Political affiliation as a moderator of the relationship between organizational climate and COVID-19 vaccine readiness.

RATIONALE: Organizations have a significant influence on their employees' behavior and attitudes across a wide range of areas. A framework to bundle these effects is organizational climate. Here, we argue that in a highly polarized society, such as the United States, many types of organizational climate revolve around issues that are divided along partisan lines (e.g., diversity, sustainability, COVID-19). However, research on organizational climate has largely overlooked the idea that employees perceive these issues through a partisan lens. OBJECTIVE: We aim to address this gap by arguing that political affiliation constitutes a boundary condition for those types of organizational climates addressing partisan cleavages. In particular, we focus on the interplay of organizational climate and the partisan gap in COVID-19. We predicted that the effect of organizational COVID-19 safety climate on employees' COVID-19 vaccine readiness is moderated by political affiliation. METHODS: We conducted a survey with 1158 U.S. citizens. To strengthen the generalizability of our findings, we took care to ensure that the gender and ethnicity distribution of our sample reflected the distribution of both variables in the U.S. RESULTS: As predicted, results showed that the effect of organizational COVID-19 safety climate on employees' COVID-19 vaccine readiness was moderated by political affiliation. Specifically, the relationship between organizational COVID-19 safety climate and COVID-19 vaccine readiness was more pronounced among Republicans than Democrats. CONCLUSION: We provide a new perspective on the interactive effects of organizational climate and political partisanship on attitudes to vaccines. Our research suggests that, when it comes to vaccine readiness, it is precisely those who are most vaccine-hesitant who are most affected by the organizations for whom they work.

Running toward my challenges: Day-level effects of physical activity before work on appraisal of the upcoming workday and employee well-being.

Previous research has typically conceptualized physical activity as a recovery activity after work that promotes well-being by allowing employees to detach from work and replenish their resources. Here, we aimed to go beyond this framework by proposing a new theoretical model of how physical activity in the morning before work affects employee well-being. Drawing upon the transactional theory of stress, we theorized that physical activity before work shapes employees' appraisal of their upcoming workday which, in turn, affects their well-being. In a preregistered study (N = 269), we utilized a within-person daily experience sampling approach to test our model. Results showed that two types of appraisals are particularly important for explaining the effects of physical activity before work on employee well-being: First, challenge appraisal mediated the effects of physical activity before work on work engagement. Second, we found an indirect effect via threat appraisal of physical activity before work on job-related anxiety. Exploratorily, we found that threat appraisal also mediated the effect of physical activity before work on emotional exhaustion. In conclusion, our results show that physical activity before work is beneficially related to several types of well-being outcomes by increasing challenge appraisal and decreasing threat appraisal. Furthermore, our study advances theoretical understanding on physical activity and work stress by shedding light on the mechanisms underlying the effect of physical activity on employee well-being and showing that physical activity before work benefits well-being by shaping how employees appraise their work situation on a day-to-day basis. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Reduced loneliness mediates the effects of multiple group identifications on well-being.

Membership of multiple groups and identification with those groups have been found to be positively related to individuals' health and well-being. The present research sought to replicate this finding in two large, representative samples. Moreover, we sought to extend previous work by shedding light on the mechanisms mediating the effects of multiple group membership on positive health outcomes. Specifically, we proposed that the links between multiple group membership and positive health outcomes are mediated by reduced feelings of loneliness. In Study 1, a two-wave survey of a German population, participants (N = 989) were asked about their identification with family, friends, neighbourhood, their country and humanity and 4 weeks later about feelings of loneliness, physical health and stress. As hypothesized, multiple identifications predicted lower stress. They were also associated with a marginal reduction in physical symptoms of poor health. Both relationships were mediated by the absence of loneliness. In Study 2, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of German participants (N = 1635), which also included a sixth target of identification (Europe). Results replicated findings from Study 1 and also found similar relations associated with smaller (family, friends and neighbourhood) versus larger (country, Europe and Humanity) foci of identification.

Organizations affect their employees' vaccine readiness: A self-perception theory perspective.

