Clara Amato

Bases of social power, leadership styles, and organizational commitment

Affective organizational commitment reflects the extent to which organizational members are loyal and willing to work toward organizational objectives (Meyer & Allen, 1997). In particular, affective organizational commitment holds very important implications at all organizational levels (e.g., turnover rates, performance, and citizenship behavior). Whereas previous research has evinced the positive influence of transformational and charismatic leadership styles on affective commitment toward the organization (Bass & Avolio, 1994), little is known with regard to the nature of this relationship. In line with the interpersonal power/interaction model, the present investigation aimed to investigate the mechanism at play between transformational leadership style and affective organizational commitment. Specifically, we hypothesized that transformational leadership style would increase affective organizational commitment through its effect on willingness to comply with soft bases of power. In two studies, we subjected the foregoing hypotheses to empirical scrutiny. In Study 1, the proposed mediation model was empirically supported with Italian employees in the public sector. Attesting to the robustness of our findings, Study 2 replicated the findings of Study 1 with Italian employees from the public and private sectors. In addition, Study 2 replicated Study 1 using a different measure of transformational leadership. Both Study 1 and Study 2 provided results consistent with our hypotheses. Specifically, the present paper reports empirical evidence that (1) the more participants report having a transformational leader, the more willing they become to comply with soft (but not harsh) power bases, (2) in turn, greater willingness to comply with soft (but not harsh) power bases increases ones affective organizational commitment. These findings provide additional support for the interpersonal power/interaction model and pave the way for new research directions.

Regulatory Modes and Entrepreneurship: The Mediational Role of Alertness in Small Business Success

Previous studies suggest that entrepreneurs play a key role in the success of their ventures. But relatively little is currently known about how they produce such effects. The present research provides data suggesting that two modes of entrepeneurs’ self‐regulation—locomotion and assessment—enhance a firms success through their effects on the components of alertness. This mediational model was tested and supported with data from 120 entrepreneurs. Locomotion was positively related to the scanning and search component, while assessment was positively related to the association and evaluation components. These findings are discussed in terms of the role of founders’ self‐regulation in the performance of their companies.

“Tempus Divitiae”: Locomotion orientation and evaluation of time as a precious resource

Prior research on time issues has demonstrated that the value of time is subjective and shows that different evaluations of time (as a valuable or as an undefined resource) correspond to different attitudes, behaviors, and emotions. Based on recent research on the relationship between time and motion, the present research aimed to investigate the relationship between locomotion orientation (i.e., proclivity toward movement and change) and the evaluation of time as a resource. Two studies were conducted with 313 (244 students and 69 workers) and 139 (students) Italian participants, respectively. In the first study, The Locomotion Regulatory Mode Scale and the Mental Account Scale (Time version) were administered, while in the second study, participants were presented with two scenarios of a transaction where prior investments of time led to negative outcomes. The results of the two studies confirmed the hypotheses that (1) locomotion orientation is associated with the existence of a mental accounting process for time investments and (2) locomotion orientation is associated with greater disappointment from negative consequences of poor time expenditures. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The Swedish version of the Regulatory Mode Questionnaire

The data include responses to the Swedish version of a questionnaire used to operationalize self-regulation or regulatory mode: assessment and locomotion. The data was collected among 567 Swedish high school and university students (see Garcia and Lindskär, 2016 [1]). In this article, we also include the Swedish version of the Regulatory Mode Questionnaire. The data is available, SPSS file, as supplementary material in this article.

Well-being and moral identity: Well-being and moral identity

The good life is the result of flourishing and resilience, but also of being a morally good person. We found that moral identity was associated with engagement, meaning, the identification and acceptance of others (i.e., cooperativeness), and the sense of being part of something bigger than the self (i.e., self-transcendence).

Modus operandi and affect in Sweden: the Swedish version of the Regulatory Mode Questionnaire

Background The Regulatory Mode Questionnaire (RMQ) is the most used and internationally well-known instrument for the measurement of individual differences in the two self-regulatory modes: locomotion (i.e., the aspect of self-regulation that is concerned with movement from state to state) and assessment (i.e., the comparative aspect of self-regulation). The aim of the present study was to verify the independence of the two regulatory modes, as postulated by the Regulatory Mode Theory (Kruglanski et al., 2000), and the psychometric properties of the RMQ in the Swedish context. Furthermore, we investigated the relationship between regulatory modes (locomotion and assessment) and affective well-being (i.e., positive affect and negative affect). Method A total of 655 university and high school students in the West of Sweden (males = 408 females = 242, and five participants who didn’t report their gender; agemean = 21.93 ± 6.51) responded to the RMQ and the Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule. We conducted two confirmatory factor analyses using structural equation modeling (SEM). A third SEM was conducted to test the relationship between locomotion and assessment to positive affect and negative affect. Results The first analyses confirmed the unidimensional factor structure of locomotion and assessment and both scales showed good reliability. The assessment scale, however, was modified by dropping item 10 (“I don’t spend much time thinking about ways others could improve themselves”.) because it showed low loading (.07, p = .115). Furthermore, the effect of locomotion on positive affect was stronger than the effect of assessment on positive affect (Z = −15.16, p < .001), while the effect of assessment on negative affect was stronger than the effect of locomotion on negative affect (Z = 10.73, p < .001). Conclusion The factor structure of the Swedish version of the RMQ is, as Regulatory Mode Theory suggests, unidimensional and it showed good reliability. The scales discriminated between the two affective well-being dimensions. We suggest that the Swedish version of the RMQ, with only minor modifications, is a useful instrument to tap individual differences in locomotion and assessment. Hence, the present study contributes to the validation of the RMQ in the Swedish culture and adds support to the theoretical framework of self-regulatory mode.

