Two facets of pride and knowledge hiding: an empirical analysis

Purpose This study aims to investigate whether or not the two facets of pride, hubristic and authentic, are associated with knowledge hiding. Design/methodology/approach This study collects survey data (N = 343) from one of the leading information technology (IT) companies in Myanmar at two stages with a two-month interval. This study uses multiple regression analyses to test this study’s hypotheses. Findings Results reveal that hubristic pride is positively related to knowledge hiding, whereas the relationship between authentic pride and knowledge hiding is negative. These relationships are contingent upon the level of employees’ self-efficacy. Research limitations/implications This study suggests that managers should include measures for moral emotions in their recruitment and selection criteria. Furthermore, the authors suggest that managers should design strategies to induce moral emotions at the workplace and enhance personal resources (e.g. self-efficacy), which have an instrumental effect in maximizing the prosocial facet of pride (i.e. authentic pride) as well as minimizing adverse experiences of the antisocial facet of pride (i.e. hubristic pride), thereby reducing knowledge hiding. Originality/value The findings shed light on the significance of the inclusion of emotional variables in understanding employees’ knowledge hiding. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first empirical study to examine the combined effect of emotive and cognitive variables in predicting knowledge hiding by demonstrating that hubristic pride only mitigates knowledge hiding behavior among high self-efficacious employees.

The German Standard and Short Authentic and Hubristic Pride Scales

The authentic and hubristic pride (A&HP) model is the domineering paradigm in pride research. Authentic pride (AP) comprises feelings of accomplishment and self-worth, whereas hubristic pride (HP) includes conceit and arrogance. We provide a German version of the A&HP scale ( Tracy & Robins, 2007 ), the GAHPS. We found a good fit for a two-factor solution. Internal consistencies were high. Nomological validity was supported for personality, self-esteem, and narcissism (Study 1, N = 569), status (Study 2, N = 565), and other emotions (Study 3, N = 204). In Study 4 ( N = 184), AP and HP had different associations with prosocial and antisocial behavior. We found high self-other agreement (109 dyads) for AP but not for HP. Further, people used different words to describe AP and HP when they described themselves and peers, thus suggesting that the two forms are associated with different linguistic styles. Finally, using an Ant Colony Optimization algorithm, we derived a short form for the scale. Researchers are advised to choose the standard or short scale, depending on the research purpose. This research broadens the validity testing of the A&HP model and, for the first time, provides linguistic correlates of the two forms of pride.

How Envy and Being Envied Shape Social Hierarchies

When people interact with each other, they form social hierarchies. Being higher up in a hierarchy has numerous benefits. Consequently, when people believe that their rank is threatened, they should react strongly to address this threat. We propose that the emotion envy is such a reaction, regulating social hierarchies in two ways. First, persons’ socially-valued successes elicit envy in inferior persons. Second, inferior persons’ envy in turn elicits emotional reactions in successful persons. Envying and being envied thus occur in a dynamic relationship. We argue that the complexities of this dynamic can be unraveled by considering that (a) social hierarchies form in different ways, (b) emotions are multifaceted experiences whose facets are accentuated by relevant situations, and c) people may or may not overtly express these emotions. We review evidence for a broad framework that considers these points. According to this framework, persons can express their socially-valued successes with authentic or with hubristic pride. Authentic pride signals to others that the success is based on a prestige strategy. In response, inferior persons may perceive personal control to change their situation. This elicits benign envy, involving cognitions and motivations aimed at improving their position. If enviers express benign envy, envied persons are more likely to approach them. Hubristic pride instead signals that the success is based on a dominance strategy. In response, inferior persons may perceive superior persons’ advantages as undeserved. This elicits malicious envy, involving cognitions and motivations directed at harming the superior persons’ positions. If enviers express malicious envy, envied persons are more likely to avoid them. The framework integrates diverse empirical findings on the socially-functional value of envy in regulating social hierarchies and provides avenues for future research.

You have got items to show off your pride: the effects of pride on preference for attention-grabbing products

Purpose This study examines the impact of incidental pride on consumer preference for attention-grabbing products. This effect is mediated by the desire to gain attention. This study also shows that the effect of incidental pride is qualified by visibility of consumption. Design/methodology/approach Using two studies with between-subjects designs, this research examines the difference in preferences for attention-grabbing products between hubristic and authentic pride. Findings Individuals who experience hubristic pride (vs authentic pride) show greater preference for attention-grabbing products and have a strong desire to gain attention from others. However, when consumption is perceived as private (vs public), preferences for attention-grabbing products weaken for those who experience hubristic pride. Research limitations/implications This research studies the effect of incidental pride on consumer preference. By examining dispositional pride effects, future research may expand these findings, which enrich the literature on emotion. Future research can identify the potential mechanism for the relationship between authentic pride and preference for attention-grabbing products in the context of private consumption. Practical implications Marketers and salespersons can guide and recommend products with attention-grabbing features to customers celebrating a friend’s success in recognition of their innate ability. Second, marketers may encourage consumers to buy attention-grabbing products with targeted advertising or emotion-eliciting advertising (i.e., evoke a certain type of pride). Originality/value While prior studies focused on basic emotions, this research has investigated self-conscious emotions that are central to consumer behavior. This research contributes to the understanding of self-conscious emotions that affect consumers’ behavioral responses in unrelated situations. Investigating the two facets of pride, the findings show the impact of pride on the preference for attention-grabbing products and reveals that visibility of consumption moderates the effect of pride.

