Uncertainty Reduction, Self-Enhancement, and Ingroup Identification

Incumbency and self-uncertainty: when prototypical leaders lose their advantage

Research on how uncertainty affects the preference for prototypical over non-prototypical leaders has produced mixed results. To understand these discrepancies, two studies explored leader status (prospective versus incumbent) as a potential moderator. Participants reported levels of self-uncertainty (Study 1) or were primed with high versus low self-uncertainty (Study 2) before evaluating a prototypical or non-prototypical leadership candidate who was incumbent or prospective. For incumbent candidates, prototypicality predicted more favorable evaluations under low self-uncertainty, but this relationship was weakened under high self-uncertainty. For prospective candidates, prototypicality predicted more favorable evaluations under high self-uncertainty, but this relationship was weakened under low self-uncertainty.

Innovation in Boundary-Spanning Technology M&A: A Fuzzy-Set Analysis of Diversity Dynamics

The growing literature on organizational innovation has drawn attention from net effect and contingent effect of diversity-related factors in the context of top management teams (TMTs) to their complementarity and interaction in the form of configurations. In post-boundary-spanning technology mergers & acquisitions (M&A), the integration between multi-boundary knowledge and resources necessitates effective communication and cooperation within TMTs that display heterogeneous attributes. Therefore, this study integrates two popular theoretical perspectives from the diversity literature (social categorization perspectives and information/decision-making perspectives) in order to explore the configurational patterns of factors stimulating innovation in boundary-spanning technology M&A (BTM&A). In accordance with this theoretical objective, this study adopts fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis for the purpose of examining the complex combinations of five antecedent conditions (functional experience diversity, boundary-spanning experience diversity, faultline strength, number of subgroups, and subgroup balance) based on a BTM&A sample of firms in the Chinese A-share market during the period 2007-2018. Findings from this analysis indicates four configurations of diversity-related factors (the dominated multiple diversities; the non-aligned multiple diversities; the balanced similarity; and the aligned single diversity) which lead to superior innovation in BTM&A. This study fills a gap in the literature vis-à-vis the causes of innovation in BTM&A and provides novel insights for management practitioners to take appropriate countermeasures with regard to TMT diversity.

Outgroup threat, ideology, and favorable evaluations of the government's responses to COVID-19

Based on social psychological theories of intergroup relations, perceptions of threat from outgroups contribute to ingroup favoritism. This research examined the effects of the perceived threat from outgroups (the US) on Chinese people's favorable evaluations of their government's responses to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Study 1 conducted an experiment and found that the US' criticism of China's responses to the pandemic increased Chinese citizens' favorable evaluations of the government's performance. Study 2 was a correlational design and found that the relationship between perceptions of outgroup threats and evaluations of the government's performance was moderated by ideology and the approval of lockdown policies. These results show that outgroups are sophisticatedly employed by politicians to increase ingroup favoritism and suggest that ideological divide is an important moderator in the association between outgroup threat and the evaluation of ingroup.

Denigrating Women, Venerating “Chad”: Ingroup and Outgroup Evaluations among Male Supremacists on Reddit

Can negative evaluations of a broad outgroup paired with positive evaluations of a broad ingroup, sustain willing affiliation with even intensely self-derogating online communities? Synthesizing concepts from masculinities scholarship, social identity theory, and self-verification theory, this study compares language from two distinctive misogynist communities active on Reddit.com —Men Going Their Own Way, male separatists who positively frame members as superior to other men and men as superior to women, and Involuntary Celibates (incels), who openly derogate incel community members—to understand what sustains misogynist incels’ willing affiliation with the self-derogating incel community. Using thematic qualitative analysis, I find that while male separatists favor both their own narrower online community and the broader ingroup of men, misogynist incels engage in a patriarchal bargain, using relatively benevolent depictions of some men alongside negative depictions of all women to perpetuate broader gender inequality.