Over the past 3 years, employees have constantly witnessed how their organizations have responded to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we hypothesize that employees' perceptions of the COVID-19 safety climate of their organization positively affect their vaccine readiness. To examine the underlying mechanisms of this effect, we use a self-perception theory lens. Thus, we hypothesize that an organization's COVID-19 safety climate affects employees' COVID-19 vaccine readiness through employees' adherence to COVID-19 guidelines. We conducted a time-lagged study over the time span of 1 year (N = 351) to test our hypotheses. In general, results support our hypotheses. In particular, results showed that perceived COVID-19 safety climate assessed at an early stage of the pandemic (April 2020, when no vaccines were available) predicted employees' COVID-19 vaccine readiness more than a year later. In line with self-perception theory, this effect was mediated by employees' adherence to COVID-19 guidelines. The present study provides theoretical insight into the underlying mechanisms of organizational climate on employees' attitudes. From a practical perspective, our results suggest that organizations are a powerful lever for promoting vaccine readiness.

An examination and extension of the Peltzman effect during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Since the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Germany, the German government has introduced various measures to counteract the pandemic. The implementation of safety measures can have counterproductive effects: people engage in risk compensatory behavior (fewer safety behaviors) after regulations are introduced and obligated by the government, which is known as the Peltzman effect (Peltzman, 1975). Based on the Peltzman effect, the researchers of this study hypothesized that people complied less with safety behaviors and took more health risks (e.g. keep less distance) after the implementation of more stringent COVID-19-related regulations (quarantine obligation and face mask duty) between the two measurement periods of this study. They also extended the Peltzman model by hypothesizing moderating roles of age, gender, and perceived COVID-19 threat. Results of the longitudinal survey study (N = 989, T1: 26 March - 31 March 2020 and T2: 27 April - 4 May 2020) confirm that people indeed complied less with safety recommendations over time associated with strengthened COVID-19-related regulations. Perceived COVID-19 threat to those in a person's surroundings (e.g. family, neighbors) had a positive impact on compliance, but age and gender had no effect. This extends the literature on the Peltzman effect by adding perceived COVID-19 threat as a new relevant construct, enabling the development of more effective safety preventions in the future.

Relationships between proactive personality, work locus of control, and vocational satisfaction: the role of level of education.

In this study, we examine the relationships between proactive personality, work locus of control, and vocational satisfaction. Moreover, we argue that these relationships vary depending on employees' levels of education (i.e., employees with academic degrees versus without academic degrees). Drawing on Trait Activation Theory, we expected more pronounced relationships of proactive personality and work locus of control with vocational satisfaction for employees with academic degrees. We collected data of N = 2068 employees with a broad range of occupational backgrounds to test our assumptions. A partial disaggregation model revealed that both proactive personality and work locus of control were positively related to vocational satisfaction and that these relationships differed depending on the level of education. Regarding the relationship between proactive personality and vocational satisfaction, we only found evidence among employees with academic degrees. Although work locus of control and vocational satisfaction were significantly related among both groups of employees, the relationship was even more pronounced among employees without academic degrees. Consequently, our results underline the importance of taking inter-individual differences, such as the level of education, into consideration when looking at the effects of proactive personality and work locus of control on work-related well-being.

Team identification relates to lower burnout-Emotional and instrumental support as two different social cure mechanisms.

Team identification is associated with less exhaustion and disengagement through more social support and higher collective self-efficacy. However, previous studies did not distinguish between emotional and instrumental support, even though both forms of support may relate differently to collective self-efficacy. By distinguishing between both support forms, we expected an indirect effect-the 'supportive structure' mechanism-of team identification on burnout mediated via emotional support. For a second mechanism-the 'supportive action' mechanism-we expected an indirect effect serially mediated by instrumental support and collective self-efficacy. We tested our hypotheses among NT1  = 567 employees in a four-wave study with 3-month time lags between measurement points. Partially in line with our expectations, emotional support (T2) mediated the relation between team identification (T1) and disengagement (T4), but not emotional exhaustion (T4). Moreover, as expected, the results showed an indirect association between team identification (T1) and emotional exhaustion and disengagement (T4) via instrumental support (T2) and collective self-efficacy (T3). Accordingly, employees benefit from both support forms but through different mechanisms. We discuss our findings and implications for future research.

