No good deed is too small: field experimental studies of different self-identities and workplace saving behavior

Purpose This paper aims to propose that the extent to which activating self-identity increases resource-saving behavior varies across these three levels of self-identities. In particular, the authors hypothesize that activating relational or collective self-identity increases saving behavior more than activating individual self-identity does. Moreover, activating relational self-identity has a stronger impact on workplace saving behavior than activating collective self-identity does. In addition, the authors suggest that prosocial motive mediates the relationship between the three levels of self-identity and saving behavior. Design/methodology/approach Workplace saving behavior such as office supply savings could help save organizational resources and build more environmentally conscious organizations. Drawing from self-identity theory, the authors examine the influences of three types of self-identities (i.e. individual, relational and collective self-identities) on workplace resource-saving behaviors. Findings The results obtained from a field experiment conducted in a Chinese company and an online vignette study generally support the proposed hypotheses. The authors also discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings. Originality/value The authors contribute to the literature on saving behavior in organizations by studying an individual-level predictor from the perspective of self-identity and the research on self-identity and saving behavior by testing the mediating role played by prosocial motive. Based on the findings, the authors also propose some human resource policies to increase workplace saving behavior.

Financial incentives facilitate the neural computation of prosocial decisions stronger in low empathic individuals

Financial incentives are commonly used to motivate behaviours. There is also evidence that incentives can decline the behaviour they are supposed to foster, for example, documented by a decrease in blood donations if a financial incentive is offered. Based on these findings, previous studies assumed that prosocial motivation is shaped by incentives. However, so far, there is no direct evidence showing an interaction between financial incentives and a specific prosocial motive. Combining drift-diffusion modelling and fMRI, we investigated the effect of financial incentives on empathy, i.e., one of the key motives driving prosocial decisions. In the empathy-alone condition, participants made prosocial decisions based on empathy, in the empathy-bonus condition, they were offered a financial bonus for prosocial decisions, in addition to empathy induction. On average, the bonus enhanced the information accumulation in empathy-based decision. On the neural level, this enhancement was related to the anterior insula, the same region that also correlated with empathy ratings. Moreover, the effect of the financial incentive on anterior insula activation was stronger the lower a person scored on empathy. These findings show that financial incentives enhance prosocial motivation in the absence of empathy but have little effect on high empathic individuals.

True Motives: Prosocial and Instrumental Justifications for Behavioral Change in Organizations

When organizations want their employees to adopt behaviors that advance prosocial and instrumental aims, which motive should they express? A groundswell of recent work suggests that highlighting prosocial actions inspires and motivates employees. Building on this work, we embed a field experiment in the context of an organizational change initiative (Study 1). A large university sought to change the behavior of administrative employees who purchase office supplies, encouraging them to place orders of at least $50, referred to as “bundling.” We exploit the fact that the organization could justify the same behavior in contrasting ways. We randomly assign employees to view either a prosocial (“limiting pollution”), instrumental (“limiting costs”), or mixed motive (“limiting pollution and limiting costs”) for caring about bundling each time they access the organization’s procurement system. We then evaluate changes in employees’ behavior by comparing a six-month baseline to a six-month experimental period, covering 10,169 purchases in 556 offices. Contrary to expectations from related research, the instrumental motive was most effective for changing behavior, leading to significantly more bundling than the prosocial motive. Two follow-up vignette experiments probe theoretical mechanisms. They indicate that an instrumental motive seems more genuine (i.e., reflecting the organization’s true motive) than a prosocial motive (Study 2) and that seeming genuine increases individuals’ intention to bundle (Study 3). This research reveals that prosocial justifications can be less effective than instrumental ones and suggests that perceptions of genuineness may shape the effectiveness of behavioral change efforts in organizations. This paper was accepted by Yuval Rottenstreich, decision analysis.

How coworkers attribute, react to, and shape job crafting

Job crafting, or proactive changes that individuals make in their job design, can influence and be influenced by coworkers. Although considerable research has emerged on this topic, overall, the way job crafting is responded to by coworkers has received little theoretical attention. The goal of this article is to develop a model that allows for a better understanding of job crafting in interdependent contexts. Drawing on attribution and social information theories, we propose that when job crafting has a negative or positive impact on coworkers, coworkers will make an attribution about the crafter’s prosocial motive. This attribution in turn influences whether coworkers respond in an antagonistic or a supportive way toward job crafters. Ultimately, coworkers’ reactions shape the experienced affective work outcomes of job crafters. We also theorize the factors that moderate coworkers’ reactions to job crafting behaviors and the job crafter’s susceptibility to coworker influence.

