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The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between self-enhancement and helping behavior/intentions. Some people are more inclined than others to engage in helping behaviors. Determining what individual characteristics are related to helping behavior could have important implications for both marketers and non-profit organizations. Drawing on research on self-enhancement, this paper examines the relationship between the “above-average effect” (the tendency of individuals to rate themselves more favorably than they rate others) specifically on altruistic traits and helping behavior.

Data were collected through two surveys and analyzed with correlation analysis, path analysis and structural equation models.

In two studies, we find a positive relationship between interdependence and self-enhancement and a positive relationship between self-enhancement and helping behavior (volunteering in Study 1 and donation behavior in Study 2). We further show that self-enhancement mediates the effect of interdependence on helping. Personal importance of altruistic traits is shown to underlie these relationships.

By understanding the antecedents of helping behaviors, non-profit and charity organizations, social marketers and other advocates of pro-social behaviors can enhance the effectiveness of their appeals. Our findings provide insights for both messaging and targeting.

This study examines the relationship between self-enhancement and helping behavior. In so doing, it contributes to the self-enhancement literature by identifying the relationship between self-construal and self-enhancement. It also extends understanding of the relationship between these two constructs and helping behavior by revealing the mediating role of self-enhancement on helping behavior.

This study aimed to test Early and Ang’s (2003) proposition that self-enhancement hinders successful cross-cultural adjustment. The literature on self-enhancement is reviewed, and the overclaiming technique as an unobtrusive measure of self-enhancement is introduced for use in global mobility contexts.

Using the overclaiming technique, an international-cultural overclaiming test was developed. Expatriates in Singapore stated their familiarity with international-cultural knowledge items, with some of them being foil items, and rated their cross-cultural (general, interaction, work) adjustment. Supervisors rated the expatriates on their work adjustment and performance.

Overclaiming was not related to self-rated cross-cultural adjustment. However, overclaiming was negatively related to supervisor rated work adjustment and performance. Additionally, the results showed that international-cultural knowledge accuracy was positively related to self-rated general adjustment and to supervisor rated work adjustment and performance.

The small sample size with a majority of expatriate teachers from international schools in the sample makes it necessary for the results to be replicated with larger and more varied expatriate samples.

While further validation is needed, this research indicates that the overclaiming technique could be a valuable tool for assessing self-enhancement in candidates for expatriate positions in order to gauge potential cross-cultural (mal)adjustment, as perceived by others.

This study was (likely) the first study that has applied the overclaiming technique in a global mobility context. An international-cultural knowledge overclaiming test is provided to academic researchers for future use.

Assumptions regarding the effect of leader self-enhancement values on leader-follower relationships are oversimplified. To advance this conversation, we test non-linear and congruence effects. We hypothesize that leader self-enhancement values (via prestige) have an inverted U-shaped relationship with employee perceptions of leader-member exchange (LMX) and leader interpersonal justice, and that leader-follower incongruence is negatively related to LMX and interpersonal justice.

To evaluate our hypotheses we use hierarchical regression, polynomial regression, and surface plot analysis. Our sample consists of 193 leader-follower dyads from a variety of organizations.

LMX and interpersonal justice increase as leader self-enhancement increases, but begin to decrease at higher levels of self-enhancement values. Additionally, leader-follower self-enhancement incongruence is negatively related to interpersonal justice. Finally, LMX is lowest when leaders are higher than followers in self-enhancement values compared to when followers are higher than leaders.

It is critical to evaluate the level of leader self-enhancement values and/or the joint influence of the follower values (self-enhancement) to fully understand the effect of leader values on follower perceptions of the dyadic relationship. Organizations interested in facilitating high-quality leader-follower relationships should focus on the levels of the values and on mechanisms that facilitate leader-follower value alignment.

This work extends prior research assuming a direct, linear effect of leader self-enhancement values on follower outcomes. To fully understand the influence of leader values it is important to consider curvilinear and congruence effects.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of an individual oriented positive psychology intervention on positive emotions, self‐efficacy, and work engagement.

The online self‐enhancement intervention program consists of three types of online assignments: happiness assignments, goal setting assignments, and resource building assignments. The authors expected the self‐enhancement intervention group to show a significantly stronger increase in the outcome variables compared to a self‐monitoring control group.

The results revealed that the self‐enhancement group showed a stronger increase in positive emotions and self‐efficacy compared to the control group, but not on engagement. Additional analyses showed that the positive effects of the self‐enhancement intervention are present for employees who are initially low in engagement, but not for those medium or high in engagement.