How national leaders keep 'us' safe: A longitudinal, four-nation study exploring the role of identity leadership as a predictor of adherence to COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether citizens' adherence to health-protective non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) during the COVID-19 pandemic is predicted by identity leadership, wherein leaders are perceived to create a sense of shared national identity. DESIGN: Observational two-wave study. Hypotheses testing was conducted with structural equation modelling. SETTING: Data collection during the COVID-19 pandemic in China, Germany, Israel and the USA in April/May 2020 and four weeks later. PARTICIPANTS: Adults in China (n=548, 66.6% women), Germany (n=182, 78% women), Israel (n=198, 51.0% women) and the USA (n=108, 58.3% women). MEASURES: Identity leadership (assessed by the four-item Identity Leadership Inventory Short-Form) at Time 1, perceived shared national identification (PSNI; assessed with four items) and adherence to health-protective NPIs (assessed with 10 items that describe different health-protective interventions; for example, wearing face masks) at Time 2. RESULTS: Identity leadership was positively associated with PSNI (95% CI 0.11 to 0.30, p<0.001) in all countries. This, in turn, was related to more adherence to health-protective NPIs in all countries (95% CI 0.03 to 0.36, 0.001≤p≤0.017) except Israel (95% CI -0.03 to 0.27, p=0.119). In Germany, the more people saw Chancellor Merkel as engaging in identity leadership, the more they adhered to health-protective NPIs (95% CI 0.04 to 0.18, p=0.002). In the USA, in contrast, the more people perceived President Trump as engaging in identity leadership, the less they adhered to health-protective NPIs (95% CI -0.17 to -0.04, p=0.002). CONCLUSIONS: National leaders can make a difference by promoting a sense of shared identity among their citizens because people are more inclined to follow health-protective NPIs to the extent that they feel part of a united 'us'. However, the content of identity leadership (perceptions of what it means to be a nation's citizen) is essential, because this can also encourage people to disregard such recommendations.

Perceptions of the Targets and Sources of COVID-19 Threat are Structured by Group Memberships and Responses are Influenced by Identification with Humankind.

The purpose of this study was to investigate which social groups are perceived as a threat target and which are perceived as a threat source during the COVID-19 outbreak. In a German sample (N = 1454) we examined perceptions of social groups ranging from those that are psychologically close and smaller (family, friends, neighbors) to those that are more distal and larger (people living in Germany, humankind). We hypothesized that psychologically closer groups would be perceived as less affected by COVID-19 as well as less threatening than more psychologically distal groups. Based on social identity theorizing, we also hypothesized that stronger identification with humankind would change these patterns. Furthermore, we explored how these threat perceptions relate to adherence to COVID-19 health guidelines. In line with our hypotheses, latent random-slope modelling revealed that psychologically distal and larger groups were perceived as more affected by COVID-19 and as more threatening than psychologically closer and smaller groups. Including identification with humankind as a predictor into the threat target model resulted in a steeper increase in threat target perception patterns, whereas identification with humankind did not predict differences in threat source perceptions. Additionally, an increase in threat source perceptions across social groups was associated with more adherence to health guidelines, whereas an increase in threat target perceptions was not. We fully replicated these findings in a subgroup from the original sample (N = 989) four weeks later. We argue that societal recovery from this and other crises will be supported by an inclusive approach informed by a sense of our common identity as human beings.

Why stress and hunger both increase and decrease prosocial behaviour.

Humans are regularly in suboptimal psychophysiological states like stressed or hungry. Previous research has made both claims that such impairments should decrease and that they should increase prosocial behaviour. We describe the overarching theoretical reasoning underlying these opposing predictions. Then we discuss empirical research on the two impairments most frequently studied, acute stress and acute hunger, and we find that neither alters prosocial behaviour clearly in one direction. We argue that this is because even under impairments, humans react flexibly to the incentive structure of the specific social situation they are in. Hence, either prosocial or egoistic tendencies get expressed, depending on which strategy can lead to fulfilment of the need the impairment triggered.

A trouble shared is a trouble halved: The role of family identification and identification with humankind in well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered health-related anxiety in ways that undermine peoples' mental and physical health. Contextual factors such as living in a high-risk area might further increase the risk of health deterioration. Based on the Social Identity Approach, we argue that social identities can not only be local that are characterized by social interactions, but also be global that are characterized by a symbolic sense of togetherness and that both of these can be a basis for health. In line with these ideas, we tested how identification with one's family and with humankind relates to stress and physical symptoms while experiencing health-related anxiety and being exposed to contextual risk factors. We tested our assumptions in a representative sample (N = 974) two-wave survey study with a 4-week time lag. The results show that anxiety at Time 1 was positively related to stress and physical symptoms at Time 2. Feeling exposed to risk factors related to lower physical health, but was unrelated to stress. Family identification and identification with humankind were both negatively associated with subsequent stress and family identification was negatively associated with subsequent physical symptoms. These findings suggest that for social identities to be beneficial for mental health, they can be embodied as well as symbolic.

