Social Behavior and Personality

Psychometric validation of the English-language version of the Second Language Grit Scale in a Group-Oriented Societal Context with college students in Macau

Kenan Gao — 2026-02-09

The Second Language Grit Scale in a Group-Oriented Societal Context (L2GSGSC) has been previously validated in the Chinese language with samples of students in mainland China. In this study we evaluated the psychometric robustness of an English-language version of the L2GSGSC with 203 college students in Macau (a special administrative region of China). Results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the threefold structure of the scale was both valid and reliable. We found that perseverance of effort and adaptability to situations correlated positively with the motivational self system for second language learning and with engagement in second language learning. Conversely, consistency of interest was not associated with equivalent advantages, having only statistically weak significant correlations with these outcomes. Implications for teaching methods and educational strategies are further discussed.

Perceived risk of COVID-19 infection and poor sleep quality: A moderated mediation model

Bin Peng — 2026-02-09

Sleep quality is a cornerstone of mental health that has been profoundly disrupted globally during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study we examined the relationships among the perceived risk of COVID-19 infection, sense of meaning in life, perceived social support, and poor sleep quality. Analysis of data from 451 adults across China revealed that a higher perceived risk of infection predicted poorer sleep quality, with sense of meaning in life partially mediating this relationship. Further, perceived social support moderated the initial pathway, whereby a significant positive association was found between perceived risk of infection and a sense of meaning in life only among those with low (vs. high) perceived social support. Thus, existential purpose and social connectedness jointly buffered against pandemic-induced sleep disturbances, suggesting that public health interventions to address sleep health crises should integrate meaning-enhancing strategies with community support systems.

Predictive effects of green online community experience on proenvironmental behavior

Lei Jiang — 2026-02-09

Few studies have explored how internet community experience encourages users to perform environmentally friendly behaviors. Thus, we examined the predictive effect of green online community experience on proenvironmental behavior. Using a survey targeting members of Zhihu’s internet community in Macau, we collected 272 effective samples for analysis. Results of analysis indicated that green information experience, green entertainment experience, and green interactive experience were antecedents of environmental concerns, which, in turn, exerted a positive effect on proenvironmental behavior. In addition, environmental concerns mediated the effects of green information experience, green entertainment experience, and green interactive experience on proenvironmental behavior. These findings suggest that green virtual communities can share environmental information with participants to enhance environmental concerns and proenvironmental behaviors.

Building sustainable volunteer engagement: Psychological determinants and behavioral outcomes in mega sport events

Seongjin Yoo — 2026-02-09

The engagement of volunteers is essential for successfully operating a mega sport event (MSE). This study applied the affective, behavioral, and cognitive model of attitude to advance theoretical understanding of how attitudinal components collectively shape volunteer behavior in MSEs. We conducted face-to-face surveys with 271 volunteers recruited during the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games. Structural equation modeling revealed that pride and person–task fit acted as significant predictors of satisfaction, while also directly predicting commitment. Further, commitment, but not satisfaction, served as a key mediator leading to all examined behavioral outcomes, comprising word-of-mouth, electronic word-of-mouth, cooperation, and intention to continue volunteering. These findings suggest that recruiters should focus on fostering volunteers’ sense of pride in their contributions and enhancing person–task fit. Strategies aimed at strengthening commitment are particularly crucial for sustaining long-term volunteer engagement.

Information quality and source credibility influence purchase intention in live-stream advertising: A moderated mediation model

Changhua He — 2026-02-09

This study integrated the elaboration likelihood model and the theory of reasoned action to explore the effect of information quality and source credibility on purchase intention in the context of live-stream advertising. The sample comprised 400 respondents with live-stream shopping experience. We found that information quality and source credibility significantly and positively affected users’ purchase intention, with attitude partially mediating this relationship. Advertising involvement positively moderated the effect of information quality on purchase intention through attitude but negatively moderated the effect of source credibility. We recommend that live-stream advertisers prioritize enhancing information quality and influencer credibility to improve positive user attitude, and tailor marketing strategies based on audience involvement levels by providing detailed product information for highly involved users and fostering interaction and emotional connections for low-involvement viewers. This targeted approach could maximize engagement and drive purchase intention.