How to Expand and Fill the Self in Organizations: The Role of Interpersonal Processes in the Employee Organizational Identity Construction

In the era of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA), the fluidity of organizations and the variability of individual work gradually replace the traditional stability and continuity. The question of how to connect employees and organizations has long intrigued researchers and practitioners. Employee organizational identity is the stable force that binds employees to organizations. Drawing on social identity theory, we argue the role of interpersonal processes in the employee organizational identity construction. We suggest that an employee’s relationship-building behaviors can promote employee organizational identity through the connected self. The indirect effect is stronger for employees who make more social comparisons because they are more sensitive to social influence. We collected data through questionnaires of 333 employees using a two-wave research design in China. The results indicate that an employee’s relationship-building behaviors enhance employee organizational identity. The connected self fully mediates the positive relationship between relationship-building and employee organizational identity. The outcomes also show that the positive effect of relationship-building toward connected self is intensified, when an employee engages in more social comparisons. The findings imply that interpersonal processes play an important role in the employee organizational identity construction. Then, the theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Proactive personality congruence and creativity: a leader identification perspective

Purpose

Drawing upon the social identity approach, this research examines whether and how leader–subordinate congruence at high levels of proactive personality facilitates subordinate creativity.

Design/methodology/approach

Two different data sets (Study 1: N = 205; Study 2: N = 222) were collected from leader–subordinate dyads in China to provide stronger empirical evidence regarding our hypotheses. Polynomial regression and response surface analyses were used to test our predictions.

Findings

Subordinate creativity in the scenario in which the leader and subordinate shared a highly proactive personality (i.e. high–high congruence) was higher than that in the incongruence or low–low congruence scenario. The subordinate's identification with the leader mediated the above relationships such that the indirect relationship between leader–subordinate proactive personality and subordinate creativity via identification with the leader was maximized in the high–high congruence scenario.

Practical implications

The findings suggest that organizations should consider selecting both highly proactive leaders and highly proactive subordinates to facilitate the subordinates' identification and subsequent creativity.

Originality/value

This research highlights the crucial role of leader–subordinate congruence in strong proactive personality for the promotion of creativity and reveals that identification with the leader accounts for the above relationship.

Design and baseline data of a randomized trial comparing two methods for scaling-up an occupational sun protection intervention

Background

Successful methods for scaling-up evidence-based programs are needed to prevent skin cancer among adults who work outdoors in the sun.

Methods

A randomized trial is being conducted comparing two methods of scaling-up the Sun Safe Workplaces (SSW) intervention. Departments of transportation (DOTs) from 21 U.S. states are participating and their 138 regional districts were randomized following baseline assessment. In districts assigned to the in-person method (n = 46), project staff meets personally with managers, conducts trainings for employees, and provides printed materials. In districts assigned to the digital method (n = 92), project staff conduct these same activities virtually, using conferencing technology, online training, and electronic materials. Delivery of SSW in both groups was tailored to managers' readiness to adopt occupational sun safety. Posttesting will assess manager's support for and use of SSW and employees' sun safety. An economic evaluation will explore whether the method that uses digital technology results in lower implementation of SSW but is more cost-effective relative to the in-person method.

Results

The state DOTs range in size from 997 to 18,415 employees. At baseline, 1113 managers (49.0%) completed the pretest (91.5% male, 91.1% white, 19.77 years on the job, 66.5% worked outdoors; and 24.4% had high-risk skin types). They were generally supportive of occupational sun safety. A minority reported that the employer had a written policy, half reported training, and two-thirds, messaging on sun protection.

Conclusions

Digital methods are available that may make scale-up of SSW cost-effective in a national distribution to nearly half of the state DOTs.

Trial registration: The ClinicalTrials.gov registration number is NCT03278340.