The role of leisure crafting for emotional exhaustion in telework during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: After the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, many employees transitioned from in-office work to telework to slow down the spread of the virus. Building on the Job Demands-Resources model, we examined day-level relationships between job demands, home demands and emotional exhaustion during telework. Moreover, we tested if leisure crafting (i.e., the proactive pursuit and enactment of leisure activities targeted at goal setting, socializing, growth and development) is negatively related to emotional exhaustion. We expected that proactive personality would be positively related to leisure crafting. Finally, emotional exhaustion was predicted to relate negatively to job performance. METHODS: We tested our assumptions using a daily diary study on seven consecutive days with 178 employees (964 observations in total). RESULTS: Multilevel path analysis supports the assumptions that daily job demands as well as daily home demands during telework are positively related to emotional exhaustion. As predicted, we found leisure crafting to be negatively related to emotional exhaustion, and proactive personality to be positively related to leisure crafting. Finally, emotional exhaustion was negatively related to job performance. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, our study supports a health-promoting role of leisure crafting above the unfavorable relationships between job demands and home demands with emotional exhaustion.

Experimental evidence for the effects of job demands and job control on physical activity after work.

Building on self-regulation research and self-determination theory, the present research investigates the causal effects of job demands and job control on physical activity after work. In 2 experiments (total N = 251), participants completed a work simulation that was followed by a physical activity task (cycling on a bicycle ergometer). We simulated a call center, consisting of customer interactions and calculation tasks. In both experiments, job demands (high vs. low) were manipulated between-subjects in terms of customer unfriendliness and task difficulty. In Experiment 2, we also manipulated job control (high vs. low) in terms of decision latitude. As predicted, both experiments showed negative effects of job demands on physical activity, reflecting that time on the bicycle ergometer was lower for individuals in the high demands condition compared to the low demands condition. However, this effect was not mediated by self-regulatory capacities. Regarding job control, we found preliminary evidence for the expected indirect effect on physical activity through increased self-determination. In summary, our results provide causal evidence for the influence of job characteristics on physical activity and, thereby, advance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the spill-over of work into leisure time. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The social curse: Evidence for a moderating effect of shared social identity on contagious stress reactions.

Contagious stress describes the transmission of a stress response from a distressed individual (target) to an uninvolved observer. Building on social identity theory, we hypothesize that a shared social identity between the observer and the target as compared to a personal identity increases the likelihood of contagious endocrine and psychological stress responses. Participants underwent the experiment in groups of four or five individuals. After experimentally inducing either a shared social identity or a personal identity, one participant in each group (Ntarget = 27) was randomly chosen to undergo the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), while being observed by the rest of the group (Nobserver = 89). Salivary cortisol and psychological stress responses were assessed repeatedly during the experiment. As predicted, the likelihood of cortisol stress reactions was significantly higher in the social identity condition (25 %) as compared to the personal identity condition (7 %). No effect of our manipulation on psychological stress responses was found. We also tested whether observers' trait empathy moderates contagious stress and found no support for this moderation.

Age differences in negotiations: Older adults achieve poorer joint outcomes in integrative negotiations.

In integrative as opposed to distributive negotiations, the interests of the negotiation partners can be simultaneously realized to some degree, which results in higher individual as well as joint outcomes. Perspective taking is important to detect and tap into this integrative potential. In negotiations, priority-related information exchange can be seen as a behavioral consequence of perspective taking. Based on findings on the development of perspective taking across the life span, we tested the hypothesis that there are age differences in integrative negotiations. In 2 quasi-experimental studies (Study 1 and 2), participants worked in face-to-face interacting dyads on an apartment rental negotiation. In Study 3, participants read a negotiation transcript that contained all priority-related information. Our results consistently revealed that younger dyads (17-35 years) achieved significantly higher joint outcomes than older dyads (65-85 years; in Study 1 and 2) or age-heterogeneous dyads (in Study 1) and that younger participants proposed more integrative agreements (in Study 3). Differences between younger and older dyads were mediated via information exchange about the negotiation partners' different priorities (Study 2) and via the extraction of relevant information about underlying different priorities (Study 3). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Acute hunger does not always undermine prosociality.

