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The purpose of this paper is to apply social comparison theory to the study of managerial careers. It is proposed that how managers evaluate their career progression in comparison with the accomplishments of others will affect how they feel about their careers and organizations.

Male and female managers who were similar in age (±5 years) and from the same organization, functional area, management level, and region were asked to participate in the study. Data from 392 managers from lower and middle levels were used to test the study hypotheses. Respondents completed measures of upward comparisons, downward comparisons, enacted aspirations, competitiveness of work group, career satisfaction and turnover intentions.

Study results showed that social comparisons influence managers' turnover intentions and career satisfaction. Upward comparisons were found to be positively related to turnover intentions and career satisfaction. Downward comparisons were found to be negatively related to turnover intentions and positively related to career satisfaction. In addition, the competitiveness of the managers' work group and their enacted aspirations were found to be significant moderators. These findings emphasize the importance of relative standards in predicting managerial career attitudes.

The measures created to assess the degree to which individuals make downward and upward social comparisons when assessing their career progress should be tested in additional occupations and studies. Future research should investigate how social comparisons influence career attitudes beyond considering feelings of relative deprivation. In particular, researchers should aim to understand when upward comparisons are threatening or motivating.

The findings demonstrate that social comparisons can be quite prevalent within organizations and that the competitiveness of the organizational climate can have a significant impact on how social comparisons affect managers' career satisfaction. Therefore, organizations should be mindful of the climates they endorse. Furthermore, findings suggest that organizations should encourage managers to participate in career strategies since career strategies associated with enacted aspirations were found to enhance the effects of the social comparison process, leading to an increase in managers' career satisfaction and a decrease in their turnover intentions.

This is the first known study to empirically examine how upward and downward comparisons affect managers' turnover intentions and career satisfaction.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships among self-efficacy, family-work conflict, social comparison standards, career expectation (CE), and career success through surveying the faculties of two major universities in Shandong Province, China.

Data were collected through online survey instruments returned by 147 university women faculties from the two major universities in the region.

The results showed that: there was a significantly negative relationship between social comparison standards targeting to men and CE; self-efficacy was both impact statistically on family-work conflict and social comparison standards. This study found that the perceptions of CEs of Chinese women faculties were impacted by social comparison standards that could be directly perceived from men through observing and communicating with them. On the other hand, family-work conflict, which indirectly impacted on their CE, was not statistically significant, even though it significantly bothered them. Moreover, by investing the moderate effect of self-efficacy, it was a very important factor which helped them to develop their CEs.

Since the higher self-efficacy group had higher CEs, increasing self-efficacy should be a prerequisite to help them develop their careers. Still, Chinese women faculties of two major universities in Shandong Province had low CE, high family-work conflict, and felt an inequality in career against men.

Mounting empirical evidence shows that engagement in social network sites (SNSs) could have a negative impact on users’ personal well-being. However, studies of the undesirable effects of SNS use have not examined SNSs as a channel for users to share consumption information and experiences. To extend prior research, this study aims to examine the impact of consumption-oriented engagement (COE) in SNSs on young adult consumers’ personal well-being in terms of anxiety and self-esteem, as well as excessive spending.

Surveys were the primary means of data collection from a sample of young college students (N = 900). Moderated hierarchical regression was used to test the hypotheses.

COE is positively associated with anxiety and excessive spending and negatively associated with self-esteem. Social comparison mediates these relationships, and individuals’ materialistic values moderate the mediation.

This study demonstrates the psychological and behavioral outcomes of consumer socialization via digital media among young adult consumers. It introduces and empirically validates social comparison as a theoretical explanation for the effects of COE. In addition, it validates materialistic values as a personal trait that moderates the effects of COE.

The study validates COE as a key precursor to the well-being of young adult users of SNSs and social comparison as the mediator. With this understanding, public policies can be designed to mitigate the root cause of the negative impact of SNS use.

Findings shed light on the negative repercussions of engagement in SNSs in the consumption domain and provide an impetus for educators, researchers and policymakers to make further efforts to gain a thorough understanding of the pitfalls of social media use.

The purpose of this study is to utilize social cognitive theory to investigate how social comparison orientations, individual cognitive, and environmental factors influence females' decisions to pursue self-employment in the United Arab Emirates In doing so, the authors explore how the entrepreneurial self-efficacy of Emirati women also influences individuals towards entrepreneurship.

Using a survey instrument administered in both English and Arabic, data were collected from one hundred and three (103) employed Emirati women and eighty-four (84) self-employed Emirati women who were taking part in workshops conducted by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce.

The results from the study suggest that the social environment is a contributing factor toward self-employment, with higher levels of social comparison orientation increasing the likelihood of Emirati women being self-employed. Consistent with prior research, the authors also find that internal cognitive factors also play a significant role, with Emirati women possessing higher levels of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and having a higher likelihood of being self-employed.

This is one of the few studies aimed at exploring the role of social comparison orientation as a factor in motivating females towards entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region.

Despite the dramatic increase in people's use of social media, relatively few studies have examined its effect on careers. Drawing upon social comparison theory and self-regulation theory, this study aims to investigate how career-oriented social media usage interacts with social comparison orientation (SCO) to influence the career exploration of university students.

Three waves of survey data are collected from 482 university students in China. Hypotheses are tested through ordinary least squares analysis.

Results show that career-oriented social media usage increases career anxiety, which in turn promotes career exploration. Furthermore, SCO strengthens such influence of career-oriented social media usage.

