Being Virtuous Together: A One-Year Prospective Study on Organizational Virtuousness, Well-Being, and Organizational Commitment

Organizational virtuousness is defined as collective positive attributes and behaviors supported by and characteristic of an organization that promote hedonic well-being, eudaimonic well-being, and optimal performance. The underlying mechanisms through which organizational virtuousness operate remain largely unknown. Drawing from the broaden-and-build theory, organizational virtuousness is proposed to broaden employees' attention and cognition toward positive stimuli and events, and over time, build psychological resources for managing future endeavors. Building resources in turn promotes well-being and organizational commitment. A 3-wave prospective study (baseline, T1; 3 months, T2; and 1 year, T3) was conducted with a sample of 444 primary and secondary schoolteachers in Hong Kong. Organizational virtuousness, cognitive reappraisal, psychological capital (PsyCap), life satisfaction, flourishing, affective commitment, and contextual performance were assessed. The results showed that cognitive reappraisal and PsyCap served as sequential mediators of the relationships between three components of organizational virtuousness and all four indicators of well-being and organizational commitment. Collective gratitude, kindness, and forgiveness at T1 had significant indirect effects through cognitive reappraisal at T2 and then PsyCap at T3 on satisfaction with life, state of flourishing, emotional attachment to the organization, and engagement in extra-role activities that contribute to the organization's efficacy. This study is among the first to provide prospective data on the effects of organizational virtuousness. The results lead to a discussion of how organizations might shape a grateful, kind, and forgiving work culture using virtue-based management to achieve optimal individual and organizational functioning.

You Are What You Read: The Belief Systems of Cyber-Bystanders on Social Networking Sites

The present study tested how exposure to two types of responses to a hypothetical simulated Facebook setting influenced cyber-bystanders' perceived control and normative beliefs using a 4 cyberbully-victim group (pure cyberbullies, non-involved, pure cyberbullied victims, and cyberbullied-victims) × 2 condition (offend vs. defend) experimental design. 203 Hong Kong Chinese secondary school and university students (132 females, 71 males; 12 to 28; M = 16.70; SD = 3.03 years old) were randomly assigned into one of two conditions. Results showed that participants' involvement in cyberbullying significantly related to their control beliefs about bully and victim assisting behaviors, while exposure to the two different conditions (offend vs. defend comments) was related to both their control and normative beliefs. In general, the defend condition promoted higher control beliefs to help the victims and promoted higher normative beliefs to help the victims. Regardless of their past involvement in cyberbullying and exposure to offend vs. defend conditions, both cyber-bullies and cyber-victims were more inclined to demonstrate normative beliefs to help victims than to assist bullies. These results have implications for examining environmental influences in predicting bystander behaviors in cyberbullying contexts, and for creating a positive environment to motivate adolescents to become "upstanders" in educational programs to combat cyberbullying.