, child sexual abuse) as antecedents to sexual aggression. Contrary to the hypothesis that sexual aggression is primarily aggressive in motivation, belligerence exerted only indirect effects on sexual aggression. Attitudinal variables (e.g. attitudes supportive of sexual aggression) contributed modestly to sexual but not to non-sexual aggression. Antisociality exerted indirect effects on both sexual aggression (via sexual experience and acceptance of interpersonal violence) and on non-sexual aggression (via belligerence). Parental violence contributed exclusively to non-sexual aggression. Finally, some cross-cultural differences in sexually coercive behaviour are highlighted.