The competition in higher education has increased, while lecturers are involved in multiple assignments that include teaching, research and publication, consultancy, and community services. The demanding nature of academia leads to excessive work load and stress among academicians in higher education. Notably, offering the right motivational mix could lead to job satisfaction and performance. The current study aims to demonstrate the effects of extrinsic and intrinsic motivational factors influencing job satisfaction and job performance among academicians working in Malaysian private higher (...) educational institutions. Cross-sectional data were collected from the Malaysian PHEIs and the randomly selected 343 samples. The data analysis was performed with the dual analysis of partial least square structural equation modeling and artificial neural network analysis. As a result, it was found that financial rewards, promotion, performance appraisal, classroom environment, and code of conduct significantly predicted job satisfaction. The code of conduct, autonomy, and self-efficacy strongly influenced job performance. The relationship between job satisfaction and job performance was highly moderated by self-efficacy. It was suggested from the ANN analysis that the three prominent factors influencing job satisfaction are financial rewards, performance appraisal, and code of conduct. The analysis supported three significant factors influencing job performance: self-efficacy, performance appraisal, and code of conduct. The management of PHEIs should build the correct policies to transform job satisfaction into job performance. Self-efficacy plays an essential role in activating job performance. Other significant motivating factors that promote job satisfaction and performance, such as emotional intelligence, mindfulness, and other personal traits, should be included in future studies. In addition, future research could use a mixed-method or multi-respondent approach to investigate the important variables and their impact on lecturers’ job satisfaction and performance. (shrink)

Graduate students’ failure to graduate is of great concern, with the failure to graduate due to the dissertation being the most influential factor. However, there are many factors that influence the writing of a dissertation, and research on these factors that influence graduate students’ learning through emotion and cognition is still quite rare. A review of past research revealed that the main factor causing graduate students to drop out midway is not completing their thesis, followed by factors including insufficient achievement (...) motivation, lack of learning strategy, and low confidence. The graduation rate of graduate students has been emphasized by the academic community; therefore, this study investigated the correlation between graduate students’ achievement motivation, active learning, and academic confidence in writing research. The study invited graduated students from two universities of science and technology situated in the northern region of Taiwan to complete the questionnaire. In this study, valid data for validation analysis were collected from 173 respondents, and the results showed that achievement motivation positively influenced active learning and that active learning positively influenced academic confidence. From the above findings, it can be seen that to help graduate students from University of Science and Technology to effectively complete their graduate studies, students should develop good motivation to adopt active learning strategies to enhance their academic self-confidence. (shrink)

This article argues that the propensity to perceive impossible challenges as doable is a personality trait, and presents a method for measuring it. The name coined for this concept is “possibilitivity,” a portmanteau of “possible” and “creativity.” Possibilitivity is related to such personality traits as self-efficacy and locus of control. This article shows that this trait is embedded in individual cognitive processes, whilst targeting social issues; in this vein, it may be seen as an important mechanism facilitating change-making and transgressing (...) the seemingly impossible. Methodology for assessing this trait is presented, i.e., the process of constructing and validating a questionnaire, its psychometric properties, and some comparisons within the sample. One of the findings is that women are significantly more prone to perceive difficult challenges as doable than men. Seeing this study as the first step, further research recommendations are presented, e.g., comparing possibilitivity between various segments of society, as well as analyzing potential correlations with other traits, e.g., empathy or ambiguity tolerance. (shrink)

This study aims to explore the relationship and mechanism between the preschool inclusive education teachers’ organizational support, teacher self-efficacy, and work engagement. This study adopted the organizational support scale, inclusive education efficacy scale, and work engagement scale, measured for 600 preschool inclusive education teachers, eventually obtained 568 effective questionnaires, established research model, and analyzed the data using the structural equation model. There are significantly more men than women, and the majority were public kindergarten. Organizational support significantly positively affects teachers’ self-efficacy (...) and work engagement in preschool inclusive education. Preschool teachers’ self-efficacy has a significant positive impact on work engagement. Preschool teachers’ self-efficacy plays a partial mediating role between organizational support and work engagement. Organizational support not only directly affects teachers’ self-efficacy and work engagement in preschool inclusive education but also indirectly affects their work engagement through preschool teachers’ self-efficacy, which provides theoretical and practical guidance for the research of inclusive education. (shrink)