Given the limited attention paid to the effects of social media in career contexts, this study distinguishes career-oriented social media usage and proposes insights into its effect on career exploration. In doing so, this study extends social media literature and provides implications for the transition of university students from school to work in the digital era.

Substantial research has examined the pivotal role of ethical leadership in generating employee outcomes. To date, though, little is known about the relationship between ethical leadership and newcomers' adjustment. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to this gap by examining the effect of ethical leadership on newcomers' adjustment. In doing so, the authors highlighted positive emotions of newcomers as a mediating mechanism that explains the aforementioned association.

Data were drawn from a two-wave sample of 271 newcomers. The hypotheses were tested by using hierarchical regression analyses and Hayes' PROCESS macro.

The results demonstrated that ethical leadership affects employees' positive emotions which, in turn, positively relates to newcomers' adjustment. Additionally, newcomers' social comparison orientation moderated the effect of ethical leadership on newcomers' positive emotions.

The research uses a correlational research design, making it difficult to derive causal inferences from the data. Moreover, the data we obtained on the variables were all based on employees' self-reports, which might inflate the relationship between some of the variables.

To the best of the knowledge, this is the first study that illustrates the role of ethical leadership in enhancing both newcomers’ positive emotions and adjustment.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the effect of perceived income security (IS), materialistic values and socially driven aspirations on the financial well-being (FWB) of young Indian adults.

A questionnaire was designed using available scales for FWB and materialism. Questions were incorporated to measure social comparison and IS. A structural equation approach using data from 327 respondents was used to test a hypothesized model of FWB.

The IS has the largest positive effect, while unemployment has the largest negative effect on FWB. Overt materialism (OM) negatively affects FWB. Socially motivated aspirations have an indirect negative effect mediated by OM. Among demographic variables, income, education and stable employment increase FWB. Males have lower levels of FWB.

The data includes 327 respondents that were polled using convenience sampling. The results may not be generalizable to India at large.

A common consideration when choosing a job is the salary. However, we find that IS affects subsequent FWB to a much greater extent than income level and materialistic aspirations.

This is the first study to look at the relative importance of materialistic aspirations vs IS in determining FWB. The results will help policy makers in devising policies and financial service providers in designing products and services that will increase the FWB of Indians.

From the perspective of customer segmentation, most scholars show more interest in the very important person (VIP) customer’s service experience and satisfaction; however, the way in which ordinary customers view VIP services has received less attention. Based on fairness heuristic theory and social comparison theory, this study aims to examine the impact of the social visibility of VIP services on ordinary customers’ satisfaction and explored the underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions of this effect.

Two experiments were conducted, Study 1 verified the main effect and mediating effect, Study 2 tested the moderating effect.

The results show that the social visibility of VIP services decreases ordinary customers’ satisfaction and perceived fairness mediates this effect. The deservingness of VIP status moderates the connection between social visibility and perceived fairness.

This research changes the objects of VIP services research and focuses on ordinary customers as its main group and expands the scope of social comparisons among customers.

The findings expand the scope and perspective of research on VIP services and provide guidance to service providers to reduce ordinary customers’ feelings of unfairness so as to improve customer satisfaction.

This study explores the effect of the social visibility of VIP services on ordinary customer satisfaction from the perspective of perceived fairness, as well as the underlying mechanism and boundary conditions of the effect.

The purpose of this paper is to examine gender differences in reactions to pay inequity and procedural justice. Specifically, the study seeks to reveal whether these gender differences can be explained by pay comparisons and knowledge of pay.

Structural equation modeling was utilized to analyze survey data that were combined with archival pay data representing a sample of 416 employees of two universities in Finland.

Male employees were found to be more sensitive toward pay inequity than female employees. In contrast, procedural justice was more strongly related to the organizational commitment of female than that of male employees. These effects were partly explained by pay comparisons and knowledge of pay. While male employees were more likely to compare their pay with some external referents, female employees were more likely to compare their pay internally. Male employees were somewhat more familiar with the pay system. Differences in these variables relate to organizational commitment.

Given the cross-sectional nature of the study, we encourage future research to look into how gender differences in reactions to injustice evolve over time.

The study provides evidence that female employees react to a lesser extent to pay disparities by continuing to show high commitment toward their organizations. This paradox could be diminished by ensuring that all employees have the same amount of information regarding pay, such as how their pay compares to other referent groups.

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize virtual influencer marketing, outlining the opportunities and dangers associated with using virtual influencers in social media marketing communications.

Drawing on the literature addressing influencer marketing and interactions between consumers and technologies, this paper introduces the landscape of virtual influencer marketing.

This paper distinguishes virtual influencers from real-life influencers and related digital characters. It further defines four unique elements attributed to virtual influencers: customization, flexibility, ownership and automation. Finally, it introduces a taxonomy for virtual influencers.

The conceptualization of virtual influencer marketing contributes to advancing the understanding of the (virtual) influencer marketing landscape.

This paper suggests that brands need to carefully evaluate the different characteristics of virtual influencers, when deciding to leverage them in social media marketing communications. It also provides guidelines for working with virtual influencers in marketing campaigns targeted at consumers.

This paper discusses ethical and social implications for brands and consumers that interact with virtual influencers in the encounter between reality and virtuality.

This paper makes three contributions. First, it conceptualizes virtual influencer marketing by defining and critically evaluating the key characteristics attributed to virtual influencers. Second, it offers a 2 × 2 taxonomy of virtual influencers, grounded in research on anthropomorphism and reality–virtuality. Third, this paper reflects on the opportunities and dangers associated with virtual influencer marketing, outlining avenues for future research.