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1 – 10 of over 2000Akhtar Bibi, Muyu Lin, Julia Brailovskaia and Jürgen Margraf
Poor mental health in men and women is attributable to disparities in physical traits, social roles, power and health-seeking behaviours. This study aims to examine the gender…
Abstract
Purpose
Poor mental health in men and women is attributable to disparities in physical traits, social roles, power and health-seeking behaviours. This study aims to examine the gender differences in mental health among Pakistan and German university students and focuses on their right to seek mental health care.
Design/methodology/approach
Data on depression, anxiety and stress symptoms, as well as positive mental health (PMH), resilience, social support and life satisfaction, were gathered from Pakistani and German students.
Findings
In contrast to the Pakistani group, where no such gender differences were seen, women in Germany reported higher degrees of stress, anxiety and depression, as well as a lower level of overall good mental health. In comparison to German men and women, Pakistani women scored equally high on resilience. While gender had no bearing on life happiness in either Pakistan or Germany, women in both countries perceived more social support than men did.
Research limitations/implications
The study’s strengths include its large sample size and battery of mental health measures. The results of partial weak measurement Invariance (MI) on the stress subscale underlined the importance of using MI in cross-cultural studies. The validity of a direct comparisons on sum score between different language versions or country samples shall be cautious. Still, there are limitations. Firstly, the authors did not differentiate gender and biological sex, and there was no group of non-binary gender. Pakistani (N = 1,840) and German (N = 7,890) students were in unequal numbers. Again, only university students were sampled, so the results cannot be generalised to older (probably less educated) populations. Self-reported data that mainly obtained via online survey were the third limitation. This design is cost-effective and easy to administer for cross-cultural survey research. However, social desirability and memory bias are common in self-report inventories. Fourthly, although English is an official language in Pakistan and the medium of instruction in education, the authors recommend future study to use questionnaires that have been translated and validated into Urdu (Pakistan’s national language) and investigate gender differences in a general population. Fifthly, this is a cross-sectional survey; the authors were not able to explore the causality or risk factors that contribute to the poor mental well-being in Pakistan students in general or the relatively worse mental health in German women. Future studies may investigate the mechanism behind the phenomena observed in this study with longitudinal or experimental design. Last but not least, Germany and Pakistan differ in so many different aspects from culture, religions and history to social structure and economic status, which make it hard to claim whether the observed differences were due to national differences, cultural differences, economic differences, gender inequality differences or other effects. It would be helpful for future studies to include more country samples with clear definitions of different “culture” aspects for a better understanding of gender differences in other countries and in different mental well-being constructs.
Practical implications
The current study is the first attempt to compare the gender difference patterns in positive and negative mental health between European and South Asian counties and focuses on gender-specific approaches. Although Pakistani university students reported in general worse mental well-being, the differences between the two genders in mental health (e.g. depression, anxiety, general PMH) were not as pronounced as in the German student sample. Gender comparisons in these mental health constructs would help to improve protective factors against mental illness and to develop appropriate management programmes based on cultural differences. The results suggest that the gender differences found in western countries cannot always be directly translated into the South Asian cultural framework. Our results also highlight the importance of improving the general situation of Pakistan (students) instead of focusing on one gender. At the same time, in Germany, prevention and intervention plans are more warranted for women. It could be that once the general situation in Pakistan is improved, the gender-related differences in mental health will be clearly observed.
Originality/value
These findings imply the significance of cultural context when inferring gender variations in mental health. Moreover, it supports the advancement of comprehensive policies to reduce gender-related mental health inequalities and focuses on the equal rights of men and women to get mental health care.
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This study examines the antecedents and dynamics of authoritarian leadership and extends the effects of managers' sleep quality to employee behavior.
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the antecedents and dynamics of authoritarian leadership and extends the effects of managers' sleep quality to employee behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
On the basis of self-regulation theory, 513 unit day samples were analyzed using cross-level path analysis and a Monte Carlo simulation test.
Findings
Managers' sleep quality is positively related to authoritarian leadership and positive emotions play a mediating role. Authoritarian leadership is positively related to employees' counterproductive behavior. Managers' sleep quality affects employees' counterproductive behavior through managers' positive emotions and authoritarian leadership.
Practical implications
Individuals should learn to reduce stress and maintain a positive mood. Organizations should reduce employees' overtime work and work stress and find other ways to improve employees' sleep quality.