The Chicken and Egg of Pride and Social Rank

Prior research has found an association between pride experiences and social rank outcomes. However, the causal direction of this relationship remains unclear. The current research used a longitudinal design ( N = 1,653) to investigate whether pride experiences are likely to be a cause, consequence, or both, of social rank outcomes, by tracking changes in individuals’ pride and social rank over time. Prior research also has uncovered distinct correlational relationships between the two facets of pride, authentic and hubristic, and two forms of social rank, prestige and dominance, respectively. We therefore separately examined longitudinal relationships between each pride facet and each form of social rank. Results reveal distinct bidirectional relationships between authentic pride and prestige and hubristic pride and dominance, suggesting that specific kinds of pride experiences and specific forms of social rank are both an antecedent and a consequence of one another.

Superbia, Arrogance, Servility, and Self-Abasement

This chapter provides account of four character traits in the intellectual domain: superbia and arrogance; servility and self-abasement. It argues that superbia and arrogance are vices of superiority while servility and self-abasement are vices of inferiority. They are characterized as opposed to modesty and authentic pride. The chapter also defends the view that superbia and arrogance are based on attitudes whose function is ego-defence, while servility and self-abasement have attitudes serving a social-adjustive function as their causal bases. A case is made that the defensive attitudes characteristic of these vices of superiority constitute what is known as defensive high self-esteem while those on which servility is based are typical of damaged low self-esteem.

To be or not to be equal: the impact of pride on brands associated with dissociative out-groups

Purpose Brands are increasingly reflecting social values, and many brands have begun to embrace equality and inclusivity as a marketing strategy. Accordingly, consumers are increasingly being exposed to brands associated with different social groups. This paper aims to examine how consumers who have experienced pride respond to brands associated with dissociative out-groups. Design/methodology/approach Four studies were conducted. Study 1 tested the basic effect of how the experience of different facets of pride affects consumers’ brand attitudes toward a brand associated with a dissociative out-group. Studies 2 and 3 examined the underlying mechanism of consumers’ psychological endorsement of egalitarianism using both mediation and moderation approaches. Study 4 derived implications of our findings for marketers. Findings The results show that consumers respond differently to a brand associated with a dissociative out-group based on the facets of pride they experience. When consumers experience authentic (vs hubristic) pride, they exhibit a more favorable attitude toward the brand associated with the dissociative out-group. This is because authentic (vs hubristic) pride increases consumers’ psychological endorsement of egalitarianism, which enhances consumers’ brand attitudes toward the brand associated with the dissociative out-group. Practical implications The findings suggest that brand managers should think about ways to elicit consumers’ authentic pride to minimize the potential backlash from consumers when promoting equality and inclusivity in their brand communications, particularly when such communications contain cues of dissociative out-groups. Originality/value This paper contributes to the branding literature by identifying pride as an important determinant that can help brands overcome the negative impact of dissociative out-groups on consumers’ brand reactions, enriches the literature on pride by documenting a novel effect of the two facets of pride on consumer behavior and extends the literature of egalitarianism by demonstrating pride as a driver of consumers’ psychological endorsement of egalitarianism.

Evaluating experimental methods to manipulate authentic vs. hubristic pride: Four pilot studies

**This is an abstract accepted for the presentation at the Society for Affective Science 2021 virtual conference in April. Data collection is still ongoing.** Inducing different types of pride is an experimental challenge. Four studies varied whether participants felt authentic or hubristic pride, two using an autobiographical recall task and two using a false-feedback paradigm. Ratings of authentic pride did not vary as a function of the type of emotion induction, though ratings of hubristic pride items did. Other evidence demonstrated that socially desirable responding depressed self-ratings of hubristic pride.

The Relationship Between Integrative Self-Knowledge, Mindfulness, Self-Control, and Mental Health Parameters

Background: Self-regulating is a set of processes that controls or alters individuals’ behavior, emotion, and performance. We aimed to evaluate the relation between three components of self-regulating including integrative self-knowledge, mindfulness, self-control, and some variables of mental health and self-conscious emotions. Methods: A total of 233 Iranian university students voluntarily enrolled in the study. Seven questionnaire forms including Integrative Self-Knowledge Scale (ISKS), Attention Awareness Scale (MASS), Short Self Control Scale (SSCS), Costello & Comrey's Anxiety and Depression Scale, Rosenberg Self–Esteem Scale (RSES), Authentic Pride Scale (APS), and other as sham scale (OAS) were distributed to participants. The correlation between self-regulating variables, mental health, and self-conscious emotions were analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient test. Results: We found a negative correlation between self-regulating variables, depression, and anxiety. Our data also revealed that self-esteem positively related to integrative self-knowledge, mindfulness, and self-control. Among self-conscious emotions variables, authentic pride had a positive correlation with self-regulating variables whereas feelings of shame appeared a negative relationship with them. Conclusion: Integrative self-knowledge, mindfulness, and self-control as self-regulating components correlated to mental health and self-conscious emotions.

Ain’t Too Proud to Beg! Effects of Leader’s Use of Pride on Groups

Studies of discrete pride in the workplace are both few and on the rise. We examined what has, to date, been unstudied, namely the impact that a leader’s expressions of authentic and hubristic pride can have on the followers at that moment, and on their attitudes regarding their task, leader, and group. Students working in groups building Lego structures rated their perceived leader regarding expressions of pride, both authentic and hubristic. Students who perceived the leader as expressing more authentic pride rated the task, group (satisfaction and cohesion), and leader more positively, while the reverse was generally true for perceptions of expressions of hubristic pride. We found these effects both at the individual level and at the group level. We also predicted and found moderation for the type of task worked on, creative or detailed. Implications abound for leader emotional labor and emotion management.