The role of belief in a just world for (dis)honest behavior

How digital inclusive finance promotes social entrepreneurship: Evidence from 282 cities in China

Social entrepreneurship (SE) plays a positive role in addressing a range of social issues, and thus it is essential to study how to promote SE. Using panel data from 282 Chinese cities from 2011 to 2021, this study explores the mechanism through which digital inclusive finance affects SE. The results indicate that digital inclusive finance has a positive impact on SE, which still holds after considering endogeneity and undergoing a series of robustness tests. In addition, mechanism analysis shows that digital inclusive finance affects SE by alleviating financing constraints and promoting common prosperity. Furthermore, the effect of digital inclusive finance is stronger in cities with a strong Buddhist culture and more judicially civilized. Policy recommendations are also proposed.

The Empowering Function of the Belief in a Just World for the Self: Trait-Level and Experimental Tests of Its Association With Positive and Negative Affect

Belief in a just world for the self (BJW-self) is a resource that promotes adaptive functioning. We theorize that BJW-self has such an effect because it is empowering. This article reports on four studies (N = 967) testing whether BJW-self encourages more positive and less negative affect indirectly through empowerment. There was support for this hypothesis at a trait level across all studies, and specifically in Study 1. Experimental evidence, however, was more complex. Study 2 demonstrated the causal effect of the mediator, empowerment, on affect. Study 3 demonstrated that affirming BJW-self enhanced empowerment with an associated increase in positive affect and reduced negative affect. Study 4 showed that enhancing empowerment did not significantly influence the effect of affirmed BJW-self on affect, but blocking empowerment did, although this finding is qualified by no significant effect on empowerment. We discuss the theoretical implications of these findings, and the challenges of experimentally manipulating BJW-self.

Positive psychology and attitudes to ageing in people aged 50 and over in the United Kingdom

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate whether attitudes to ageing were associated with attitudes to positive psychology constructs.Methods: A cross-sectional online survey of 572 UK adults aged 50+ (mean age 64.6 years, SD = 8.4, 73.8% female) assessed attitudes to ageing using the Attitudes to Ageing Questionnaire (AAQ) in relation to measures of positive psychology including (1) belief in a just world-Just World Scale (JWS-Self and JWS-Other), (2) sense of coherence-Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC) and (3) positive well-being-Control, Autonomy, Self-Realization, and Pleasure Scale (CASP-19). Other factors included difficulties with hearing and eyesight, relative and carer status and demographics.Results: People with hearing and eyesight difficulties had lower CASP-19 and SOC scores, and more negative attitudes to ageing compared to people without sensory problems. Hierarchical regression analyses showed all three positive psychology scales predicted more positive attitudes to ageing. Being a carer for a person with dementia was associated with more negative attitudes to ageing.Conclusion: Whereas health and sensory problems relate to more negative attitudes to ageing, this study highlights the importance of positive psychological factors which could inform approaches seeking to promote well-being and health in older people.

The relationship between just world belief and wellbeing, cheating behaviors, and academic work behaviors during COVID 19 among university students

Is the belief in a just world among students also stable under COVID-19? To answer this question, a study was conducted with university students from Germany (n = 291). The aim of the study was to analyze the predictive performance of the personal belief in a just world (PBJW) on students' life satisfaction and academic cheating and to take into account important mediators from the university context such as fellow student justice, lecturer justice, and procrastination. Derived from existing research, university students with a stronger PBJW should be more satisfied with their lives and cheat less than those with a weaker PBJW. The results support the hypothesized direct effects of PBJW on life satisfaction. Procrastination additionally mediated the effect of PBJW on life satisfaction. The level of PBJW predicted academic cheating only indirectly. The mediators procrastination and lecturer justice were crucial here. The results persisted when gender, learning, time to exam, socially desirable responding, general BJW, and self-efficacy were controlled. The findings were discussed in relation to the stressful situation caused by COVID-19. A reflection on the adaptive function of PBJW as a resource and relevant situation-specific mediators for university research and practice followed.

Personality and behavioral dishonesty

The past two decades have seen major developments in the study of behavioral (dis)honesty and its measurement as well as a surge of interest in the location of trait honesty within models of basic personality structure and the role of personality traits in behavioral dishonesty more generally. The present review provides an overview of the corresponding literature with a particular emphasis on recent developments and identifies the research questions for which we now have relatively reliable knowledge as well as those that will require future research.

The Role of Just World Beliefs in Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study investigated whether people's personal belief in a just world (BJW) is linked to their willingness to physically distance themselves from others during the COVID-19 pandemic. Past research found personal BJW to be positively related to prosocial behavior, justice striving, and lower risk perceptions. If social distancing reflects a concern for others, high personal BJW should predict increased interest in social distancing. If social distancing reflects a concern for one's personal risk, high personal BJW should predict decreased interest in social distancing. Results of a pre-registered internet-based study from Germany (N = 361) indicated that the higher people's personal BJW, the more they generally practiced social distancing. This association still occurred when controlling for empathy, another significant predictor of social distancing. There were no mediation effects of empathy and risk perception. The findings extend knowledge on the correlates of social distancing in the COVID-19 pandemic which could be used to increase compliance among citizens.

Personal Belief in a Just World and Conscientiousness: A meta-analysis, facet-level examination, and mediation model

Extensive research efforts have been devoted to understanding the nature of Conscientiousness, the only Big Five personality trait that has been robustly linked to professional achievement and longevity. We proposed that Conscientiousness is associated with Personal Belief in a Just World (PBJW), that is, the extent to which an individual believes that her or his efforts will be rewarded. To investigate this proposition, we undertook a meta-analysis synthesizing past findings regarding the relationship between PBJW and Conscientiousness; we confirmed a positive relationship between the two constructs (r = .16) based on 17 samples and 5,810 individuals. We further proposed a theoretical framework linking PBJW to specific facets of Conscientiousness. A survey of a representative sample of the US population (n = 311) confirmed that PBJW is positively correlated with the specific facets of Self-efficacy, Achievement-striving, and Self-discipline. Internal Locus of Control mediated these associations, elucidating the underlying processes linking PBJW and Conscientiousness.