Social support, work engagement, and non-vocational outcomes in people with severe mental illness

The relationships between social support (i.e., supportive relationship between supervisor-coworker), work engagement, self-esteem, and self-awareness (i.e., identity and perceived personal health), were investigated in a group of patients with severe mental illness (i.e., patients suffering from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and mood disorders). Seventy Italian working patients were administered the Italian version of the following scales: a) Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, b) Work Climate Questionnaire, c) Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, d) Self-Awareness (identity and perceived personal health) ad hoc scale. Results showed that social support is positively related to work engagement, self-awareness, and self-esteem. Moreover, the relationships between social support and identity appeared to be fully mediated by perceived personal health. Practical implications are discussed.

The Promotion of a Bright Future and the Prevention of a Dark Future: Time Anchored Incitements in News Articles and Facebook’s Status Updates

Background: Research suggests that humans have the tendency to increase the valence of events when these are imagined to happen in the future, but to decrease the valence when the same events are imagined to happen in the past. This line of research, however, has mostly been conducted by asking participants to value imagined, yet probable, events. Our aim was to re-examine this time-valence asymmetry using real-life data: a Reuter’s news and a Facebook status updates corpus. Method: We organized the Reuter news (120,000,000 words) and the Facebook status updates data (41,056,346 words) into contexts grouped in chronological order (i.e., past, present, and future) using verbs and years as time markers. These contexts were used to estimate the valence of each article and status update, respectively, in relation to the time markers using natural language processing tools (i.e., the Latent Semantic Analysis algorithm). Results: Our results using verbs, in both text corpus, showed that valence for the future was significantly higher compared to the past (future > past). Similarly, in the Reuter year condition, valence increased approximately linear from 1994 to 1999 for texts written 1996–1997. In the Facebook year condition, the valence of the future was also significantly higher than past valence. Conclusion: Generally, the analyses of the Reuters data indicated that the past is devaluated relative to both the present and the future, while the analyses of the Facebook data indicated that both the past and the present are devaluated against the future. On this basis, we suggest that people strive to communicate the promotion of a bright future and the prevention of a dark future, which in turn leads to a temporal-valence asymmetrical phenomenon (valence = past < present < future). “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!” Martin Luther King, Jr., 28th of August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC, United States

Ethical Leaders and Leadership Effectiveness: The Moderating role of Individual Differences in Need for Cognitive Closure/ Leader Etici ed Efficacia della Leadership: Il Ruolo Moderatore delle Differenze Individuali relative al Bisogno di Chiusura Cognitiva

Ethical leadership is an important factor in leadership effectiveness, but the study of the contingencies of its influence is still in its infancy. Addressing this issue we focus on the moderating role of followers’ need for cognitive closure, the disposition to reduce uncertainty and swiftly reach closure in judgment and decision, in the relationship between ethical leadership and its effectiveness. We propose that need for closure captures followers’ sensitivity to the uncertaintyreducing influence of ethical leadership. In a field survey study we found support for the hypothesis that perceived ethical leadership has a stronger (positive) relationship with leadership effectiveness for followers higher in need for closure. This support is found across two indicators reflecting different aspects of leadership effectiveness: effort investment and job satisfaction. We discuss how these findings advance our understanding of the uncertainty-reducing role of ethical leadership.

Individual differences in preference for thought suppression: Components and correlates of the White Bear Suppression Inventory

This study examines the psychometric properties of the White Bear Suppression Inventory (WBSI, Wegner & Zanakos, 1994) in a sample of Italian undergraduate students. The WBSI was designed as a self-report measure of people’s chronic tendency to suppress thoughts. Consistent with Blumberg’s (2000) analysis, in the present sample factor analysis of the scale revealed three correlated factors: unwanted intrusive thoughts, thought suppression, and self-distraction (to avoid thoughts). Individual differences needed for cognitive closure (NfCC) and regulatory mode orientations (locomotion and assessment) were found to be diversely correlated with the three factors of the WBSI scale. Specifically, NfCC was positively correlated with thought suppression, assessment was positively correlated with unwanted intrusive thoughts, and locomotion was positively correlated with self-distraction as a cognitive avoidance strategy. The theoretical meaning of these findings is considered.