Academic Motivation of Students Experiencing Person-Environment Misfit in Social Work Educational Settings: The Role of Social Dominance Orientation.

Interweaving social dominance, person-environment fit, and self-determination theories, the present study sought to understand whether the attrition between students' levels of social dominance orientation and the hierarchy-attenuating function of the social work faculty in which they study may influence students' academic motivational pathways. A total of 221 undergraduate social work students participated in the study and completed a self-report questionnaire. Participants' social dominance orientation, person-environment misfit, and academic intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were measured. Results indicated that students' social dominance orientation was associated with an external rather than an internal regulation of their academic motivation, mediated by their perceived person-environment misfit. For those students who personally support group-based inequalities, exposure to hierarchy-attenuating contexts would lead to regulating their academic behavior toward the pursuit of extrinsic (vs. intrinsic) goals, that is, studying to gain financial benefits and social prestige, in accordance with the pursuit of their beliefs of social dominance.

Intergroup Contact Is Associated with Less Negative Attitude toward Women Managers: The Bolstering Effect of Social Dominance Orientation.

This cross-sectional study examined the intergroup contact hypothesis in the workplace by enrolling 150 Italian employees. Within the framework of social dominance theory, the purpose of this study was to test the assumption that individuals with higher levels of social dominance orientation are more likely to exhibit prejudice against women in managerial positions and benefit more from intergroup contact with a female supervisor. In particular, we found that individuals with higher levels of social dominance orientation exhibited more negative attitudes towards women in manager positions, but this effect only appeared when their superiors were women, as opposed to men. In addition, participants with higher social dominance orientation experienced more positive outcomes from intergroup contact, resulting in less negative attitudes toward women managers, than those with lower social dominance orientation. Overall, these findings yield insights into how intergroup contact affects individuals with prejudice tendencies, indicating that contact with the targeted group (i.e., women in managerial positions) is negatively associated with negative attitudes towards the group, even when the prejudice is driven by social dominance orientation. These results could shed light on new routes to design practical intervention aimed at solving prejudice towards women in leadership roles.

The Pathway between Social Dominance Orientation and Drop out from Hierarchy-Attenuating Contexts: The Role of Moral Foundations and Person-Environment Misfit.

The present study examines the role of individuals' preference for unequal intergroup relations in exacerbating a process of differential attrition from organizations that value intergroup equality (i.e., hierarchy-attenuating contexts). We proposed that people functioning within a well-recognized hierarchy-attenuating context (i.e., students of social work) who were higher on social dominance orientation (SDO) would be more likely to leave their institution through two pathways; first, people higher on SDO would have fewer moral concerns of social fairness and human harm-avoidance (i.e., individualizing); in turn, a lack of individualizing morality would stimulate a perceived person-environment misfit, ultimately increasing their intention to leave. We conducted a single cross-sectional design study involving a convenience sample of 245 undergraduate social work students. Overall, the results of the serial mediation model suggest that people higher on SDO intend to leave their organization that supports inclusive equality via reduced individualizing morality and high perceived P-E misfit. These findings contribute to understanding the role of socio-political orientations and moral beliefs in hindering proper adaptation to contexts that value egalitarian social norms, with relevant implications for individuals and groups.

A Dual Path Model of Work-Related Well-Being in Healthcare and Social Work Settings: The Interweaving Between Trait Emotional Intelligence, End-User Job Demands, Coworkers Related Job Resources, Burnout, and Work Engagement.

Framing the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, the present study deepened how trait emotional intelligence (TEI, i.e., perception about one's own emotional realm) contributes to the work-related well-being of healthcare professionals. A total of 302 healthcare professionals were involved in the study and completed an anonymous self-report questionnaire. The results of the structural equation modeling revealed that TEI was directly and indirectly-mediated by end-user job demands-negatively associated with burnout, and directly and indirectly-mediated by coworkers related job resources- associated with work engagement. According to the health impairment and motivational processes of JD-R, the present study highlights that TEI could targets burnout and work engagement through different paths. The first path revealed that TEI would reduce burnout protecting by the insurgence harmful relationships with service end-users and the second showed that TEI would support work engagement sustaining the development of positive relationship with coworkers.