Job search in a difficult labour market: linking goal orientation to job search strategies and outcomes with the moderating role of self-control.

This study addresses how goal orientation relates to different job search strategies to increase the chance of finding employment and quality jobs. We integrate the goal orientation theory with self-control to examine how the orientation of goals (i.e., performance-prove goal orientation (PPGO), performance-avoid goal orientation (PAGO) and learning goal orientation (LGO)) are associated with job search strategies (i.e., Focused Job Search Strategy- FJSS, Exploratory Job Search Strategy-EJSS, and Haphazard Job Search Strategy-HJSS) and how self-control moderates the process. In a three-wave study (nT1= 859; nT2 = 720; nT3 = 418), the hypotheses were tested using unemployed job seekers in Ghana. The results from the structural equation model show that learning goal oriented job seekers were inclined to search more focused and exploratory but engaged in less haphazard search. While PPGO facilitated EJSS, job seekers with PAGO searched more haphazardly but their search behaviour was less focused and exploratory. In addition, EJSS contributed to attending more job interviews, but HJSS decreased the chance of obtaining job interviews. Also, the interviews attended were associated with job offered, which in turn led to obtaining employment. Both FJSS and EJSS were related to employment quality but HJSS decreased employment quality. Interestingly, individual differences in self-control were found to moderate the relation between goal orientation and job search strategy. The use of EJSS was found to be more beneficial in difficult labour markets.

Meta-analyzing dependent correlations with correction for artifacts that multiplicatively attenuate the true correlation.

Previous procedures for meta-analyzing dependent correlations have been found to overestimate or underestimate the true variation in effect sizes. Samplewise-adjusted procedures have been shown to perform better than simple within-study means when meta-analyzing dependent correlations. However, such procedures cannot be applied when correction for artifacts such as unreliability is desired. In the present study, we extended the procedures to correct for attenuation due to artifacts when meta-analyzing dependent correlations. Monte Carlo simulation was conducted in order to examine conditions with various degrees of dependence, degrees of heterogeneity, sample sizes, and numbers of studies, among other factors. The previous procedures, including the samplewise-adjusted procedures without correction, yielded biased point estimates and confidence intervals with low coverage probabilities of the population mean correlation and degree of heterogeneity. More importantly, the bias and undercoverage of the confidence interval increased with the mean sample size and number of studies in many conditions. The new samplewise-adjusted procedures with correction for attenuation yielded negligible biases when estimating the mean population correlation, even in the presence of dependent correlations. Given that the need for correction for attenuation due to artifacts is becoming more recognized in meta-analysis, our findings highlight the importance of such considerations when meta-analyzing dependent correlations. Conditions under which these procedures can be further improved are also discussed.

Meta-analyzing dependent correlations: an SPSS macro and an R script.

The presence of dependent correlation is a common problem in meta-analysis. Cheung and Chan (2004, 2008) have shown that samplewise-adjusted procedures perform better than the more commonly adopted simple within-sample mean procedures. However, samplewise-adjusted procedures have rarely been applied in meta-analytic reviews, probably due to the lack of suitable ready-to-use programs. In this article, we compare the samplewise-adjusted procedures with existing procedures to handle dependent effect sizes, and present the samplewise-adjusted procedures in a way that will make them more accessible to researchers conducting meta-analysis. We also introduce two tools, an SPSS macro and an R script, that researchers can apply to their meta-analyses; these tools are compatible with existing meta-analysis software packages.

Regulatory focus influences perseveration and distractibility in task switching.

In two experiments, we investigated the effect of regulatory focus (Higgins, Am Psychol, 52, 1280-1300, 1997) on people's maintenance and switching behavior. In the experimental tasks, participants were asked to react selectively to one category of stimuli while ignoring the other. After several practice trials, participants had to switch either to new stimuli which were paired with former target stimuli (i.e., in the perseveration condition), or switch to former distracter stimuli which were paired with new stimuli (i.e., in the learned irrelevance condition). Results from both experiments indicated that a promotion focus promoted switching to new stimuli in the perseveration condition, at the cost of poorer performance on switching to former distracters in the learned irrelevance condition. This pattern of results applied to both chronic individual differences in regulatory focus (Experiment 1), and regulatory focus temporarily manipulated in the laboratory (Experiment 2). It suggests that whereas a promotion focus indeed promotes cognitive flexibility, it also incurs a cost in terms of increased likelihood of being distracted.

Factors associated with stress of conscience among emergency medical technicians in China.

The current study was designed to investigate factors related to stress of conscience among emergency medical technicians in China. One hundred and seventy-five doctors and nurses from emergency departments completed questionnaires measuring demographic information, two personality traits (i.e. responsibility and logical-affective orientation), stress of conscience and colleagues' stress of conscience. Important findings include the following: (i) Stress of conscience varied as a function of age, years of work, and marital status; (ii) Participants' stress of conscience was highly associated with colleagues' stress of conscience; and (iii) Both responsibility and a logical orientation were negatively associated with stress of conscience.

Transfer of attachment functions and adjustment among young adults in China.

