Kirk Chang

On Pancultural Self-Enhancement Well-Adjusted Taiwanese Self-Enhance on Personally Valued Traits

Taiwanese participants made better-than-average judgments on collectivistic and individualistic traits, evaluated the personal importance of those traits, and completed measures of psychological adjustment (depression, perceived stress, subjective well-being, and satisfaction with life). Replicating findings from other East Asian samples, participants self-enhanced (i.e., regarded the self as superior to peers) more on collectivistic than individualistic attributes and assigned higher personal importance to the former than the latter. Moreover, better adjusted participants manifested a stronger tendency to self-enhance on personally important attributes. These data are consistent with the view that self-enhancement is a universal human motive that is expressed tactically and at odds with the assertion that self-enhancement is a uniquely Western phenomenon.

Counterproductive behaviour at work: an investigation into reduction strategies

The present study examined the interrelation of personality characteristics, organizational justice, organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB), and counterproductive work behaviour (CWB). An anonymous questionnaire survey was conducted, with 1662 participants representing a wide variety of jobs across heterogeneous organizations in Thailand. Statistical analysis indicated that CWB can be predicted by the following personality characteristics; conscientiousness, agreeableness, self-esteem, extraversion, neuroticism and openness to experience. Moderation analysis discovered that the association between personality characteristics and CWB is moderated by three factors; distributive justice, interactional justice and OCB. Structural Equation Modelling was adopted in order to examine the efficacy of the identified moderators, and revealed that interactional justice has the strongest moderating effect, followed by distributive justice and finally OCB. Implications of the findings to organizational management and personnel practitioners are discussed accordingly, including; that the occurrence of CWB could be reduced through the implementation of organizational justice enhancement policies; and that the prevalence of OCB atmosphere at work could also help alleviate the impact of personality characteristics on CWB.

Community cohesion after a natural disaster: insights from a Carlisle flood

This project analysed changes in community cohesion following a natural disaster. Data were collected from a flood-affected community using a questionnaire survey. Analyses revealed that community cohesion was not predicted by the length of residence, or any other demographic characteristic of residents, but rather by a sense of community, community cognition and the degree of community participation. Cohesion alteration was not uniform, but varied along levels of hazard severity (degree of flood invasion). Cohesion increased in line with hazard severity at the initial flood stage, as residents recognised the importance of community unity and came together to cope with their losses. When the severity increased, residents transferred their focus to individual interests, which resulted in decreased cohesion. This project distinguishes itself in examining community cohesion in the wake of a natural disaster in the real world. Implications regarding community reconstruction and suggestions for hazard researchers are discussed accordingly.

The influence of occupation on stressors and work behaviours

Adopting a large-scale questionnaire survey (N = 880), this study examined the influence of occupation on stressors and behaviours in the workplace. Participants from four heterogeneous occupations groups were recruited, namely: high school teachers, shop clerks, factory employees, and civil servants. Analyses indicated that both work stressors and behaviours varied across occupations. These differences were due to two major factors – occupational characteristics and individual demographics. Individual demographics, as well as the occupation itself, had subtle impact on stress formation, absence behaviour, intention of quitting job, and work morale. Research findings and their implications to personnel and management policies are discussed. Strategies to alleviate the negative impact of occupational influences are discussed accordingly.

Gossip in the workplace and the implications for HR management: a study of gossip and its relationship to employee cynicism

Gossip is a common phenomenon in the workplace, but yet relatively little is understood about its influence to employees. This study adopts social information theory and social cognitive theory to interpret the diverse literature on gossip, and to develop and test hypotheses concerning some of the antecedents of gossip, with an aim of developing knowledge of the relationship between gossip and employee behaviour in the workplace. The study analysed survey data in a two-stage process, from 362 employees across a range of industries in Taiwan. The findings revealed that job-related gossip predicted employee cynicism and mediated the relationship between psychological contract violation and cynicism, and that non-job-related gossip showed a similar but weaker effect to employee cynicism. The contribution made by this paper is of value to both the academic subject domain and managers in Human Resources. First, we have identified two constructs of gossip, job-related and non-job-related gossip not previously reported and a validated scale has been created. Second, we have confirmed that these different constructs of gossip impact differently on employee behaviour and therefore HR managers should be cautious about gossip in the workplace, as it can cause cynical behaviour amongst employees.