Testing a Moderated Mediation Model of Turnover Intentions With Chinese Employees

This study explores the role of organizational career growth on employees’ organizational identification and turnover intentions in the contemporary career era. We compare the impact of organizational career growth and perceived external prestige of organization on employees’ organizational identification and turnover intentions and probe whether perceived alternative job opportunities moderate the relations between perceived external prestige–organizational identification and organizational career growth–organizational identification. Using a sample of 644 Chinese employees, findings indicated perceived external prestige and organizational career growth negatively influenced turnover intentions via organizational identification. Perceived alternative job opportunities buffered the relation between perceived external prestige and organizational identification but not the relation between organizational career growth and organizational identification. Finally, organizational career growth contributed more to organizational identification and turnover intentions than perceived external prestige. Our results suggest future research should consider the role of individual career states in improving employees’ organizational identification and retaining them within an organization.

How Cooperation Reinforces Conflict Over Time

Managing projects raises multiple tensions such as the need to balance cooperativeness and assertiveness. By adopting a process perspective, we analyze why a project group consisting of three heterogeneous subgroups is failing to uphold such balance over time. Instead, overemphasizing cooperativeness in the early phases of the project led to over-assertiveness and escalation of group conflict. We identify three mechanisms for reinforcing dynamics. First, we find that subgroups overestimate other subgroups’ behavioral autonomy, which promotes holding simplified, negative images of each other. Second, subgroups adopt vertical disidentification when they define their own particular role. Third, cooperativeness conceals pejorative perceptions.

Self-uncertainty and group identification: A meta-analysis

A key prediction of uncertainty-identity theory is that under conditions of high self-uncertainty, people will identify more strongly with their group. This has been supported by numerous studies. To quantify this relationship, a meta-analysis was conducted on 35 studies from 30 papers ( N = 4,657). The relationship between self-uncertainty and group identification varied significantly as a function of how psychologically real the uncertainty was, as reflected in how uncertainty was operationalized and how the study was conducted. Self-uncertainty operationalized as social identity uncertainty had the strongest relationship with identification ( r = −.26, 6.8% variance accounted for), followed by indirect operationalization of self-uncertainty ( r = .23, 5.3% variance accounted for), and direct operationalization of self-uncertainty ( r = .14, 2.0% variance accounted for). The relationship did not differ between measured self-uncertainty ( r = −.13, 1.7% variance accounted for) and manipulated self-uncertainty ( r = .17, 2.9% variance accounted for). Implications and future directions are discussed.

Challenges to Traditional Narratives of Intractable Conflict Decrease Ingroup Glorification

Conflict narratives are cornerstones of group identity, but often facilitate violence by framing the group's actions in ways that foster defensive forms of group identification (i.e., glorification). Three experiments tested whether alternative narratives inclusive of the ingroup's and the adversarial group's suffering can reduce glorification. Israeli Jews (Study 1) and Americans (Study 2) reported less glorification after reading inclusive narratives rather than narratives that dismiss the outgroup's suffering. Study 3 found that through reducing glorification, inclusive narratives indirectly weakened support for retributive justice and militaristic policies and strengthened support for reconciliation. These effects were specific to people high in both (preexisting) glorification and attachment-people identified by prior research as the strongest supporters of violent approaches to conflict. These findings suggest that alternative narratives can reduce glorification by challenging the myopic focus of traditional conflict narratives on ingroup victimization, helping societies move beyond intractable conflict toward lasting peace.

Cultural Disposition Influences in Workgroups: A Motivational Systems Theory of Group Involvement Perspective

Modern organizations often involve workgroup members who have different cultural heritage. This article provides an examination of how different cultural dimensions (e.g., uncertainty avoidance, individualism–collectivism) influence the ways that workgroups and their members respond to situations that involve threats and rewards. The threats and rewards activate distinct response patterns that are associated with a motivational systems theory of group involvement. Based on this theoretical foundation, a cultural dispositions approach is applied to reveal how culture could impact the ways group members respond (cognitively, affectively, motivationally) to situations that involve varying degrees of threats or rewards. This focus on cultural dispositions locates this article in the larger theoretical context of persons within situations that account for complexities of threat and reward cues as well as groups, organizations, and cultures. Consequently, this article has broad implications to the scientific and applied science communities interested in multicultural workgroups.

