Showing papers by "Junqi Shi published in 2011"

Daily customer mistreatment and employee sabotage against customers: Examining emotion and resource perspectives.

Abstract: Taking emotion and resource perspectives, we examined the daily relationship between customers' mistreatment of employees and employee sabotage of customers, as well as employees' individual- and u...

Economic Inequality Is Linked to Biased Self-Perception

Abstract: People's self-perception biases often lead them to see themselves as better than the average person (a phenomenon known as self-enhancement). This bias varies across cultures, and variations are typically explained using cultural variables, such as individualism versus collectivism. We propose that socioeconomic differences among societies--specifically, relative levels of economic inequality--play an important but unrecognized role in how people evaluate themselves. Evidence for self-enhancement was found in 15 diverse nations, but the magnitude of the bias varied. Greater self-enhancement was found in societies with more income inequality, and income inequality predicted cross-cultural differences in self-enhancement better than did individualism/collectivism. These results indicate that macrosocial differences in the distribution of economic goods are linked to microsocial processes of perceiving the self.

Internet self-efficacy, the need for cognition, and sensation seeking as predictors of problematic use of the internet.

Abstract: We conducted a study of the relationships between Internet self-efficacy, sensation seeking, the need for cognition, and problematic use of the Internet. The study was based on a randomly selected sample of 979 adult Internet users. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis of these subjects' responses on a questionnaire consisting of relevant items indicated that Internet self-efficacy and sensation seeking positively predicted problematic Internet use. Contrastingly, the need for cognition was significantly negatively associated with problematic Internet use.

Testing Differential Mediation Effects of Sub-dimensions of Political Skills in Linking Proactive Personality to Employee Performance

Abstract: The purpose of this research was to examine the mediating roles of political skill dimensions (i.e., networking ability, interpersonal influence, social astuteness, and apparent sincerity) in linking employees’ proactive personality and supervisor-rated in-role performance and altruism. Structural equation modeling was conducted to examine the mediation model based on data collected from employees working for a large insurance company in China (N = 198). Results suggested that networking ability, interpersonal influence, and social astuteness mediated the relationship between proactive personality and in-role performance. Networking ability and social astuteness mediated the relationship between proactive personality and altruism. Testing the mediation effects of all dimensions of political skills between proactive personality and in-role performance and altruism helps to advance our theoretical understanding of the mechanisms that underlie the beneficial effect of proactive personality on performance. Our findings may also help to inform the importance of developing employees’ political skill in order to enhance their job performance. This empirical study provides preliminary evidence of the mediating effects of the specific dimension of political skill in the positive relationship between proactive personality and in- and extra-role performance.

Globalization and Folk Theory of Social Change: How Globalization Relates to Societal Perceptions about the Past and Future

Abstract: Folk theory of social change (FTSC) is a generic knowledge structure that frames societal perceptions. According to FTSC, society develops from a traditional community where people are trustworthy though unsophisticated to a more sophisticated, but less warm-hearted modern society. People make future forecast about society within this generic structure while flexibly incorporating particular information about the past history and the present social trend. We report evidence for the proposition that globalization provides particular information that people incorporate in forming their future societal perceptions. We take an intranational perspective by examining people's beliefs about globalization (Study 1) and a cross-national perspective by comparing future societal perceptions in People's Republic of China, Japan, and Australia (Study 2). We suggest that future societal perceptions may play a constitutive role in the future of humanity, and FTSC and folk beliefs about globalization are a significant part of this process. © 2011 The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.

Differences between odd number and even number response formats: Evidence from mainland Chinese respondents

Abstract: Scholars have speculated that the Chinese may be more reluctant to express their opinions strongly and that this may be reinforced if the odd number response format with a mid-point option of “no opinion” or “neither agree nor disagree” is provided. This may undermine the quality of survey data because less variances or even inaccurate information will be collected. This study provides empirical evidence from 532 mainland Chinese employees in Beijing to test this speculation. These employees were randomly assigned to complete either an odd number or even number response format questionnaire. In contrast to the speculation, in a wide variety of measures that are relevant to the area of organizational behavior (OB) and human resource management (HRM), it appears that the odd number response format does not show systematic differences when compared with the even number response format. This result holds even for some sensitive measures of personal beliefs, evaluation of and judgments about employing organizations, supervisors, and colleagues. Given the increasing number of studies surveying Chinese and other Asian respondents, we call for further research on this issue.

Daily Customer Mistreatment and Employee Sabotage Against Customers: Examining Emotion and Resource Perspectives

Abstract: Taking emotion and resource perspectives, we examined the daily relationship between customers' mistreatment of employees and employee sabotage of customers, as well as employees' individual- and unit-level emotion-based and resource-based moderators for this relationship. Multilevel analyses of daily survey data from 131 call center employees showed that daily customer mistreatment significantly predicted customer-directed sabotage. In addition, supporting the emotion perspective, employees' negative affectivity exacerbated the effect of customer mistreatment on customer-directed sabotage, whereas employees' self-efficacy for emotional regulation weakened such effect. Further, supporting the resource perspective, job tenure and service rule commitment both weakened the effect of customer mistreatment.