This study was designed to examine the process of attachment transfer from parents to peers, as well as factors related to this transfer process among Mainland Chinese. A total of 147 Chinese college students (with a mean age of 21.44) completed questionnaires that measured attachment style, attachment transfer, attachment support from various figures, loneliness, positive/negative affects, and self-esteem. Major findings of the current study include the following: (a) Hazan and Shaver's sequential model of attachment transfer was generalized to the Chinese sample; (b) the extent of attachment transfer was found to be associated with participants' emotional states (loneliness and positive affect) and was a significant predictor of these emotional states beyond the effects of attachment style and attachment support. As one of the first studies exploring the phenomenon of attachment transfer among young Chinese adults, conceptual and applied implications of these findings are discussed.

Will You Forgive Your Supervisor's Wrongdoings? The Moral Licensing Effect of Ethical Leader Behaviors.

Moral licensing theory suggests that observers may liberate actors to behave in morally questionable ways due to the actors' history of moral behaviors. Drawing on this view, a scenario experiment with a 2 (high vs. low ethical) × 2 (internal vs. external motivation) between-subject design (N = 455) was conducted in the current study. We examined whether prior ethical leader behaviors cause subordinates to license subsequent abusive supervision, as well as the moderating role of behavior motivation on such effects. The results showed that when supervisors demonstrated prior ethical behaviors, subordinates, as victims, liberated them to act in abusive ways. Specifically, subordinates showed high levels of tolerance and low levels of condemnation toward abusive supervision and seldom experienced emotional responses to supervisors' abusive behaviors. Moreover, subordinates tended to attribute abusive supervision, viewed as a kind of mistreatment without an immediate intent to cause harm, to characteristics of the victims and of the organization rather than of the supervisors per se. When supervisors behaved morally out of internal rather than external motivations, the aforementioned licensing effects were stronger.

Correlates of Acceptance of Wealth Inequality: A Moderated Mediation Model.

Wealth inequality is a prevalent social issue. The present study focuses on acceptance of wealth inequality, and considers personal income, perceived upward mobility, and future time perspective as its antecedents, and collective action intention as its outcome. With reference to the social identity literature and socioemotional selectivity theory, we posit a conditional indirect effect of income on collective action intention through acceptance of wealth inequality: only when mobility and future time perspective are relatively high, higher income is associated with higher acceptance of wealth inequality and in turn, lower collective action intention. Moderated mediation findings, based on territory-wide phone survey data from 866 Hong Kong adults, supported this prediction. This work indicates the relevance of an individual-level instrumental perspective to the understanding of acceptance of wealth inequality as well as collective action intention.

Qualities of online friendships with different gender compositions and durations.

This study was designed to examine the qualities of online friendships with different gender compositions that had been maintained for varying periods of time. A total of 167 Hong Kong Internet-users rated the qualities of their same-sex and cross-sex online friendships on measures such as intimacy, trust, self-disclosure, and relational satisfaction. A 2 (gender of respondents: male vs. female) x 2 (gender of online friends: same-sex vs. opposite-sex) x 3 (duration of friendships: less than 1 year vs. 1-2 years vs. more than 2 years) factorial design was adopted. MANOVA results reveal the three-way interaction effect on intimacy, trust, and relational satisfaction. Specifically, the qualities of male-female, female-male, and female-female online friendships were generally higher for those with a longer duration than those at the early stage of friendship development. However, the qualities of male-male friendships that had been maintained for more than 2 years were lower than those maintained for 2 years or less. These findings suggest that qualities of online friendships are subject to effects of gender composition and duration. The conceptual implications of these results are discussed.

When Love Meets Money: Priming the Possession of Money Influences Mating Strategies.

Money is an important factor that influences the development of romantic relationships. The current paper examines how the feeling of having relatively more or less money influences human mating strategies in long-term and short-term mating contexts under the framework of evolutionary psychology. We recruited mainland Chinese college students involved in steady, heterosexual romantic relationships to participate in two experiments. In each study, we experimentally triggered participants' feelings of having relatively more or less money and then examined their thoughts and behaviors related to mating. Results of Study 1 showed that men who were primed to feel that they had relatively more money were less satisfied with their partners' physical attractiveness than those primed to feel that they had less money, suggesting that the subjective feeling of having more or less money may affect men's preferences regarding the physical appearance of a mate in a long-term relationship. Interestingly, this difference was not significant for women. Results of Study 2 indicated that both men and women who were primed to feel that they had relatively more money exhibited a greater "behavioral approach tendency" toward an attractive member of the opposite sex than those primed to feel that they had less money. This finding suggests that people who feel they have relatively more money may have more interest in an attractive alternative than those who feel they have relatively less money. The differences in mating strategies between and within the genders brought about by money support the evolutionary hypothesis that individuals adopt conditional mating strategies in response to environmental conditions. Additionally, the results of experimental studies provide evidence for the causal effects of money on mating strategies. These findings have both conceptual and practical implications for the psychology of evolution and romantic relationships.

Comparing Effects of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Social Values Between Younger and Older Employees.