Originality/value
First, we considered authoritarian leadership to be dynamic and studied it on a daily basis. Second, we studied the antecedents of authoritarian leadership from the perspective of leaders' states (sleep quality and emotions). Third, we discussed the effect of managers' sleep quality on employee behavior.
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Ying Zhang, Fei Shen, Jean Carlos Paredes and Cong Wang
College students who are interested in experiencing and learning about other cultures could be potential agents to ongoing social and policy initiatives in promoting societal…
Abstract
Purpose
College students who are interested in experiencing and learning about other cultures could be potential agents to ongoing social and policy initiatives in promoting societal changes. As universities intensify their efforts toward embracing cultural diversity, it is imperative to gauge how these diversity initiatives resonate with students' developmental stage and pursuits in diverse campus climates. However, what kinds of educational experiences/contexts students choose for enhancing cultural competence, and how seeking diversity experiences might benefit college students in emotional wellbeing and cognitive skills, are under-investigated.
Design/methodology/approach
This study explores the relationships among college students' diversity-seeking behaviors, cultural competence, perspective-taking, and flourishing. A total of 359 college students from a STEM-focused university participated in this study. Students were recruited from classes over four semesters, from 2021 to 2023.
Findings
Students exhibited moderate to high levels of interest in seeking diversity in their learning experiences. Results from the structural equation modeling showed that higher levels of diversity-seeking in learning were associated with higher levels of perceived cultural competence, as well as higher levels of perspective-taking and flourishing.
Originality/value
This research delves into experiential and extracurricular dimensions of learning diversity, bridging a significant gap in academic literature. This study also elucidates the links between aspects of diversity engagement, cultural competence, and positive outcomes for college students, which underscores the significance of diversity-focused educational opportunities in higher education. Such opportunities are instrumental in enhancing cultural proficiency and further implications on cognitive growth and emotional well-being.
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Lili Gao, Xicheng Zhang, Xiaopeng Deng, Na Zhang and Ying Lu
This study aims to investigate the relationship between individual-level psychological resources and team resilience in the context of expatriate project management teams. It…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the relationship between individual-level psychological resources and team resilience in the context of expatriate project management teams. It seeks to understand how personal psychological resources contribute to team resilience and explore the dynamic evolution mechanism of team resilience. The goal is to enhance team resilience among expatriates in a BANI (Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear, and Incomprehensible) world, where organizations face volatile and uncertain conditions.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was applied for data collection, and 315 valid samples from Chinese expatriates in international construction projects were utilized for data analysis. A structural equation model (SEM) examines the relationships between personal psychological resources and team resilience. The study identifies five psychological factors influencing team resilience: Employee Resilience, Cross-cultural Adjustment, Self-efficacy, Social Support, and Team Climate. The hypothesized relationships are validated through the SEM analysis. Additionally, a fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) is constructed to explore the dynamic mechanism of team resilience formation based on the results of the SEM.
Findings
The SEM analysis confirms that employee resilience, cross-cultural adjustment, and team climate positively impact team resilience. Social support and self-efficacy also have positive effects on team climate. Moreover, team climate is found to fully mediate the relationship between self-efficacy and team resilience, as well as between social support and team resilience. The FCM model provides further insights into the dynamic evolution of team resilience, highlighting the varying impact effects of antecedents during the team resilience development process and the effectiveness of different combinations of intervention strategies.
Originality/value
This study contributes to understanding team resilience by identifying the psychological factors influencing team resilience in expatriate project management teams. The findings emphasize the importance of social support and team climate in promoting team resilience. Interventions targeting team climate are found to facilitate the rapid development of team resilience. In contrast, interventions for social support are necessary for sustainable, long-term high levels of team resilience. Based on the dynamic simulation results, strategies for cultivating team resilience through external intervention and internal adjustment are proposed, focusing on social support and team climate. Implementing these strategies can enhance project management team resilience and improve the core competitiveness of contractors in the BANI era.
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Ruiying Cai, Yao-Chin Wang and Tingting (Christina) Zhang
Through a theoretical lens of psychological ownership, this study aims to investigate how technology mindfulness may stimulate metaverse tourism users’ feelings of individual…
Abstract
Purpose
Through a theoretical lens of psychological ownership, this study aims to investigate how technology mindfulness may stimulate metaverse tourism users’ feelings of individual psychological ownership, aesthetic value and conversational value, which in turn fosters intention to engage in prosocial behaviors.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used a scenario-based survey that allowed U.S.-based participants to create their own avatars and imagine using their avatars to explore heritage sites in the metaverse. Structural equality modeling was applied for data analysis.