Work stress and emotional disorders in community workers: A parallel mediation analysis

Ping Shen — 2026-02-09

This study investigated the relationship between work stress and emotional disorders among community workers, with particular emphasis on the mediating roles of life stress and physiological stress. We conducted a paper-based questionnaire with 1,834 community workers in China. Our findings indicated that work stress was a significant predictor of emotional disorders, with life stress and physiological stress mediating this relationship. Specifically, life stress accounted for 15.32% of the total effect, while physiological stress explained 45.16% of the total effect, highlighting the importance of addressing both types of stressor in interventions designed to improve the mental health of community workers. These findings enhance understanding of the mechanisms linking work stress to emotional disorders. They also offer practical implications for designing holistic stress-management interventions for frontline public service workers.

Career adaptability in small- and medium-sized enterprises: Self-commitment, organizational career management, and informal learning

Hye Kyoung Kim — 2026-02-09

This study examined the impact of self-commitment and organizational career management on career adaptability in small- and medium-sized enterprises and explored how informal learning moderates these relationships. I collected data from 411 employees of small- and medium-sized enterprises using a structured questionnaire. Regression and hierarchical moderation analyses were conducted to assess direct and interaction effects. Results showed that both self-commitment and organizational career management significantly enhanced career adaptability, with informal learning further strengthening these relationships. These findings underscore the importance of promoting informal learning to boost career adaptability, particularly in resource-constrained environments such as small- and medium-sized enterprises.

Parenting styles affect college students’ adaptability: The mediating role of generativity

Zixi Liu — 2026-02-09

This study investigated generativity as a potential mediator of the relationship between parenting styles and college students’ adaptability. We collected cross-sectional data from 1,304 Chinese college students and conducted correlation, regression, and mediation analyses. The results revealed that women received significantly more paternal care than did men. Moreover, urban students received more paternal encouragement toward autonomy compared to their rural counterparts, and both generativity and adaptability were higher among urban students than rural students. Maternal control was negatively associated with generativity, whereas generativity positively predicted adaptability. Furthermore, maternal control showed no direct association with adaptability, suggesting that generativity fully mediated the relationship between maternal control and adaptability in our sample. The findings may inform school-based mental health interventions and family education programs designed to enhance students’ psychological well-being and social responsibility.

Crisis-driven organizational change and abusive supervision in Asian airlines influenced by perceived hostile climate and seniority-based allocation

Zichan Qin — 2026-02-09

Drawing on conservation of resources theory and ego-depletion theory, this study explored the impact of crisis-driven organizational change (i.e., re-engineering, restructuring, and salary benefit cuts) on abusive supervision. We analyzed data from 323 frontline aircrew using structural equation modeling and developed a scale for crisis-driven organizational change using a separate dataset from 264 respondents. Results showed that a perceived hostile climate mediated the relationship between crisis-driven organizational change and abusive supervision. Salary benefit cuts had a partial mediating effect, while re-engineering and restructuring had a full mediating effect. Moreover, seniority-based resource allocation moderated the impact of restructuring on abusive supervision, such that restructuring was associated with increased abusive supervision under conditions of minimal seniority-based allocation, whereas abusive supervision decreased when allocation relied heavily on seniority. This research deepens understanding of the contextual antecedents underlying abusive supervision and underscores the importance of resource distribution in shaping hierarchical dynamics during crises.

I won’t leave even when performance is poor: Investigating the role of family support

Tingting Niu — 2026-02-09

This study used the stressor–strain–outcome framework as a theoretical foundation to propose and test a research model exploring why and when poor business performance leads to entrepreneurial exit intention. Analysis of time-lagged data from a survey of 336 Chinese entrepreneurs supported our hypotheses. Specifically, emotional exhaustion mediated the relationship between poor performance and entrepreneurial exit intention, while family-to-business support mitigated the impact of emotional exhaustion on entrepreneurial exit intention. Additionally, the indirect effect of poor performance on entrepreneurial exit intention through emotional exhaustion was significant when family-to-business support was low but not when it was high. Thus, while poor performance can induce exit intention by increasing emotional exhaustion, family support can mitigate this situation. Theoretical and practical implications and future research directions are discussed.