Socioemotional selectivity theory proposes that older adults emphasize emotional goals and interpersonal closeness to a greater extent than do younger adults, suggesting that holding social work-related values (SWVs) may be beneficial to older employees. This project aimed at examining two dimensions of SWVs, intrinsic and extrinsic SWVs, and tested whether age and work situation would moderate their effects on self-rated job performance. A cross-sectional survey (Study 1, N = 357) and a 14-day experience sampling study (Study 2, N = 77) were conducted among Chinese managerial employees. Study 1 showed that the direct effect of intrinsic SWVs on self-rated job performance was stronger in older employees than in younger employees. Study 2 demonstrated that older employees who valued intrinsic SWVs while being in social situations performed much better than when they did not value intrinsic SWVs but being in social situations; however such positive effect was not shown in younger employees. Findings of this project reveal that the effect of SWVs varies across locus of effect (intrinsic versus extrinsic), age, and work situation. Among older employees, the positive effect of intrinsic SWVs is more crucial than that of extrinsic SWVs on self-rated job performance. Findings of this project imply that intrinsically rewarding incentives would be more effective in motivating older employees to reach peak performance.

Positive effect of social work-related values on work outcomes: the moderating role of age and work situation.

OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the effect of social work-related values on job performance through job satisfaction and tested whether age and work situation would moderate such associations. METHODS: This study consists of two parts: Part 1 is a cross-sectional survey among 299 Chinese clerical employees aged 19-60 years and Part 2 is a 14-day experience sampling study in a subsample of Part 1 (N = 67). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Part 1 revealed that age moderated the effect of social work-related values on job performance through job satisfaction, with a stronger positive effect in older workers than in younger workers. Part 2 demonstrated that the moderating effect of age shown in Part 1 also varied across work situations. In particular, holding momentary social work-related values was beneficial to the task performance of older workers, and the effect was significantly stronger when they were in social situations than in nonsocial situations, whereas the effect remained weak among younger workers regardless of work context. Moreover, the moderating effect of age could be accounted for by future time perspective. This study supports socioemotional selectivity theory that goal orientation shifts toward the emphasis of interpersonal closeness when one perceives future time as increasingly limited.

Dependent effect sizes in meta-analysis: incorporating the degree of interdependence.

In the present article, a commonly used meta-analytic procedure for handling dependent effect sizes from a single sample was examined, and 2 revised procedures that estimate and incorporate the degree of interdependence were proposed. The authors' simulation results reveal that the commonly used procedure that averages the effect sizes from a single sample (denoted as the samplewise procedure) underestimates the degree of heterogeneity. The proposed variations are less biased than the samplewise procedure in estimating the degree of heterogeneity in most of the situations that we examined. Future directions to further improve the procedures for handling dependent effect sizes from a single sample are discussed.

Physical attractiveness, attitudes toward career, and mate preferences among young Chinese women.

We examined young Chinese women's mate preferences as a function of their self-perceived attractiveness and career attitudes. A total of 264 young Chinese women rated their own attractiveness, reported their attitudes toward career, and rated the importance of 20 mate characteristics. The characteristics encompassed four facets that individuals typically consider when seeking a long-term mate: good-genes indicators, good investment ability indicators, good parenting indicators, and good partner indicators. We found that both self-perceived attractiveness and attitudes toward career were positively associated with the importance attached to several of the characteristics. Moreover, women who had high career focus but low self-perceived attractiveness attached more value to intelligence, ambition, and industriousness than women who had low career focus but high self-perceived attractiveness; women with low career focus but high self-perceived attractiveness attached more value to physical attractiveness in a mate than women with high career focus but low self-perceived attractiveness. We discussed the limitations of our research and directions for future research.

Goal conflict and the moderating effects of intention stability in intention-behavior relations: physical activity among Hong Kong chinese.

This study examined how goal conflict influences the pattern of the moderating effects of intention stability on the intention-behavior relations in the context of physical activity participation. A longitudinal study of 136 young adult students with three waves of data collection (a 2-week interval between waves) was conducted. Results showed a significant three-way interaction among intention, goal conflict,& intention stability in explaining vigorous-intensity physical activity (Beta = -.25, p < .05). Consistent with our expectation, the pattern of the three-way interaction revealed that when the level of goal conflict was low, the intention-behavior relations were stronger with stable intentions and weaker with unstable intentions. However, when the level of goal conflict was high, the intention-behavior relations were weaker with stable intentions and stronger with unstable intentions. Possible underlying processes of goal conflict and intention stability on the intention-behavior relations are discussed.

The use of cyberpornography by young men in Hong Kong: some psychosocial correlates.

This study examined the prevalence of online pornography viewing and its psychosocial correlates among a sample of young Chinese men in Hong Kong. A total of 229 participants completed a questionnaire designed to measure their online pornography viewing, peer and parental influences, openness to experience, and various types of sex-related attitudes. Results showed that online pornography viewing was common and was strongly associated with peer influence and susceptibility to peer pressure. Moreover, participants who reported to have more online pornography viewing were found to score higher on measures of premarital sexual permissiveness and proclivities toward sexual harassment. Conceptual and applied implications of these findings are discussed.