The study was conducted via a semi‐public web site. The participants were all working in different organizations throughout the country and did not have the advantage of having the support of their supervisors and colleagues who were participating in a similar intervention.

Positive psychology interventions should target employees who are low in engagement, because they have the most unused potential and therefore have more to gain.

Traditionally speaking, individual interventions are carried out when something is wrong or malfunctioning, and with the sole objective of fixing it. The intervention presented in this paper includes the entire workforce, because it is based on the belief that improving employee well‐being is relevant for all.

Social media has the potential to enable exchange of diverse opinions, foster dialogue on important social issues and exert positive influence on stakeholders and society. However, evidence is contradictory as to whether this is the case; it is possible that millennials' behaviors on social media are mainly driven by conservation (conformity and safety) or self-enhancement (power and achievement). In this research, the authors examine the extent to which different human values (self-transcendence, conservation, self-enhancement and openness to change) influence millennials' activities and behaviors on social media.

The authors conduct three separate surveys on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with 491 millennials (18–34 years of age) in the USA, examining the influence of four higher-order values of the Schwartz human values model (open self-transcendence, conservation, self-enhancement and openness to change) on specific social media activities (consumption, self-focused and sharing nonpersonal content activities).

First, the authors find that for millennial users, human values significantly influence social media activities. Second, conservation values, followed by self-enhancement values, overshadow the expression of open self-transcendence values on social media. Thus, social media platforms may function more as agents of conservation and self-enhancement than agents of personal growth.

This is among the first studies to examine the influence of human values on social media and to find that human values such as conservation and self-enhancement have a strong influence on users' social media activities, while open self-transcendence values, which lead to expansion and growth, do not find genuine expression on social media.

Utilizing a self-regulatory perspective, the authors examine how narcissism influences perceived negative inequity and the downstream effects on self-enhancement motivation and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) over time.

A total of 689 useable three-wave panel data were obtained via Amazon Mechanical Turk during a three-month period. A latent growth curve modeling approach using EQS 6.4 for Windows was employed to test the hypothesized model.

Results illustrate that individuals with higher levels of narcissism perceive higher levels of perceived negative inequity and then form higher levels of self-enhancement motivation, which prompt more OCB directed toward the organization (OCBO) than OCB directed toward individuals (OCBI). When perceived negative inequity increases over time, narcissists experience a faster increase in self-enhancement motivation, which also leads to a faster increase in OCBO compared to the increase in OCBI.

Theoretically, this study provides theoretical and empirical insights into understanding the process through which narcissists' OCBs are motivated. Practically, this study offers several practical recommendations that help managers manage OCBs effectively in the organization.

The purpose of this research is to explore the effect of goal type of user-generated content (UGC) on consumers' intention of within-domain and across-domain compensatory consumption in closed social media platforms, the mediating effect of self-threat, self-enhancement and self-protection motivation and the moderating effect of self-efficacy.

Four between-subject experiments were conducted to verify the hypotheses presented in this research. Study 1a had a sample size of 60 respondents and examined the effect of goal type of UGC on compensatory consumption. Study1b replicated the effect by using a sample size of 60 respondents. Study 2 had a sample size of 70 respondents and verified the mediating role of self-threat, self-enhancement motivation and self-protection motivation. Study 3 examined self-efficacy as a critical moderator by using a sample of 255 participants.

Study 1a and Study 1b demonstrate that UGC with an attainment goal (vs maintenance goal) is more easily produced within-domain and across-domain compensatory consumption. Study 2 verifies that the effect of goal type of UGC on within-domain compensatory consumption is serially mediated by self-threat and self-enhancement motivation, and the effect of goal type of UGC on across-domain compensatory consumption is serially mediated by self-threat and self-protection motivation. Study 3 demonstrates that self-efficacy not only moderates the effects of self-threat on within-domain or across-domain compensatory consumption respectively, but also moderates the whole mediating path structure.

This research extends the understanding of UGC and addresses the inconclusive evidence of the impact of goal type of UGC on consumer compensatory behavior in the context of closed social media platforms. The authors identify the moderating role of self-efficacy, which explains why consumers adopt different compensatory strategies.

To investigate how an individual's value structure influences his/her attitudes toward others who are dissimilar and the moderating effects of age, gender, race, and religiosity on this relationship.