As a result of the global pandemic, new awareness and perceptions of physical and mental health are changing. How to promote people's participation in sports to improve their physical fitness and how to increase their life satisfaction are urgent issues for attention. This study is aimed to discover the mechanisms that influence sports participation and life satisfaction among urban residents, focusing on the role of self-efficacy and motivation. A questionnaire survey on sports participation of Shanghai residents in China found that (...) self-efficacy significantly and positively influenced sports participation; sports participation significantly and positively influenced life satisfaction; and motivation positively influenced sports participation and mediated between self-efficacy and sports participation, but sports participation did not mediate between self-efficacy and life satisfaction. Therefore, it is important to enhance people's self-confidence in sports participation and establish the concept of sports for all people, so as to strengthen people's motivation to participate in sports, and to guide people to exercise actively through national fitness, so that more people can be happy in sports. (shrink)

Financial wellbeing is an emerging variable in business psychology that is expected to measure overall financial status and future financial trajectories. Financial intelligence and wellbeing have been key determining factors for the financial performance of entrepreneurs. The present study aimed to examine the crucial financial determinants and social capital factors for the entrepreneurial intentions and their financial performances among the 326 entrepreneurs in China. The study's findings showed that the key financial indicators and social capital are significantly related to entrepreneurial (...) intentions, which considerably predict the entrepreneurial financial performance. The mediating relationships also reported that entrepreneurial intentions and financial intelligence significantly mediate the relationship among social capital, financial wellbeing, and entrepreneurial financial performance. The present study has highlighted the implications for potential entrepreneurs for improving their financial performance through sustainable social capital, financial wellbeing, and financial intelligence. This study will also help the strategists in screening the individuals registering as entrepreneurs based on their financial intelligence quotient. The present study enriches the literature by offering an integrated model on financial wellbeing and entrepreneurial financial performance. (shrink)

Innovation is often seen as essential for ventures to succeed. High business failure rates in entrepreneurship, however, suggest that innovations are frequently driven by entrepreneurs blinded by overconfidence. Thus, anticipating when and why entrepreneurs will be motivated to innovate is fundamental for entrepreneurial success. Using a large sample obtained from population surveys conducted in 77 countries, this study analyzes the variables that are significantly associated with innovative behaviors. The research tests a model proposing that the joint effects of hubris, growth (...) aspirations, and an entrepreneur’s level of entrepreneurial experience have a crucial impact on innovative endeavors. It finds that hubris is significantly related to entrepreneurs’ growth aspirations and that ambition, in turn, is positively related to innovative behaviors. In addition, the study finds that both relationships are moderated by the level of entrepreneurial experience. These findings highlight the need to wise up amateur entrepreneurs before they embark on innovative endeavors. (shrink)

To reduce negative emotional responses and to stimulate prosociality, constructive journalism promotes the inclusion of positive emotions and solutions in news. This study experimentally tested whether including those elements indeed increased prosocial intentions and behavior among children, and whether negative emotions and self-efficacy are mediators in this regard. To this end, children were exposed to an emotion-based, solution-based, or non-constructive news video. Results showed that emotion-based and solution-based news reduced children’s negative emotions compared to non-constructive news. No direct effects for (...) prosocial intentions were found, but solution-based news led to less prosocial behavior than emotion-based and non-constructive news. Moreover, negative emotions served as a mediator, self-efficacy did not. The more negative emotions were elicited by a news story, the higher the prosocial intentions and behavior. In conclusion, a constructive style of reporting helps to reduce children’s negative emotional responses but subsequently hinders prosociality. (shrink)

As an important influencing factor of construction workers' safety performance, safety stressor has received increasing attention. However, no consensus has been reached on the relationship between different types of safety stressors and the subdimensions of safety performance, and the mechanism by which safety stressors influence safety performance remains unclear. This study proposed a multiple mediation model with ego depletion and self-efficacy as mediators between safety stressors and workers' safety performance. Data were collected from 335 construction workers in China. Results demonstrated (...) that: the three types of safety stressors all had negative effects on workers' safety performance ; self-efficacy mediated all the relationships between the three safety stressors and safety performance; ego depletion only mediated part of the relationships between the three safety stressors and safety performance; and only part of the multiple-step mediating effects through ego depletion and self-efficacy were supported. This study made contributions by shedding light on the mechanism by which safety stressors influence workers' safety performance and providing more empirical evidence for the relationship between various safety stressors and the subdimensions of safety performance. Additionally, targeted strategies for improving workers' safety performance were proposed according to the findings. (shrink)

The Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy aims to reduce nutrient loads in waterways from nonpoint sources such as farm fields. Farmers’ voluntary adoption of soil and water conservation practices is crucial for achieving NRS goals. Although the Iowa NRS has been active since 2013, farmer participation and net pollutant reductions have been insufficient. Therefore, continued efforts to understand the motivations and barriers that underlie farmers’ conservation actions in a comprehensive and integrated manner are needed to improve outreach strategies, and research examining (...) the relationships among factors such as farmers’ self-efficacy, motivations, perceived economic pressure, and soil and water conservation practices adoption in row crop production systems is needed to inform that outreach. This research employed social cognitive theory and previous research around the conceptual category of “motivations” to inform the study of relationships between the dynamic precursors and later modifiers of farmers’ adoption of in-field nutrient management Best Management Practices. Data are from the 2014–2016 Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll. Self-efficacy, collective efficacy, stewardship motivation, crop insurance, perceived economic pressure, age, and crop acres were important predictors of adoption. This research provides innovative insights for policymaking, extension agencies, and other researchers concerning the adoption of nutrient management practices. (shrink)

Perceived social support is positively related to life satisfaction in infertile women. Whereas, the underlying mechanism of this relationship is unclear. The present study aimed to investigate whether self-compassion mediated the relationship of perceived social support with life satisfaction and whether infertility self-efficacy moderated the relationship between perceived social support and self-compassion in infertile women. A total of 290 infertile women in mainland China undergoing treatment completed an online survey assessing perceived social support, life satisfaction, self-compassion, and infertility self-efficacy. The (...) results supported the mediation model that perceived social support was associated with life satisfaction via self-compassion. Besides, infertility self-efficacy moderated the relationship between perceived social support and self-compassion. Specifically, perceived social support displayed a stronger predictive effect on self-compassion when infertile women had higher level of infertility self-efficacy. (shrink)

Risk perception is important in determining health-protective behavior. During the rise of the COVID-19 epidemic, we tested a comprehensive structural equation model of risk perception to explain adherence to protective behaviors in a crisis context using a survey of 572 Italian citizens. We identified two categories of protective behaviors, labeled promoting hygiene and cleaning, and avoiding social closeness. Social norms and risk perceptions were the more proximal antecedents of both categories. Cultural worldviews, affect, and experience of COVID-19 were the more (...) distal predictors. Promoting hygiene and cleaning was triggered by the negative affective attitude toward coronavirus and mediated by an affective appraisal of risk. The deliberate dimension of risk perception predicted only avoiding social closeness. Social norms predicted both types of behaviors and mediated the relations of cultural worldviews. Individualism, more than hierarchy, shaped the affective evaluation of coronavirus. The model was an acceptable fit to the data and accounted for 20% and 29% of the variance in promoting hygiene and cleaning, and avoiding social closeness, respectively. The findings were robust to the effect of sociodemographic factors. Taken together, our findings confirmed the empirical distinction between affective and deliberate processes in risk perception, supported the validity of the affect heuristic, and highlighted the role of social norms as an account for why individualistic people were less likely to follow the prescribed health-protective behaviors. Implications for risk communication are discussed. (shrink)

Using data from the National Survey of Black Americans, this study examines the way in which gender socially constructs the importance of skin tone for evaluations of self-worth and self-competence. Skin tone has negative effects on both self-esteem and self-efficacy but operates in different domains of the self for men and for women. Skin color is an important predictor of self-esteem for Black women but not Black men. And color predicts self-efficacy for Black men but not Black women. This pattern (...) conforms to traditional gendered expectations of masculinity and femininity. Moreover, there are conditions of success that allow women to escape the effects of colorism. The impact of skin tone on self-esteem was much weaker for women from higher social class. Those who had lower self-esteem scores were dark-skinned women from working classes and dark-skinned women who were judged unattractive. (shrink)

This article presents ethnographic research on women's self-defense training and suggests that women's self-defense culture prompts feminists to refigure our understanding of the body and violence. The body in feminist discourse is often construed as the object of patriarchal violence, and violence has been construed as something that is variously oppressive, diminishing, inappropriate, and masculinist. Hence, many feminists have been apathetic to women's self-defense. As a practice that rehearses, and even celebrates women's potential for violence, women's self-defense illustrates how and (...) why feminism can frame the body as both a social construction and as politically significant for theory and activism. (shrink)