It has been argued that, when they are acutely hungry, people act in self-protective ways by keeping resources to themselves rather than sharing them. In four studies, using experimental, quasi-experimental, and correlational designs (total N = 795), we examine the effects of acute hunger on prosociality in a wide variety of non-interdependent tasks (e.g. dictator game) and interdependent tasks (e.g. public goods games). While our procedures successfully increase subjective hunger and decrease blood glucose, we do not find significant effects of hunger on prosociality. This is true for both decisions incentivized with money and with food. Meta-analysis across all tasks reveals a very small effect of hunger on prosociality in non-interdependent tasks (d = 0.108), and a non-significant effect in interdependent tasks (d = -0.076). In study five (N = 197), we show that, in stark contrast to our empirical findings, people hold strong lay theories that hunger undermines prosociality.

Social identification and contagious stress reactions.

Contagious stress describes the transmission of stress from a stressed person to an observer, which we examined at the neuroendocrine and the affective level. We tested whether a shared social identity moderates contagious stress. Ninety-four participants participated in groups of four. After inducing either a shared social or a personal identity, participants observed a confederate undergoing the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), a standardized social-evaluative stressor. Salivary cortisol and affective stress were assessed multiple times before and after the observation of the TSST. We found a physiologically significant contagious stress reaction on a neuroendocrine level for 17% of all participants. Additionally, we found an increase in observers' self-reported stress. Contrary to our expectations, the manipulation of social identity had no effect on contagious stress. Our variation of the TSST is a viable methodological strategy to increase standardization as well as experimental economy in studies examining contagious stress.

Exploring the mechanisms underlying the social identity-ill-health link: Longitudinal and experimental evidence.

There is strong and consistent evidence that identification with social groups is an important predictor of (ill-)health-related outcomes. However, the mediating mechanisms of the social identification-health link remain unclear. We present results from two studies, which aimed to test how perceived social support and collective self-efficacy mediate the effect of social identification on emotional exhaustion, chronic stress, and depressive symptoms. Study 1 (N = 180) employed a longitudinal two-wave design, whereas Study 2 (N = 100) used a field-experimental design with a manipulation of participants' social identity. Both studies consistently show that social identification was positively related to perceived social support, which, in turn, was positively associated with collective self-efficacy. Collective self-efficacy, finally, was negatively related to ill-health outcomes.

The Cognitive Underpinnings of Option Generation in Everyday Life Decision-Making: A Latent Variable Analysis.

The ability to generate options for action is crucial for everyday life decision-making. In this article, we propose and test a model of the cognitive underpinnings of option generation in everyday life situations. We carried out a laboratory study using measures of a wide range of cognitive functions and asked participants (N = 157) to generate options for actions for different everyday life decision-making scenarios. The results of a latent variable analysis show that the cognitive underpinnings of option generation are consistent across different everyday life situations and, hence, option generation can be conceptualized as a general construct. Moreover, the results of a confirmatory factor analysis reveal that, when controlling for the shared variance among the cognitive processes assessed, verbal fluency, working memory capacity, ideation fluency, and processing speed predicted option generation. These findings suggest that option generation in everyday life situations can be distinguished from other cognitive constructs, such as divergent thinking (in terms of ideas' originality) and long-term memory.

Sleep Deprivation Impairs and Caffeine Enhances My Performance, but Not Always Our Performance.

What effects do factors that impair or enhance performance in individuals have when these individuals act in groups? We provide a framework, called the GIE ("Effects of Grouping on Impairments and Enhancements") framework, for investigating this question. As prominent examples for individual-level impairments and enhancements, we discuss sleep deprivation and caffeine. Based on previous research, we derive hypotheses on how they influence performance in groups, specifically process gains and losses in motivation, individual capability, and coordination. We conclude that the effect an impairment or enhancement has on individual-level performance is not necessarily mirrored in group performance: grouping can help or hurt. We provide recommendations on how to estimate empirically the effects individual-level performance impairments and enhancements have in groups. By comparing sleep deprivation to stress and caffeine to pharmacological cognitive enhancement, we illustrate that we cannot readily generalize from group results on one impairment or enhancement to another, even if they have similar effects on individual-level performance.