Moving Beyond Initiative: The Reconceptualization and Measurement of Unethical Pro-organizational Behavior

Despite the fact that unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) has become a theoretical topic in the academic field and the fruitful achievements have been explored in the past decade, organizational researches have largely assumed that UPB is an active and voluntary behavior from the perspective of organizational identity and social exchange. In this paper, the authors argue that previous researches have traditionally considered only a very narrow subset of UPB, focusing almost exclusively on extreme voluntary cases which are not reflective of typical UPB. Instead of being primarily voluntary, some typical UPB can be compulsory in nature. We suggest a different look at UPB by contrasting to the so-called “voluntary” activities via compulsory mechanisms in the workplace. Mostly, we are interested in exploring and validating a measurement tool for this behavior. Based on self-determination theory, we argue that such behaviors are a substantial deviation from the original meaning of UPB and thus should be recognized and studied separately. Using six samples, the authors demonstrate the construct validity, reliability, and acceptable psychometric properties of the compulsory UPB scales. Future directions in UPB research are discussed.

Voluntary Behavior Modification during a Pandemic: Perceptions and Behaviors toward COVID-19 in Japan

This study examines social measures meant to stop the spread of COVID-19 in Japan, where COVID-19 control relies heavily on the voluntary compliance of citizens. We examine how the government's campaign for controlling COVID-19 is perceived by people, and how these measures influenced people’s attitudes and behavior. This paper specifically discusses how people’s perceptions regarding COVID-19 control measures temper orthodox understandings of behavior modification, such as perceived threats, and how it influences their attitude and behavior. Qualitative data collected from an online open-ended questionnaire was cross-sectionally analyzed. This study argues that high risk perception is actually just one of many triggers of behavior modification. That is, people responsive to risk perception had to match actual hazards to perceived real risk. Furthermore, popular sources of information on COVID-19, like news and social media, were found to substantially influence people’s behavior. In particular, whether campaigns were easy to understand, whether there were societal expectations for people to follow behavior modifications, and whether people thought measures were effective at preventing COVID-19 infection had a strong impact on the adoption of behavior modification. These findings thus fill in lacuna in existing scholarship concerning the rationality behind people’s decision to voluntary adopt behavior modification measures.

Construct Measurement and Validation of Organizational Citizenship Behavior in Educational Context: Demographic Differences

Though organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is not enforceable by any organization, it is a voluntary behavior of employees which promotes the effective functioning of any organization. Organizational citizenship behavior is a multi-dimensional concept. Due to individual behavior and prevailing circumstances, OCB may vary from one organization to another organization or from one section to another section. In line with that, the present study explores the instrument for assessing organizational citizenship behavior in primary and high school teachers in Amritsar. The study has used a descriptive research design and a quantitative approach. The analysis of the data was made with the help of the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The analysis of the data clearly revealed the understanding of different dimensions of organizational citizenship behavior in the context of school education.

American study shows knock-on effects of putting family first (PFF) strategy on spouses and co-workers

Purpose The authors say they invented a new construct of putting family first (PFF). They define PFF as “the voluntary behavior of intentionally putting one’s family ahead of work in a way that violates organisational norms”. They said it helped to understand how workers break rules to manage boundary conflicts. They wanted to test the impact on co-workers and spouses. Design/methodology/approach The authors carried out two studies. The first one established a scale to measure PFF. The second one tested for links between PFF and both co-workers frustration and spousal dissatisfaction. To test their theories, the authors looked for US workers with spouses and co-workers. Findings Results showed PFF correlated significantly with the co-workers’ feelings of overload, frustration with work and work-family conflict. It also correlated significantly with the spouses’ stress transmission and relationship tensions. The results provided further validity of the scale developed in Study 1, as well as demonstrating the wider repercussions of PFF. Originality/value Results showed PFF correlated significantly with the co-workers’ feelings of overload, frustration with work and work-family conflict. It also correlated significantly with the spouses’ stress transmission and relationship tensions. The results provided further validity of the scale developed in Study 1, as well as demonstrating the wider repercussions of PFF.