Psychology of Personal Data Donation

Advances in digital technology have led to large amounts of personal data being recorded and retained by industry, constituting an invaluable asset to both governmental and private organizations. The implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation in the EU, including the UK, fundamentally reshaped how data is handled across every sector. It enables the general public to access data collected about them by organisations, opening up the possibility of this data being used for research that benefits the public; for example, to uncover lifestyle causes of health outcomes. A significant barrier for using this commercial data for academic research is the lack of publicly acceptable research frameworks. Data donation - an act of active consent of an individual to donate their personal data for research - could enable the use of commercial data for societal benefit. However, it is not clear which motives, if any, would drive people to donate their personal data. In this paper we present the results of a large-scale survey (N = 1,300) that studied intentions and reasons to donate personal data. We found that over half of individuals are willing to donate their personal data for research that could benefit the wider general public. We identified three distinct reasons to donate personal data: an opportunity to achieve self-benefit, prosocial motive to serve society, and the need to understand the purpose of data donation. We developed a questionnaire to measure those three reasons and provided further evidence on the validity of the scales. Our results demonstrate that these motivations predict people’s intentions to donate personal data over and above generic altruistic motives and relevant personality traits. We show that a prosocial motive to serve society is the strongest predictor of the intention to donate personal data, while understanding the purpose of data donation also positively predicting the intentions to donate personal data. In contrast, self-serving motives show a negative association with intentions to donate personal data. The findings presented here inform the ethical use of commercially collected personal data for academic research for public good.

SPIRITUALITAS DAN MOTIVASI MENOLONG PADA MAHASISWA

This study investigates the correlations between spirituality, the essential part of religion, and prosocial motive, the basis of prosocial and altruistic behavior. Participants of this study are 300 seminary students coming from various theological schools in Bandung. This study uses Hall & Edwards theoretical perspective on Self-God Relationship Awareness (ARG), Quality of one’s relationship with God (QRG), and four prosocial motives – egoism, collectivism, principleism, and altruism – of Daniel C. Batson. There is strong correlation between spiritual maturity and prosocial motives, C = 0,6364. ARG has significantly correlation with prosocial motives collectivism (rs = 0,417) and principleism (rs = 0,420). Therefore, Unstable (rs = 0,511) and Grandiose (rs = 0,511) sub dimensions related more with prosocial motives which driven by egoism. Realistic acceptance sub dimension is significantly related with prosocial motives altruism (rs = 0,422).

Serving the Country or Serving Thyself: The Quest for Prosocial Motives of Russian MPA Students

U.S. and European scholars have established the association between work in government and public service motivation (PSM). Yet, few studies measure PSM among master of public administration (MPA) students and link it to their intention to work in government. For the first time in Russia, the study tests the association between culturally determined measures of prosocial motives of Russian MPA students and their intention to work for government upon graduation. Three theoretical frameworks help structuring this research: public administration, political trust, and volunteering. The data in this study confirm that Russian MPA students with prosocial motives tend to choose work in government. We explain this phenomenon by deriving the prosocial motive theoretical perspective from the larger concept of PSM and from the theory of political trust. In addition, the study finds that formal and informal volunteering is not related to choosing work in government. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Prosocial motive and helping behavior: examining helping efficacy and instrumentality

Purpose – Building on trait activation theory, theory of other orientation, and self-perception theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine how employees’ perceptions of helping efficacy and instrumentality influence the relationship between their prosocial motive and helping behavior. Design/methodology/approach – Data from 304 supervisor-subordinate dyads in South Korea were analyzed. Hypotheses were tested using hierarchical multiple regression. Findings – The results show that prosocial motive had a stronger positive influence on helping behavior among employees with high levels of helping efficacy. However, contrary to our expectation, prosocial motive was more positively related to helping behavior when employees had high levels of helping instrumentality. Practical implications – Organizations need to present employees with effective, standardized work procedures to make them feel efficacy in helping others. It is also necessary for organizations to consider helping behavior an important factor in performance evaluation and to signify to employees that helping behavior will be rewarded. Social implications – Helping behavior is critical for the effectiveness of both organizations and society at large; voluntarily helping people can enhance various kinds of performance at the societal level and can contribute to people’s welfare. Thus, it is necessary to teach people how to help others and to recognize helping behavior. Originality/value – This study contributes to the understanding of when the influence of prosocial motive on helping is more strongly activated by incorporating employees’ perceptions of the contexts in which helping behavior operates – efficacy and instrumentality.