In recent years, positive psychology and mindfulness practices have increasingly been integrated in neo-liberal organisations to promote individuals’ well-being. Critics have argued that these practices actually function as management techniques, encouraging individuals’ self-governance and acceptance of the status quo despite adverse contexts. This article extends this argument by unpacking ways in which such ‘well-being’ programmes are also gendered, having been formulated around neo-liberal hegemonic masculine values of rationality, individualism and competition, and further masculinised through integration into gendered organisations. The argument (...) is presented that this process produces a neo-liberal version of hegemonic masculinity that the author calls ‘mindful masculinity’. This theoretical argument is illustrated through examples of specific ways in which ‘well-being’ practices have been reworked in strongly masculine settings to promote neo-liberal hegemonic masculine goals under a symbolic veneer of spirituality and mental health. (shrink)

Sense of agency refers to the ability to influence one’s functioning and environment, relating to self-efficacy and wellbeing. In youth, agency may be challenged by external demands or redefinition of self-image. Music, having heightened relevance for the young, has been argued to provide feelings of self-agency for them. Yet, there is little empirical research on how music impacts adolescents’ daily sense of agency. The current study investigated whether music listening influences adolescents’ perceived agency in everyday life and which individual and (...) contextual determinants would explain such an influence. Participants were 44 adolescents (48% female, 36% with training in music, mean age 14), recruited through local schools. The mobile Experience Sampling app MuPsych was used to collect brief self-reports of personal music listening experiences during daily life. This method assessed the change in the listener’s perceived control over both their emotional states (Internal Agency), and their external environment (External Agency), over five minutes of music listening. Also measured were changes in mood states, and contextual variables (social situation, concurrent activity, and reason for listening). The impact of music on the sense of agency was analyzed using multilevel structural equation modelling. There was no general increase of agency across all music episodes, but agency fluctuations were determined by specific individual and contextual factors. Music training predicted increases in both internal and external agency during music listening, and external agency increased more for male participants. Certain context features such as listening alone, paying attention to music, and listening for enjoyment were related to greater increases in agency. Increases in agency significantly correlated with increases in mood valence. Our findings confirmed the plasticity and situational embeddedness of the sense of agency. Music indeed can support agency, but the impact is dependent on specific individual and contextual factors. Sense of agency can be seen as a health resource and significant part of youth development, and current findings provide new insight into when and by whom such affordance is likely to be employed. (shrink)

While there is a growing literature on “dark traits” (i.e., socially aversive traits), there has been a lack of integration with the burgeoning research literature on positive traits and fulfilling and growth-oriented outcomes in life. To help move the field toward greater integration, we contrasted the nomological network of the Dark Triad (a well-studied cluster of socially aversive traits) with the nomological network of the Light Triad, measured by the 12-item Light Triad Scale (LTS). The LTS is a first draft (...) measure of a loving and beneficent orientation toward others (“everyday saints”) that consists of three facets: Kantianism (treating people as ends unto themselves), Humanism (valuing the dignity and worth of each individual), and Faith in Humanity (believing in the fundamental goodness of humans). Across four demographically diverse samples (N = 1,518), the LTS demonstrated excellent reliability and validity, predicting life satisfaction and a wide range of growth-oriented and self-transcendent outcomes above and beyond existing measures of personality. In contrast, the Dark Triad was negatively associated with life satisfaction and growth-oriented outcomes, and showed stronger linkages to selfish, exploitative, aggressive, and socially aversive outcomes. This exploratory study of the contrasting nomological networks of the Light vs. Dark Triad provides several ways forward for more principled and data driven approaches to explore both the malevolent and benefice... (shrink)

Rape myth acceptance, perceived barriers, and self-efficacy were examined as predictors of likelihood to report different types of rape to law enforcement among 409 undergraduates. Participants had lower likelihood to report incapacitated compared to physically forced rape. Men had lower reporting likelihood than women for rape perpetrated by the same and opposite sex and were more likely to perceive several barriers. RMA and perceived barriers predicted a lower likelihood to report several types of rape. Among men, higher self-efficacy predicted increased (...) reporting likelihood. Targeting RMA and decreasing perceived barriers is imperative to increase college students’ likelihood to report rape to local and campus law enforcement. (shrink)

