Relative deprivation, perceived status conflict and innovative behavior of outsourced employees: multiple moderating effects of dual organizational support

PurposeHow to manage outsourced employees in interorganizational teams with triangular relationships has not yet attracted enough attention. Based on relative deprivation theory, this study explores how relative deprivation affects outsourced employees' innovative behavior and investigates the complex moderating effects of dual organizational support.Design/methodology/approachThe authors tested their hypothesis by conducting a two-wave survey;responses to a questionnaire were collected from 283 outsourced employees and their managers among 52 client organizations.FindingsResults found that relative deprivation negatively influences the outsourced employees' innovative behavior by eliciting their perceptions of status conflict. Support from client (supplier) organization attenuates (aggravates) the positive impact of relative deprivation on innovative behavior throughout status conflict. The moderating effect of client organizational support was moderated by support from supplier organization.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors selected the outsourced employees in a Chinese context to conduct this study, and the results need to be generalized in future research.Practical implicationsClient organizational support can alleviate the negative effect of relative deprivation on outsourced employees, whereas supplier organization support aggravates the negative effect;managers should pay attention to the different effects of the two organizations' support and provide reasonable support for outsourced employees.Originality/valueThis study identified the mechanism of relative deprivation's effect on outsourced employees' innovative behavior from the perspective of interpersonal interaction and compared the effect of support from dual organizations. This study expands the research on triangular relationships, relative deprivation, status conflict and other field.

Negative Sentiment Modeling and Public Legal Liability from Urban Green Space: A Framework for Policy Action in China

This paper intends to optimize the urban green space (UGS) management and implementation strategies by analyzing climate change models and reviewing economic, energy, and public health policies. This paper studies the public perception of climate change-induced public health emergency (PHE) in China by surveying online public comments. Specifically, it looks into public health perception, anxiety perception, relative deprivation, and emotional polarity from public online comments. The following conclusions are drawn through the empirical test of 179 questionnaires. The findings revealed that health risk perception has a positive predictive effect on relative deprivation and anxiety perception. The higher the health risk perception, the stronger the relative deprivation and anxiety are. Anxiety perception and relative deprivation have mediating effects in the model. In addition, the main research method adopts a questionnaire survey. The mediating effect between each variable is further studied. This paper analyzes the citizens' right to health and public health protection under climate change, and explains public risk perception and anxiety perception. Meanwhile, the evaluation cases are used to analyze the public health and UGS construction strategies to suggest climate compensation laws and improve the urban greening rate. This finding has practical reference value for promoting the deep integration of UGS and public health. It can promote the development and planning of UGS under climate change and biodiversity loss and has significant reference value for improving negative emotions and the public legal liability system.

Relative financial deprivation, financial anxiety and financial satisfaction: the role of access to Islamic financing among MSME owners amidst COVID-19

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to augment the present literature on the relationship between relative financial deprivation (RFD), financial anxiety (FA), access to Islamic financing (AIF) and financial satisfaction (FS) of micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) owners. Principally, the study examines the moderating role of AIF on the RFD–FS and FA–FS relationships.Design/methodology/approachQuantitative survey approach was used to collect data through self-administered questionnaires from MSME owners. Partial least square (PLS) structural equation modelling (SEM) version 3.2.7 was used to analyse 208 retrieved questionnaires.FindingsThe results confirm that the RFD–FS relationship is negatively significant, but the FA–FS relationship is not significant. However, the direct relationship between AIF and FS is positively significant. Conversely, AIF failed to moderate the RFD–FS and FA–FS relationships.Practical implicationsThe study specifies that the existence of RFD will decrease the FS of MSME owners, and therefore, RFD should be eliminated at all costs. However, the greater the AIF, the stronger will be the FS of MSME owners. Thus, policymakers and owners of MSMEs should emphasize on AIF to foster FS. Nevertheless, AIF could not redirect the negative impact of RFD and FA on MSME owners' FS.Originality/valueThis study, to the best of the authors' knowledge, is the first to examine the moderating role of AIF on the RFD–FS and FA–FS relationships among MSME owners. Notwithstanding the importance of small business owners for economic development, the literature on MSME entrepreneurs FS has been neglected. This study also uncovers new theoretical knowledge by revealing the inability of AIF to alter the RFD–FS and FA–FS relationships.