Scientist versus Practitioner–An abridged meta-analysis of the changing role of psychologists

This study investigated factors of conflicting expectations and roles of the current psychology practitioners, as well as how these factors were associated with the founding principles of the scientist-practitioner model. Data were gathered from ten published journal articles and then interpreted using an abridged meta-analysis methodology. Results revealed: (a) the scientist-practitioner model needs to adapt to survive, preferably with the aim of becoming more versatile; (b) The majority of graduate level clinical psychology training programs are based on a flawed version of the scientist-practitioner model, which renders the training inadequate and ineffective; (c) The identity of clinical psychology should remain firmly grounded in mental health care, and so not encroach on the territory of any other psychological divisions. Implications of these findings and suggestions for psychology practitioners are also discussed.

Customer engagement planning emerging from the individualist-collectivist’-framework: An empirical examination in China and UK.

Purpose – Today marketers operate in globalised markets, planning new ways to engage with domestic and foreign customers alike. While there is a greater need to understand these two customer groups, few studies examine the impact of customer engagement tactics on the two customer groups, focusing on their perceptual differences. Even less attention is given to customer engagement tactics in a cross-cultural framework. In this research, the authors investigate customers in China and UK, aiming to compare their perceptual differences on the impact of multiple customer engagement tactics. Design/methodology/approach – Using a quantitative approach with 286 usable responses from China and the UK obtained through a combination of person-administered survey and computer-based survey screening process, the authors test a series of hypotheses to distinguish across-cultural differences. Findings – Findings show that the collectivists (Chinese customers) perceive customer engagement tactics differently than the ind...

Membership stability and performance: a study of baseball clubs and laboratory groups

This research aims to analyse the association across membership stability, group boundary and group performance. Using Professional Chinese Baseball Leagues data (Seasons 2003–2007), Study One reveals that the membership stability of baseball clubs was correlated with their annual rank and win-probability, and that stable teams outperformed unstable teams. Membership stability also predicted win-probability in four out of five seasons. Using undergraduate students, Study Two reveals that members from unstable groups (i.e. groups with higher membership turnover) had higher intention of leaving their groups and more departures. Members from stable groups had better group performance, group cohesion, and group dynamics, which all resulted in members displaying more trust in their colleagues and an increased willingness to cooperate with them. Implications of the findings include that stable membership is a crucial factor in the promotion of group dynamics and overall performance, and that the nature of a groups boundary affects its membership turnover. Policies should also be devised to manage membership stability, as maintaining an appropriate turnover rate is essential both to individuals and to groups, such as employees and their organizations.

The reduction of employee lying behaviour:Inspiration from a study of envy in part-time employees

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse employees’ lying behaviour and its findings have important implication for the management and prevention strategies of lying in the workplace. Employee lying has caused both reputational and financial damage to employers, organisations and public authorities. This study adopts a psycho-cognitive perspective to examine the mechanism of lying reduction and the influence envy has on lying behaviour. Design/methodology/approach – Incorporating social comparison phenomenon and cognate studies this study suggests that envy may restrain people from lying in the workplace. Specific hypotheses are developed and tested with 271 participants using dice game scenarios. Findings – Research findings have found that people are likely to lie if lying brings them benefits. However, the findings also reveal that the envy aroused between two people may act as a psychological barrier to reduce the tendency to lie. Originality/value – The research findings have provided an alt...

Organizational citizenship behavior, identification, psychological contract and leadership frames: The example of primary school teachers in Taiwan

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) by combining two heterogeneous perspectives, integrating OCB-related factors at work using both personal and organizational perspectives, thus contributing to the knowledge of OCB. Design/methodology/approach Two studies are conducted using surveys in Taiwan with a snowball sampling technique to enlarge participation. Study 1 analyzes the relationships between organizational identification (OID), expected psychological contract (PC), perceived PC (PPC) and OCB. Study 2 analyzes the relationship between OCB and principals’ (or head teachers’) leadership frames (LFs). Findings Study 1 finds that OID is an antecedent of OCB and that expected PC (EPC) moderates the OID-OCB relationship. Study 2 finds that the symbolic LF is the only antecedent of OCB and that different LFs influence each other in predicting OCB. EPC is found to moderate the OID-OCB relationship, indicating that primary school teachers’ (PSTs) with higher levels of EPC are more likely to demonstrate OCB at school. Interestingly, PPC did not demonstrate such a moderating effect. Originality/value The study makes three contributions. First, the authors analyze composite OCB via identity and PC theories (Study 1). Second, the authors scrutinize specific aspects of OCB via leader-member-exchange and LF theories. These aspects include assisting colleagues, job commitment, working morale and non-selfish behavior (Study 2). Third, the authors increase understanding of PSTs’ OCB, discussing important implications for school principals and human resource managers as well as perhaps others in similar sectors.