A sample of 165 respondents completed the 56‐item Schwartz Value Survey (SVS), which measures the four value types of openness to change, self‐transcendence, conservation, and self‐enhancement, and the 15‐item Miville‐Guzman Universality‐Diversity Scale Short (M‐GUDS‐S), which measures diversity attitudes. The relationships between the variables were explored using hierarchical regression.

Respondents who scored higher on the values of openness to change and self‐ transcendence had more positive diversity attitudes than those who scored lower. Respondents who scored higher on self‐enhancement had less positive diversity attitudes than those who scored lower. The prediction that those who score higher on conservation would have less positive diversity attitudes was not supported. Age, gender, and race were found to interact with values to predict diversity attitudes. None of the interaction effects for religiosity was significant.

This paper provides evidence of the predictive strength of an individual's value structure on their attitudes towards diversity. More specifically, this paper shows that the impact that a person's values have on his/her attitudes towards diversity is moderated by his/her age, race, and gender. The results suggest that diversity training needs to be more targeted and designed to take into consideration the values, age, gender, and race of the trainees.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of self-worth on status consumption, focusing on the mediation of self-enhancement and self-compensation and the moderation of power distance belief (PDB) in the relationship of threats to self-worth and consumer choice.

Experiments are used to collect data. Three studies are designed to test the relationship between self-worth, self-enhancement and self-compensation, PDB and status consumption. In total, 180 MBA students participate Study 1, 186 and 244 undergraduate students participate Studies 2 and 3, respectively. ANOVA and bootstrapping method are adopted to analyze the data by using SPSS version 19.0. Study 1 tests the influence of self-worth on status consumption; Study 2 examines the mediation role of self-enhancement and self-compensation; and Study 3 tests the moderation role of PDB.

Results indicate that situational self-worth perception has dual path effects on status consumption. Both improvements in – and threats to – self-worth have a positive impact on status consumption. Improvements in self-worth affect status consumption through the mediation of self-enhancement motives. Threats to self-worth affect status and non-status consumption through the mediation of the self-compensation motive. In the context of a threat to self-worth, compared with consumers with a low PDB, high-PDB consumers have higher purchase intention for status goods but not non-status goods.

In this study, improvements in – and threats to – self-worth are momentarily manipulated. The authors present one product in each experiment, but what would happen if both status goods and non-status goods were shown to participants? Which one will the authors choose under different self-worth manipulations? And how long can the effects last? These questions should be answered in future research.

This research provides a venue for marketers to introduce and advertise status goods. Marketing practitioners should establish the link between self-worth and status consumption appeals. In the Asia-Pacific markets, Confucian value is important to consumers, and high power distance is important in Confucianism. Thus when developing markets in China, international companies should emphasize Confucian values in the design of advertisements or other promotional items. Further, marketing for status goods should attach importance to the expression of their symbolic meanings.

This study contributes to the literature on self-worth and status consumption. It also explores the dual path of the effect of self-worth on status consumption. The motives of self-enhancement and self-compensation are first proposed and tested to explain the mechanism, which differentiates the study from prior work and gives a more reasonable explanation for status and compensatory consumption. The moderation role of PDB delineates the boundary for the effect of a threat to self-worth on status consumption.

By applying conservation-of-resource (COR) theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of a leader’s destructive behaviors, i.e., abusive supervision, on employee knowledge sharing and the moderating effects of learning goal orientation and self-enhancement motives on the aforementioned relationship.

The hypotheses were tested using regression analysis on data from 245 employees in South Korea.

The results showed that abused employees who experience depleted resources are likely to reduce their level of knowledge sharing, in accordance with COR theory. Furthermore, this research demonstrated that the negative effects of abusive supervision may differ depending on individual factors. Specifically, when an individual employee has low internal motivation or available resources for knowledge sharing (low learning orientation and high self-enhancement motive), the detrimental consequence of abusive supervision on knowledge sharing is worsened.

The research suggests that managers should be aware of the deleterious effects of abusive supervision on knowledge sharing and should invest more time and effort in preventing abusive supervision in the workplace.

Although organizations might invest significant amounts of effort in knowledge sharing, abusive supervision could be a barrier that discourages employees’ knowledge sharing. Yet, the strength of aforementioned relationship is dependent on individual factors. In order to achieve organizational effectiveness through knowledge sharing, the critical role of leaders’ behavior and employees’ characteristics or motivation should not be overlooked.