This study examined the relationship between two types of mathematical flexibility – potential flexibility, which indicates individuals’ knowledge of multiple strategies and strategy efficiency, and practical flexibility, which refers to individuals’ flexible performances when solving math problems. Both types of flexibility were assessed in the domain of linear equation solving. Furthermore, two types of beliefs – self-efficacy and use of flexible cognition – were investigated as potential moderators between potential and practical flexibility. 121 8th grade students from China took part (...) in this study. Results indicate that potential flexibility positively predicted practical flexibility. Additionally, self-efficacy and use of flexible cognition might moderate the relationship between these two types of flexibility, suggesting that potential flexibility may lead to different degrees of practical flexibility depending on different levels of beliefs. Implications of these findings for research on mathematical flexibility and for educational practice are discussed. (shrink)

The Effect of a Policy of Mandatory Use of TurnItIn by Graduate and Postgraduate Online Students on Reducing Unoriginal Writing: An accredited online university, located in northern U.S., implemented TurnItIn in order to reduce unoriginal writing of graduate and postgraduate students. The research problem was the lack of empirical research-based findings on the implementation of TurnItIn similarity index rates on reducing unoriginal academic work. This study was grounded in the social learning theory. The research question that guided this study was (...) “What is the effect of the implementation of TurnItIn reports containing similarity index rates on reducing unoriginal writing in online classes of graduate and postgraduate students?” Archived data containing the similarity index rates of TurnItIn reports were collected in the first semester of the year 2013 for two cohorts of 122 graduate and 118 postgraduate students before and after the implementation of TurnItIn reports in online classes. The findings revealed that the implementation of TurnItIn reduced unoriginal writing in graduate and postgraduate online classes. A statistical significant difference between the means of the two cohorts of similarity index rates of TurnItIn was found. The empirical evidence was that the implementation of TurnItIn has helped the online institution’s administration and faculty members at the research site to reduce unoriginal writing. Education stakeholders may use these findings to improve academic integrity. (shrink)

The problem of privacy in social networks is well documented within literature; users have pri- vacy concerns however, they consistently disclose their sensitive information and leave it open to unintended third parties. While numerous causes of poor behaviour have been suggested by re- search the role of the User Interface (UI) and the system itself is underexplored. The field of Per- suasive Technology would suggest that Social Network Systems persuade users to deviate from their normal or habitual behaviour. This paper (...) makes the case that the UI can be used as the basis for user empowerment by informing them of their privacy at the point of interaction and remind- ing them of their privacy needs. The Theory of Planned Behaviour is introduced as a potential theoretical foundation for exploring the psychology behind privacy behaviour as it describes the salient factors that influence intention and action. Based on these factors of personal attitude, subjective norms and perceived control, a series of UIs are presented and implemented in con- trolled experiments examining their effect on personal information disclosure. This is combined with observations and interviews with the participants. Results from this initial, pilot experiment suggest groups with privacy salient information embedded exhibit less disclosure than the control group. This work reviews this approach as a method for exploring privacy behaviour and propos- es further work required. (shrink)

There is a growing consensus that results generated through multiplex genetic tests, even those produced as a part of research, should be reported to providers and patients when they are considered “actionable,” that is, when they could be used to inform some potentially beneficial clinical action. However, there remains controversy over the precise criterion that should be used in identifying when a result meets this standard. In this paper, we seek to refine the concept of “actionability” by exploring one proposed (...) use for genetic test results. We argue that genetic test results indicating that a patient is at risk for developing a chronic health condition should not be considered actionable if the only potential value of that result is to motivate patients to make changes in their health behaviors. Since the empirical research currently available on this question is equivocal, we explore relevant psychological theories of human motivation to demonstrate that current theory does not support the assumption that information about genetic risk will be motivating to most patients in their attempts to make changes in health behaviors. (shrink)

School counselors encounter ethical and legal situations that necessitate the knowledge and confidence to apply decision-making skills. We report the findings from a correlational investigation that examines practicing school counselors’ ethical and legal self-efficacy, ethical and legal knowledge, and general self-efficacy. Higher ethical and legal self-efficacy was associated with higher general self-efficacy and ethical and legal knowledge. The implications of these findings are discussed.

The effect of Internet use as a mediating variable on self-efficacy as it relates to the cognition of network-changing possibility (i.e., connecting people or groups with different social backgrounds) was examined. The results showed that Internet use (i.e., the frequency of sending e-mail, friends made on the Internet) had a positive effect on the cognition of network-changing possibility. The cognition that it is possible to connect people with different social backgrounds by using the Internet also had a positive effect on (...) self-efficacy. On the other hand, the cognition that it is possible to find people or groups who share beliefs and interests by using the Internet negatively affected self-efficacy. Hence, it was found that the effect of Internet use on self-efficacy was different as a function of cognition of network-changing possibility. (shrink)