Effects of Social Marketing Intervention on Physical Activity promotion Among the Elderly

Background: Social marketing emphasizes the use of commercial marketing concepts and their application for social purposes and also the change of voluntary behavior in a nonprofit manner. This study mainly aimed to examine the effectiveness of social marketing in changing the physical activity of the elderly. Besides, this study sought to determine the extent to which the Andreason social marketing criteria have been targeted in social marketing interventions. Methods: This was a narrative review study that investigated social marketing interventions to promote elderly physical activity, during 2000-2019. The scientific databases (Elmnet, SID, Irandoc, Civilica, Medline, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, Web of Science, ProQuest, and Emerald) were searched between February and March 2019. The searched keywords included physical activity, social marketing, the elderly, social marketing mix, improving physical activity level, social marketing intervention, social marketing campaigns, and the Andreasen criteria. Finally, nine articles entered the study. Then, the mixed marketing components were extracted from the interventions, and six benchmarks of the Andrasen social marketing interventions were analyzed. Results: Most articles employed four components of the marketing mix. No intervention had applied the six measures of the Andrasen social marketing criteria. Also, five studies reported positive behavioral changes. However, other studies have reported no change in negative behavior. According to the evidence gathered in our study, social marketing offers an effective behavioral change approach to increase physical activity in the elderly. Conclusion: The present findings provide the basis for comprehensive and effective social marketing interventions.

Measuring voluntary and policy-induced social distancing behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic

Staying home and avoiding unnecessary contact is an important part of the effort to contain COVID-19 and limit deaths. Every state in the United States enacted policies to encourage distancing and some mandated staying home. Understanding how these policies interact with individuals’ voluntary responses to the COVID-19 epidemic is a critical initial step in understanding the role of these nonpharmaceutical interventions in transmission dynamics and assessing policy impacts. We use variation in policy responses along with smart device data that measures the amount of time Americans stayed home to disentangle the extent that observed shifts in staying home behavior are induced by policy. We find evidence that stay-at-home orders and voluntary response to locally reported COVID-19 cases and deaths led to behavioral change. For the median county, which implemented a stay-at-home order with about two cases, we find that the response to stay-at-home orders increased time at home as if the county had experienced 29 additional local cases. However, the relative effect of stay-at-home orders was much greater in select counties. On the one hand, the mandate can be viewed as displacing a voluntary response to this rise in cases. On the other hand, policy accelerated the response, which likely helped reduce spread in the early phase of the pandemic. It is important to be able to attribute the relative role of self-interested behavior or policy mandates to understand the limits and opportunities for relying on voluntary behavior as opposed to imposing stay-at-home orders.

Social learning about rewards – how information from others helps to adapt to changing environment

Being a part of a social structure is key for survival and reproduction. Living with conspecifics boosts evolutionary fitness, by providing essential information about the environment. To examine how socially passed olfactory information about the reward affects behavior of individuals we used Eco-HAB, an automated system for tracing voluntary behavior of group-housed mice living under semi-naturalistic conditions. We show that presence of a scent of a rewarded individual has profound effects on social behavior of mice and their ability to find the reward in both familiar and novel environments. As a result, socially-conveyed information has different effects on individual mice. Further, we show that disrupting neuronal plasticity in the prelimbic cortex with nanoparticles gradually releasing TIMP metallopeptidase inhibitor 1, disrupts animals’ social behavior and results in decreased ability to adapt to environmental changes. The experimental paradigm we developed can be further used to study neuronal mechanisms of social learning.

Lapsed Catholics and Other Religious Non-Affiliates

Lapsed Catholics are sometimes referred to as one of the largest religious groups in America, and yet we know little about what beliefs and behaviors may be associated with this social category. Using data from the Pew Religious Landscape Survey, this chapter compares the religious beliefs, social attitudes, and voluntary behavior of lapsed Catholics and other religious non-affiliates (nones, atheists, and agnostics) alongside lapsed evangelicals and lapsed mainline Protestants. Generally speaking, lapsed Catholics fall somewhere in the middle between practicing Catholics and those with no religious affiliation, but they are notably more liberal in their attitudes toward abortion and same-sex marriage. This study affirms the importance of considering the heterogeneity within the category of “nonreligious” by considering the lingering attachments people may hold to religion outside of church attendance. The chapter concludes by considering whether the glass is half full or half empty for those interested in the future of American Catholicism.

Untying the Precise Impact of COVID-19 Policy on Social Distancing Behavior

Social distancing has manifold effects and is used as a non-pharmacological measure to respond to pandemic situations such as the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), especially in the absence of vaccines and other useful antiviral drugs. Governments around the globe have adopted and implemented a series of social distancing strategies. The efficacy of various policies and their comparative influence on mechanisms led by public actions and adoptions have not been examined. The differences in types and effective dates of various social distancing policies in various provinces/territories of Pakistan constitute a pure ground to examine the causal effects of each COVID-19 policy. Using the location trends and population movement data released by Google, a quasi-experimental method was used to measure the impact of the government’s various social distancing policies on the people’s existence at home and their outside social mobility. Based on the magnitude and importance of policy influences, this research ranked six social distancing policies whose influence exceeded the effect of voluntary behavior. Our research outcomes describe that the trend of staying at home was firmly pushed by state-wide home order rather than necessary business closings and policies that were associated with public gathering restrictions. Strong government policies have a strong causal effect on reducing social interactions.