Status-Based Asymmetries in Relative Deprivation During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified existing inequalities by disproportionately affecting marginalized groups, which should differentially affect perceptions of, and responses to, inequality. Accordingly, the present study examines the effects of the pandemic on feelings of individual- and group-based relative deprivation (IRD and GRD, respectively), as well as whether these effects differ by ethnicity. By comparing matched samples of participants assessed before and during the first 6 months of the pandemic (Ntotal = 21,131), our results demonstrate the unique impacts of the pandemic on IRD and GRD among ethnic minorities and majorities. Moreover, our results reveal the status-based indirect effects of the pandemic on support for both collective action and income redistribution via IRD and GRD. As the pandemic rages on, these results foreshadow long-term, status-specific consequences for political mobilization and support for social change. © The Author(s) 2023.

Activism in the time of COVID-19

In many countries, COVID-19 has amplified the health, economic and social inequities that motivate group-based collective action. We draw upon the SIRDE/IDEAS model of social change to explore how the pandemic might have affected complex reactions to social injustices. We argue that the virus elicits widespread negative emotions which are spread contagiously through social media due to increased social isolation caused by shelter-in-place directives. When an incident occurs which highlights systemic injustices, the prevailing negative emotional climate intensifies anger at these injustices as well as other emotions, which motivates participation in protest actions despite the obvious risk. We discuss how the pandemic might shape both normative and non-normative protests, including radical violent and destructive collective actions. We also discuss how separatism is being encouraged in some countries due to a lack of effective national leadership and speculate that this is partially the result of different patterns of social identification. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Relative deprivation, inequality and the Covid-19 pandemic.

There is a growing concern that inequalities are hindering health outcomes. This paper's primary objective is to investigate the role of relative deprivation and inequality in explaining the daily spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. For this purpose, we use secondary cross-sectional data across 119 (developed and developing) countries from January 2020 - to April 2021. For the empirical analysis, we use a recent dynamic panel data modelling approach that allows us to identify the role of time-invariant variables such as degree of globalisation, political freedom and income inequality on the dynamics of the pandemic and fatality rates across countries. We find that new cases per million and fatality rates are highly persistent processes. After controlling for time-varying mobility statistics from the Google mobility database and region-specific dummy variables, the two significant factors that explain the severity of Covid-19 spread in a country are per-capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Yitzhaki's relative income deprivation index. Lagged value of new cases per million significantly explains cross-country variations in the daily case fatality rates. A higher proportion of the older population and pollution increased fatality rates while better medical infrastructure reduced it.

Effects of personal relative deprivation on the relationship between anger rumination and aggression during and after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown: A longitudinal moderated network approach.

INTRODUCTION: Several studies have demonstrated a directional link between rage rumination and aggression. However, recent research suggests that this relationship is bidirectional. The current study examined the complex relationships between anger rumination and aggression using a moderated network approach in a longitudinal design while considering personal relative deprivation. METHOD: A total of 665 participants (59.25% female, agemean±SD = 19.01 ± 1.25) were enrolled at two-time points. Assessments included self-report measures of the Anger Rumination Scale, Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire, and Relative Deprivation Scale. A Moderated Network Model (MMN) was used to test the complex links among anger rumination, aggression, and personal relative deprivation. RESULTS: The analysis revealed that the link between anger rumination and aggression was complex and bidirectional. Notably, as the level of personal relative deprivation increased, verbal aggression had a positive conditional effect on anger afterthoughts in Wave 2, and thoughts of revenge had a positive conditional effect on verbal aggression in Wave 2. Moreover, as the first discovery, anger afterthoughts and anger had a negative conditional effect on each other across levels of personal relative deprivation in Wave 2. In addition, network comparison indicates that the MNMs structure was significantly different across timepoints, implying that anger rumination and aggression were inextricably linked in college students during isolation and that this complicated relationship was weakened after isolation. CONCLUSIONS: This study deepens our understanding of the bidirectional relationships between anger rumination and aggression and recognizes the moderating role of personal relative deprivation.