Social identities and shared realities

People are fundamentally motivated to establish a shared reality with others to validate their identity and experiences. Guided by social identity theory, we examine how social identity processes, such as self-categorization and depersonalization, create a shared identity and a sense of shared reality. Research demonstrates that internal states such as attitudes, feelings, and emotions are often shared among members of a group. Furthermore, research has shown that self-uncertainty motivates people to establish shared realities through group identification, often with highly entitative groups that are associated with a self-saturating reality that is shared absolutely. Finally, we review research on how group-defining norms that serve as the bases of these identity-related shared realities are constructed and communicated through group-membership based influence.

An identification perspective of servant leadership’s effects

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to reveal the identification-based mechanisms through which servant leadership affects desired outcomes (organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) toward coworkers and turnover intention) in the service industry in China.

Design/methodology/approach

– The data of 293 pairs of valid subordinate-supervisor dyads were collected from the hospitality industry in China with a time lag of 30 days to reduce common method bias. Hypotheses were tested by a bootstrapping method and rival model comparisons.

Findings

– The authors demonstrate that both the subordinate’s identification with the supervisor and identification with the organization play crucial roles in translating servant leadership’s effects to subordinate’s coworker-oriented OCBs and turnover intention. However, the occurrence of the two identifications seems to be not parallel but in sequence (i.e. pointing from identification with the supervisor to identification with the organization). In addition, results show that servant leadership’s ability to reduce subordinate’s fear of being close to the immediate supervisor is an equally significant route through which subordinate’s identification with the organization can be established.

Originality/value

– The research has extended the literature and provided a nuanced explanation of the identification processes underlying servant leadership. The differentiation between relational identification with supervisor and collective identification with organization has shed light on a socialization mechanism through which subordinates come to demonstrate other-oriented service behavior and choose not to leave the organization. Additionally, the way that servant leadership helps eliminate subordinate’s fear in a supervisory relationship has proved to be in-negligible in enhancing organizational identification.

To be or not to be: How ethnic/racial stereotypes influence ethnic/racial disidentification and psychological mood

OBJECTIVES

The current study explores disidentification. Ethnic/racial disidentification is defined as psychological distancing from a threatened social identity to preserve a positive sense of self. The first study goal was to explore how daily ethnic/racial stereotype appraisal is related to ethnic/racial disidentification. The second goal was explore the association between disidentification and psychological mood. In both cases, centrality and private regard were considered individual differences that might moderate daily associations.

METHOD

Ethnic/racial minority young adults (Mage = 20.63 years, SD = 1.49; N = 129) completed a 21-day daily diary, including ethnic/racial stereotype appraisal, ethnic/racial disidentification, and mood. At the end of the study, participants completed measures of ethnic/racial centrality and private regard.

RESULTS

The effect of daily stereotype appraisal on disidentification depended on feelings of centrality and private regard. Young adults reporting high centrality and high private regard reported higher disidentification on days on which they reported more stereotype appraisal. These same young adults also reported higher negative mood on days on which they reported disidentification. Young adults reporting high private regard reported less positive mood on days on which they reported disidentification, whereas those reporting low private regard reported more positive mood.

CONCLUSION

This article discusses the role of ethnic/racial disidentification as a normative negotiation of threats to ethnic/racial identity development. For young adults who report high levels of centrality and private regard, daily encounters with ethnic/racial stereotypes are associated with more disidentification, but that disidentification comes at a cost in the form of more negative daily mood.

Symmetric and complementary fit based on prototypical attributes of soccer teams

Research suggests that symmetry and complementarity are able to predict fit between an individual and a group. To date, fit has been described using knowledge, abilities, skills, values, personality, and the congruence between needs and their satisfaction. The aim of this study was to describe and analyze person–group fit based on the symmetric and complementary fit of prototypical attributes. Furthermore, we analyzed the mediating effects between symmetric and complementary fit as independent variables and the ability to perform, and well-being as dependent variables. The sample consisted of N = 20 soccer teams with a total of N = 294 athletes (age M = 23.6 years, SD = 4.4). Results demonstrated that symmetric and complementary fit are two distinct though correlated constructs. Moreover, identification is able to mediate the relation between symmetric fit and well-being as well as the relation between symmetric fit and an individual’s ability to perform.