Findings
The results from 357 valid responses indicate that technology mindfulness arouses tourists’ individual psychological ownership, aesthetic value, conversational value and prosocial behavioral intentions. The moderating role of biospheric value orientation on willingness to donate and intention to volunteer is investigated.
Research limitations/implications
The research sheds light on the significance of technology mindfulness, conversational value and psychological ownership perspectives in the metaverse, which have been previously overlooked. The authors used a scenario-based survey for mental stimulation due to current metaverse technology limitations.
Practical implications
The study is one of the first to explore the possibility of encouraging prosocial behaviors using metaverse-facilitated technology. The research offers guidelines to engage hospitality and tourism customers in the metaverse that can blend their virtual experiences into the real world.
Originality/value
This study represents one of the pioneering efforts to gain an in-depth understanding of the application of metaverse in triggering prosocial behavior toward heritage sites, explained via a technology mindfulness-driven model with a psychological ownership perspective.
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Aparna M. Varma and Rahul Sivarajan
To understand how Indian first-time mothers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) organisations returning to work cope with the perceived ideological psychological…
Abstract
Purpose
To understand how Indian first-time mothers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) organisations returning to work cope with the perceived ideological psychological contract breaches from a work–home resources perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper utilises interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) within the work–home resources (W-HR) model to analyse returning first-time mothers' lived experiences.
Findings
This study shows that significant life/work events such as childbirth/lack of career growth can trigger resource depletion at work and home and materialise in first-time mothers perceiving ideological psychological contract breaches at work. It has also been observed that key resource usage and macro support structures aid employees in attenuating work–home conflict by balancing contextual demands and personal resources. This study's participant accounts reveal that the recovery of volatile resources was possible by psychologically detaching and being silent.
Originality/value
The study offers a distinctive perspective by investigating the ideological PC breach experienced by first-time Indian mothers upon their organisational re-entry from a work–home resource model lens. Situated in a unique socio-cultural space and bringing forth the rich lived experiences of women working in the Indian STEM field, this paper explores how key resources shape the coping responses of first-time mothers in this context.
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Kristijan Mirkovski, Kamel Rouibah, Paul Lowry, Joanna Paliszkiewicz and Marzena Ganc
Despite the major information technology investments made by public institutions, the reuse of e-government services remains an issue as citizens hesitate to use e-government…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the major information technology investments made by public institutions, the reuse of e-government services remains an issue as citizens hesitate to use e-government websites regularly. The purpose of this study is to investigate the cross-country determinants of e-government reuse intention by proposing a theoretical model that integrates constructs from (1) the Delone and McLean IS success model (i.e. system quality, service quality, information quality, perceived value and user satisfaction); (2) the trust and risk models (i.e. citizen trust, overall risk, time risk, privacy risk and psychological risks); and (3) Hofstede's cultural model (i.e. uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, individualism and cross-cultural trust and risk).
Design/methodology/approach
Based on data from interviews with 81 Kuwaiti citizens and surveys of 1,829 Kuwaiti and Polish citizens, this study conducted comprehensive, cross-cultural and comparative analyses of e-government reuse intention in a cross-country setting.
Findings
The results show that trust is positively associated with citizens' intention to reuse e-government services, whereas risk is negatively associated with citizens' perceived value. This study also found that masculinity–femininity and uncertainty avoidance are positively associated with the intention to reuse e-government services and that individualism–collectivism has no significant relationship with reuse intention. This study's findings have important implications for researchers and practitioners seeking to understand and improve e-government success in cross-country settings.
Originality/value
This study developed a parsimonious model of quality, trust, risk, culture and technology reuse that captures country-specific cultural contexts and enables us to conduct a comprehensive, cross-cultural and comparative analysis of e-government reuse intention in the cross-country setting of Kuwait and Poland.
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Dongmei Wu and Ersi Liu
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between competitive personality (CMP) and rationalized knowledge hiding (KH) and to explore the mediating effects of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between competitive personality (CMP) and rationalized knowledge hiding (KH) and to explore the mediating effects of knowledge-based psychological ownership (KPO) and organization-based PO (OPO) by developing a mediating framework.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from the ordinary employees of listed companies in China (2022) via a Web-based survey. The total number of valid samples was 337. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the reliability and validity of the constructs, and structural equation modeling was used to verify the direct and mediating effects.