When good news backfires: Feelings of disadvantage in the Corona crisis: IPSR

The Corona crisis is an unprecedented challenge for societies. Lockdowns and physical distancing orders have generated economic, social and health-related consequences in many countries. In this regard, we evaluate how information about positive economic expectations during the crisis affects citizens’ attitudes. Using a real-world survey experiment, our analyses indicate that information about a positive economic outlook and governmental support to mitigate the crisis actually promote people’s subjective feelings of disadvantage rather than reducing them. Interestingly, it seems that information about economic recovery that opens up opportunities may backfire due to increased upward comparisons and perceived competition. Structural equation analyses suggest that this relationship is mediated by critical views about democratic institutions during the crisis. Citizens lose confidence in their governments and democratic decision-makers to uphold principles of fairness after the crisis ends. Our results have important implications on how to communicate measures that aim to deal with the crisis.

How could hospitality employees survive? The individual costs, career decisions and autonomy support of furlough strategies in a crisis

The hospitality industries are fragile and have very little business in a public crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic. Under a difficult time, the hospitality organizations still need to keep talent employees who are critical when the business is recovered. Furlough that employers keep talent employees without variable cost, becomes a common choice among hotels. However, the potential impacts of such furlough practices on employees have rarely been investigated. By analyzing the data set from 386 furloughed UK hotel employees, the present study illustrated that the perceived costs of furlough as well as the availability of alternative opportunities resulted in career changes, and that feelings of acknowledged as a dimension of autonomy support weakened the effects of social costs on career change decisions. The findings call for more balanced furlough strategies and extend knowledge about social justice at workplace.

Associations Between Relative Deprivation and Life Satisfaction During the COVID-19 Lockdown: Results of Serial Mediation Analyses.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, life satisfaction among college students has become a key issue at universities and in society. The current study explores the effects of belief in a just world and resilience on the relationship between relative deprivation and life satisfaction. A total of 787 college students from universities in China completed online questionnaires. Results showed that relative deprivation was negatively correlated with life satisfaction. Belief in a just world and resilience separately mediated the relationship between relative deprivation and life satisfaction. Moreover, a serial mediating effect of belief in a just world and resilience was observed between relative deprivation and life satisfaction. These findings suggest that relative deprivation may impair individuals' beliefs in a just world. Moreover, less belief in a just world may lower resilience and consequently decrease life satisfaction. This study enriches the research field of relative deprivation theory in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and provides a new interpretation and intervention perspective for improving college students' life satisfaction.

Social Discontent or Criminality? Navigating the Nexus Between Urban Riots and Criminal Activities in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal Provinces, South Africa (2021)

Post-apartheid South Africa is characterized by the proliferation of public protests, which occur in various contexts. These include urban riots that are typically carried out by individuals who live in residential areas who are relatively politically, socially, and economically marginalized. In this perspective, the study seeks to navigate the nexus between urban riots and criminal activities in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces of South Africa. This will be performed by looking at the recent urban violence that erupted in Johannesburg and Durban cities of South Africa following the arrest of the former president of South Africa Jacob Zuma on 7 July for contempt of court. As a result of the incarceration of Zuma, his supporters took to the streets to demand for his release, ending in protests which quickly evolved into widespread lootings, vandalism, and an outbreak of violence that denoted elements of criminality. The two provinces, Gauteng (the country's economic hub) and KwaZulu-Natal (on the east coast), bore the brunt of this violence. What began as a call for the release of Jacob Zuma transpired into something that was heavily coordinated, controlled and, to a larger extent, dangerous, and perhaps the worst post-apartheid urban riot. However, behind these riots, there are seeds of discontents that triggered these violent riots and these include: the frustrations of hungry and cold people whose prospects were already constrained by the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, rising inequality between rich and poor, unemployment, intra-party tensions, and ANC-factionalism, including stereotypical Zulu nationalism and racial tensions in South Africa. On the other hand, the riots that occurred in both KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng were accompanied by criminality such as looting, torching, and burning of private and public properties and, to a larger degree, murder of civilians. Findings are that the urban riots in both Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces have resulted in human (in)securities such as exacerbation of poverty, food and fuel shortages, effects on the health sector (amid the COVID-19 crisis), loss of lives, and increase in unemployment. Methodologically, the study relies on a mixed method of research and content analysis. Copyright © 2022 Mongale.