From Uncertainty to Extremism

Societal change and personal life events sometimes make one feel uncertain about one’s self and identity. According to uncertainty-identity theory, this self-uncertainty can motivate people to identify with social groups, particularly groups that provide a distinctive and clearly defined identity and associated normative beliefs and behavioral prescriptions. This process can make more extreme groups and behaviors attractive as a source of identification-contingent uncertainty reduction. People may zealously identify with highly distinctive groups that have strong and directive leadership and ideological and ethnocentric belief systems that proscribe dissent and prescribe group-normative behavior. This analysis has been extended to help illuminate how extremism may emerge in the context of religion, politics, gangs, leadership, and adolescent risk taking. This article describes uncertainty-identity theory, overviews empirical support for its main tenets, and outlines some directions for future research.

Enhancing industry-based dissemination of an occupational sun protection program with theory-based strategies employing personal contact

PURPOSE

Industry-based strategies for dissemination of an evidence-based occupational sun protection program, Go Sun Smart (GSS), were tested.

DESIGN

Two dissemination strategies were compared in a randomized trial in 2004-2007.

SETTING

The North American ski industry.

SUBJECTS

Ski areas in the United States and Canada (n  =  69) and their senior managers (n  =  469).

INTERVENTION

Employers received GSS through a basic dissemination strategy (BDS) from the industry's professional association that included conference presentations and free starter kits. Half of the areas also received the enhanced dissemination strategy (EDS), in which project staff met face-to-face with managers and made ongoing contacts to support program use.

MEASURES

Observation of program materials in use and managers' reports on communication about sun protection.

ANALYSIS

The effects of two alternative dissemination strategies were compared on program use using PROC MIXED in SAS, adjusted for covariates using one-tailed p values.

RESULTS

Ski areas receiving the EDS used more GSS materials (x¯  =  7.36) than those receiving the BDS (x¯  =  5.17; F  =  7.82, p < .01). Managers from more areas receiving the EDS reported communicating about sun protection in employee newsletters/flyers (x¯  =  .97, p  =  .04), in guest e-mail messages (x¯  =  .75, p  =  .02), and on ski area Web sites (x¯  =  .38, p  =  .02) than those receiving the BDS (x¯  =  .84, .50, .15, respectively).

CONCLUSION

Industry professional associations play an important role in disseminating prevention programs; however, active personal communication may be essential to ensure increased implementation fidelity.

Collective symbolic coping with disease threat and othering: a case study of avian influenza

Much research studies how individuals cope with disease threat by blaming out-groups and protecting the in-group. The model of collective symbolic coping (CSC) describes four stages by which representations of a threatening event are elaborated in the mass media: awareness, divergence, convergence, and normalization. We used the CSC model to predict when symbolic in-group protection (othering) would occur in the case of the avian influenza (AI) outbreak. Two studies documented CSC stages and showed that othering occurred during the divergence stage, characterized by an uncertain symbolic environment. Study 1 analysed media coverage of AI over time, documenting CSC stages of awareness and divergence. In Study 2, a two-wave repeated cross-sectional survey was conducted just after the divergence stage and a year later. Othering was measured by the number of foreign countries erroneously ticked by participants as having human victims. Individual differences in germ aversion and social dominance orientation interacted to predict othering during the divergence stage but not a year later. Implications for research on CSC and symbolic in-group protection strategies resulting from disease threat are discussed.

The Relationships between Motivations of Intergroup Differentiation as a Function of Different Dimensions of Social Identity

This article aims to classify social identity-based theories of intergroup differentiation in terms of different dimensions of social identity to understand further the motivational bases of intergroup differentiation. For this purpose, I attempt to incorporate three lines of research in social psychology: (a) theories examining intergroup differentiation as a function of social identity, namely social identity theory and SCT; (b) studies suggesting social identity as a multidimensional construct; and (c) motivational theories of intergroup differentiation, namely subjective uncertainty reduction theory, optimal distinctiveness theory, and self-esteem hypothesis. It is suggested that subjective uncertainty reduction theory explains motivational basis of cognitive dimension, that optimal distinctiveness theory explains motivational basis of emotional dimension, and that self-esteem hypothesis explains motivational basis of evaluative dimension of social identity. Finally, the relationships between motivations of intergroup differentiation as a function of different dimensions of social identity are considered.

