Interpersonal helping in the workplace: social expectation predicts anticipated guilt and intention to help a coworker.

Promoting interpersonal helping among coworkers is an important aim for any organisation that cares about employee well-being. Drawing on guilt aversion hypothesis, this research focuses on the power of social expectations in promoting prosocial behaviour among employees and investigates the role of anticipated guilt for failing to meet coworkers' expectations. In two preregistered studies, the effect of beneficiary expectation on benefactors' anticipated guilt and intention to help was investigated. In Study 1, Japanese participants (n = 284) recalled a situation when they helped a coworker spontaneously, and evaluated perceived beneficiary expectation to receive help, as well as anticipated guilt for not helping. Beneficiary expectation positively predicted anticipated guilt, and the effect was stronger when the beneficiary was a same-status colleague, and when interpersonal helping frequency in the organisation was low. Study 2 (n = 499) employed vignettes and manipulated beneficiary expectation. A mediational model revealed that beneficiary expectation leads to more anticipated guilt for not helping, which, in turn, increases employees' intention to help. Together, these studies show that employees are sensitive to their coworkers' expectations, and guilt-averse; therefore, interpersonal helping among employees may be promoted by establishing legitimate expectations of prosociality in the workplace.

Interaction during online classes fosters engagement with learning and self-directed study both in the first and second years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Maintaining students' learning engagement was a challenge in emergency online education during the pandemic. In this study, we investigated the predictors (social interaction) and outcomes (self-directed study) of engagement in online learning during the first and second years of the COVID-19 pandemic. First-year Japanese university students (N = 1167) enrolled in online classes during 2020 and 2021 responded to a questionnaire measuring perceived opportunities for social interaction during online classes, engagement with online learning, and extracurricular self-directed study time. Multi-group path analysis revealed that social interaction during online classes exhibited a positive indirect effect on self-directed study time through emotional and behavioral engagement with online learning. The positive indirect effect was significant in both the first and second years of the pandemic. The results suggest that increasing the number of opportunities for social interaction during online classes may exhibit spillover effects on learning outside the online classroom.

Online education and the mental health of faculty during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.

While the negative impact of the pandemic on students' mental health has been studied around the world, very little is known about the mental health of faculty and staff. This research aims to examine mental health among Japanese faculty members who taught online courses during the COVID-19 pandemic. We recruited 537 university faculty members and assessed their mental health using the World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5), both retrospectively (during the academic year before the onset of the pandemic) and during the pandemic. We also evaluated workload (number of online lectures taught and preparation time per class), difficulty in using information technology (IT) for online classes, and satisfaction with the university support service for online education. As a result, the WHO-5 score during the COVID-19 pandemic was significantly lower than before, and 33.5% of the faculty members were recognized as being at risk for mental illness during the COVID-19 pandemic. A binomial logistic regression analysis revealed two significant risk factors for mental illness-faculty members were more at risk for mental illness when they experienced difficulty in using IT for online classes, and were unsatisfied with the administrative support for online education. The deterioration of mental health during the COVID-19 was not predicted by workload, such as the number of online lectures and preparation time. These results suggest the importance of improving workplace support services, especially IT support, to prevent mental health deterioration among faculty teaching online.

Effect of obligation to help on positive affect: Comparing Japan, Romania, and the United States.

Culture shapes the experience of obligation. Comparing participants from three countries with different cultural backgrounds, this study investigated the effect of obligation to help on positive affect and satisfaction of basic psychological needs. Adult participants from Japan, Romania, and the United States recalled either a situation in which they helped spontaneously, without being directly requested to do so (agentic help), or a situation in which they felt obligated to respond to a direct request for help (obligated help). The results revealed that obligation reduced benefactors' positive affect, but less so in Japan. The effect of obligation on satisfaction of basic psychological needs did not differ by culture. The results suggest that obligation to help may have less detrimental effects on positive affect in countries such as Japan, where social expectations to help are more fully internalized.