Findings
The findings revealed a positive relationship between CMP and rationalized KH (RKH). KPO plays a positive mediating role between CMP and RKH, whereas OPO plays a negative mediating role between CMP and RKH.
Research limitations/implications
First, although the questionnaire collection is split into two sessions to reduce common method variation, there is inevitably some risk, as the questionnaires are all reported by the same respondent. Second, this study examined the effects of CMP on RKH based on the Chinese cultural context, but the applicability of this finding to cross-cultural contexts warrants further study. In the future, researchers can conduct cross-cultural comparisons to determine the generalizability of the findings.
Practical implications
This study helps managers to better identify the RKH behaviors that exist in organizations, understand the reasons and processes behind employees’ KH and facilitate more effective knowledge management by managers.
Originality/value
This study uses CMP as an important indicator of employees’ RKH behavior, enriches the research related to the antecedent variables of RKH and reveals the influence mechanism between CMP and RKH from the perspective of PO, and the findings can help researchers and managers understand the process and antecedents of RKH so that timely interventions can be implemented.
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Fang Lee Cooke and Wenqiong Xu
Impoverished employee mental health is harmful to employees and organisational performance. There is emerging interest in employee mental health in the human resource management…
Abstract
Purpose
Impoverished employee mental health is harmful to employees and organisational performance. There is emerging interest in employee mental health in the human resource management (HRM) field. The majority of these studies mainly focus on the organisational and individual levels from the psychological and managerial perspectives without considering the sectoral characteristics and societal context.
Design/methodology/approach
This perspective paper draws on extant literature as well as 10 informal interviews with medical professionals, organisational leaders in the public sector, teachers and HR professionals to shed light on employee mental health research, practice and challenges in the Chinese context.
Findings
This paper reveals national, sectoral, occupational and individual factors that shape mental health problems, individual coping mechanisms and organisational interventions. It also shows international influence on employee mental health in the form of institutional pressure and knowledge transfer.
Research limitations/implications
There is limited research on employee mental health and HRM in the Chinese context, which restricts the scope of discussion in this paper, but at the same time presents rich future research opportunities that may be relevant to other national settings.
Practical implications
Managing the mental health of the workforce is part of the mental health management of the population, which means a holistic approach to building a mental health eco-system needs to be adopted. The authors call for more research on employee mental health in the Chinese context to provide evidence to support policy development and organisational efforts to scale up mental health services at the national and organisational levels. The authors also provide practical recommendations for policymakers and employing organisations.
Originality/value
The authors present a multi-level and multi-factor overview related to employee mental health in the Chinese context. The authors argue for a resource-based and multi-stakeholder approach, which will help inform and improve mental health policy and practice. The authors present several avenues for future scholarship and research. The authors extend the research frontiers of employee mental health issues by calling for the inclusion of a broader range of theoretical lenses including institutional theory, cultural and spiritual perspective and critical sociology to understand more fully how employee mental health conditions may be undermined or improved.
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Rida Belahouaoui and El Houssain Attak
This study aims to analyze the tax compliance behavior of family firms by integrating social and psychological norms with legitimacy determinants, focusing specifically on the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyze the tax compliance behavior of family firms by integrating social and psychological norms with legitimacy determinants, focusing specifically on the Moroccan context.
Design/methodology/approach
Employing a qualitative research design, the study conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 chief executive officers (CEOs) of Moroccan family firms. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis to unravel the interplay between individual beliefs and societal norms.
Findings
The findings reveal a complex interplay between the personal norms of CEOs and chief financial officers (CFOs) and wider societal and cultural expectations, significantly influencing tax compliance behavior. The study identifies the multifaceted nature of tax compliance, which is shaped by personal ethics, family values and the dominant societal tax culture.
Research limitations/implications
The research is limited by its qualitative approach and focus on Moroccan family businesses, which may not be generalizable to other contexts. Future studies could use a quantitative approach and expand to other geographical settings for a more comprehensive understanding.
Practical implications
Insights from the study can assist policymakers and tax authorities in developing culturally sensitive tax compliance strategies that resonate with family business values.
Social implications
The research underscores the importance of considering sociocultural dimensions in tax compliance, fostering a more cooperative relationship between family businesses and tax authorities.
Originality/value
The study contributes a novel perspective by synthesizing social, psychological and legitimacy factors in understanding tax compliance in the unique context of family businesses.
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