Common Sense as a Political Weapon: Populism, Science Skepticism, and Global Crisis-Solving Motivations

This research examines the relationship between populist thinking and global crisis-solving motivations concerning climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data from five European countries (Switzerland, France, Finland, Greece, and Italy), we test a model where crisis-related science skepticism-understood as the defense of commonsense knowledge against scientific expertise-mediates the association between populist thinking and crisis-mitigation attitudes. The results show considerable convergence across national contexts. Relative deprivation predicts endorsement of two core components of populism's thin ideology, people sovereignty and antielitism. These subdimensions of populism are linked to science skepticism, although variably across contexts. Science skepticism then leads to a lower sense of personal responsibility for climate change mitigation and to negative attitudes towards a governmental measure to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings further show that under specific conditions, the populist request for greater democratic participation may mobilize individuals to get involved in crisis mitigation. Overall, our results highlight the role of politicized common sense in motivating and justifying opposition to measures and policies based on scientific expertise. We conclude that science skepticism, rather than populism per se, explains cynical and dismissive attitudes towards global crises.

Perceived Overqualification and Innovative Behavior: High-Order Moderating Effects of Length of Service

Perceived overqualification has been a hot topic in the field of organizational behavior in recent years and has become very common with the spread of education. In addition, in the current era of open innovation, the demand for innovative behaviors by enterprises is increasing day by day. Therefore, this study intended to link the two to explore the relationship between them. Based on self-evaluation theory and face theory, taking enterprise employees as the research object, this paper discusses the impact of perceived overqualifications on employees’ innovative behavior and the internal mechanism and examines the first-order and high-order moderating effects of ability–face pressure and length of service in turn. The results showed that perceived overqualifications had a positive impact on employees’ innovation behavior, and felt trust had a mediating role in the relationship. Ability face pressure played a negative moderating role in the impact of felt trust on innovative behavior and played a negative moderating role in the impact of perceived overqualifications on innovative behavior. With the increase in the length of service, the negative moderating effect of ability face pressure on the relationship between perceived overqualifications and employees’ innovative behavior weakened. It is expected that these results will enable companies to understand the internal mechanisms of employee perceived overqualification, enlighten leaders to give more trust to employees, help companies to improve employees’ innovative behavior, and pay attention to the psychological factors of employees, which will help to create a sustainable work environment and promote sustainable business development.

Realization of a Sustainable High-Performance Organization through Procedural Justice: The Dual Mediating Role of Organizational Trust and Organizational Commitment

To achieve sustainable growth and ensure competitive advantage in response to rapidly changing industries, companies have recently focused on creating new values based on innovative organizational composition and various personnel management systems. Social exchange theory suggests that stronger social exchange relationships increase trust between people and their level of commitment. From this perspective, organizational justice has its own significance. This study empirically analyzed the dual mediation effect of organizational trust (OT) and organizational commitment (OC) to examine an influential relationship between procedural justice (PJ) and work engagement in an organization. The following analytic results were obtained. First, PJ had positive effects on OT, OC, and work engagement. Second, OT had significantly positive effects on OC, whereas it did not have significant effects on work engagement. Third, OC had significantly positive effects on work engagement. Fourth, OC had significant mediation effects with regard to the influence of PJ on work engagement. In addition, organization trust and OC had significant dual mediation effects. The results verified the importance of PJ in an organization. Furthermore, these results provided theoretical and practical implications that PJ can increase OT, OC, and ultimately organizational performance.