Social expectations bias decision-making in uncertain inter-personal situations

Understanding the role that social cues have on interpersonal choice, and their susceptibility to contextual effects, is of core importance to models of social decision-making. Language, on the other hand, is one of the main means of communication during social interactions in our culture. The present experiments tested whether positive and negative linguistic descriptions of alleged partners in a modified Ultimatum Game biased decisions made to the same set of offers, and whether the contextual uncertainty of the game modulated this biasing effect. The results showed that in an uncertain context, the same offers were accepted with higher probability when they were preceded by positive rather than by negative valenced trait-words. Participants also accepted fair offers with higher probability than unfair offers, but this effect did not interact with the valence of the social descriptive words. In addition, the speed of the decision was affected by valence: acceptance choices were faster when they followed a positive adjective, whereas rejection responses were faster after a negative-valenced word. However, these effects were highly reduced when the uncertainty was eliminated from the game. This suggests that positive and negative relevant social information can bias decisions made to the same pieces of evidence during interpersonal interactions, but that this mainly takes place when the uncertainty associated with the choices is high.

Will the “Real” American Please Stand Up? The Effect of Implicit National Prototypes on Discriminatory Behavior and Judgments

Three studies tested whether implicit prototypes about who is authentically American predict discriminatory behavior and judgments against Americans of non-European descent. These studies identified specific contexts in which discrimination is more versus less likely to occur, the underlying mechanism driving it, and moderators of such discrimination. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated that the more participants held implicit beliefs that the prototypical American is White, the less willing they were to hire qualified Asian Americans in national security jobs; however, this relation did not hold in identical corporate jobs where national security was irrelevant. The implicit belief—behavior link was mediated by doubts about Asian Americans’ national loyalty. Study 3 demonstrated a similar effect in a different domain: The more participants harbored race-based national prototypes, the more negatively they evaluated an immigration policy proposed by an Asian American but not a White policy writer. Political conservatism magnified this effect because of greater concerns about the national loyalty of Asian Americans.

Ingroup Glorification, Moral Disengagement, and Justice in the Context of Collective Violence

What aspects of ingroup identification can lead people to resist justice for the victims of their ingroup’s mistreatment? In three studies carried out in the United States and United Kingdom, in which participants read reports of mistreatment of prisoners and civilians by coalition troops in the Iraq war, ingroup glorification, but not ingroup attachment or other individual-difference variables, was a key predictor of lesser demands for justice, but only when the perpetrators belonged to the ingroup. This effect of glorification was mediated by two moral disengagement mechanisms focusing on the outgroup: minimization of the emotional suffering of the victims’ families and explicit dehumanization of the victim group. These findings further reinforce the difference between glorification and other forms of ingroup identification, demonstrating that glorification is problematic in maintaining and fostering intergroup relations because of its connection to moral disengagement.

Identity Development in Cultural Transition: The Role of Need for Closure

International sojourn provides individuals with an opportunity to form new personal ties and new social identities. This study examined the role of friendship ties and individual differences in need for cognitive closure (NCC) in the development of identification as international students among 140 Asian students in Australia. Evidence was found to suggest that high NCC students develop stronger identification with their new identity group. Perceived cohesiveness of international students as a group predicted stronger identification with international students only among high NCC students, as predicted. In contrast, having stronger international friendship ties predicted stronger identification only among low NCC students. Data also suggested that NCC tends to be higher for students from cultures low on Hofstede’s Uncertainty Avoidance Index and among students whose first language was not English. NCC plays a significant role in sojourners’ identity development during acculturation.