Perceived overqualification and deviant innovation: Psychological empowerment mediation and psychological safety moderation

Yang Chao — 2026-02-09

Perceived overqualification is a common situation among employees in the workplace. However, its impact on deviant innovation has not been fundamentally explained. Based on the theory of psychological regulation, we chose psychological empowerment as the mediating variable and psychological safety as the moderating variable, constructing the predictive effect model of perceived overqualification on deviant innovation behavior. Sample data were collected with the assistance of university students, who forwarded questionnaires to their friends or relatives working in an organization. We received 342 completed valid questionnaires from 491 participants. The results showed that perceived overqualification significantly positively predicted deviant innovation behavior, in which three dimensions of psychological empowerment (meaning, self-determination, and impact) played a mediating role while the fourth dimension (competence) did not. Psychological safety was found to positively moderate the predictive effect of psychological empowerment on deviant innovation behavior. This study extends the application of the ability–motivation–opportunity model to the field of deviant innovation research.

Empathy and bystander defending in cyberbullying: Belief in a just world and moral identity as serial mediators

Yating Xu — 2026-02-09

We investigated the relationships among empathy, belief in a just world, moral identity, and bystander-defending behavior in the context of cyberbullying among Chinese university students. Participants were 1,563 university students from Hebei, Henan, and Guangdong Provinces, who completed the Basic Empathy Scale, the Belief in a Just World Scale, the Moral Identity Scale, and the Bystander Behavior in Cyberbullying Questionnaire. We found positive correlations between empathy, belief in a just world, moral identity, and bystander-defending behavior in cyberbullying. Empathy had a significant direct effect on bystander-defending behavior in cyberbullying. Moreover, belief in a just world and moral identity each independently mediated this relationship, with a significant chain mediation effect also being observed. These findings suggest that empathy, along with belief in a just world and moral identity, forms a meaningful pathway to understanding and promoting bystander-defending behavior in cyberbullying, offering new directions for future research and intervention design.

Career calling and flourishing: Unpacking the underlying mechanisms

Fang Guo — 2026-02-09

Career calling is regarded as the source of an individual’s sense of purpose and meaning at work, and is an important element of research in the field of well-being. In this study, we investigated the mediating effects of job crafting and psychological capital on the relationship between career calling and flourishing by conducting a survey of 432 corporate employees. The results showed that career calling positively predicted flourishing; further, job crafting and psychological capital played independent and chain mediating roles between career calling and flourishing, and proactive personality moderated the relationship between career calling and job crafting. Overall, career calling was found to be a significant predictor of job crafting for employees with both low and high levels of proactive personality, but the facilitating effect was stronger for those with a highly proactive personality. Thus, we have enhanced understanding of the mechanisms by which individual factors in the occupational context influence flourishing.

Grey relational analysis and regression-based structural equation modeling of the extrarole performance of healthcare professionals

Dan Jiang — 2026-02-09

We examined the extrarole performance of healthcare professionals using both grey relational analysis (GRA) and regression-based structural equation modeling. Survey data on self-efficacy, prosocial motivation, and workplace incivility were collected from 181 healthcare professionals at public and private hospitals in Pakistan. The results of both regression analysis and GRA indicated that prosocial motivation was a stronger predictor of organizational citizenship behavior than was self-efficacy, particularly in the presence of workplace incivility. GRA effectively highlighted nuanced moderation effects across different classification groups. This study represents a pioneering effort in applying GRA to moderation analysis within the realm of organizational psychology.

Is sadness heavy and happiness light? The impact of embodied perception of weight on emotional valence

Weirui Xiong — 2026-02-09

A connection between emotions and weight is suggested in everyday language, but research on the metaphorical weight of emotions is relatively sparse, primarily focusing on complex emotions such as guilt and anxiety. In this study we employed an experimental approach to explore whether embodied weight perception affects individuals’ emotions. Participants were students at a university in Chongqing, China, who were divided into two groups. Each participant held newspapers of different weights for a period of time. For the group that first held a light newspaper and then a heavier one, the priming did not exert a significant influence on participants’ emotional evaluations, whereas for those who first held a very heavy file of newspapers and then a lighter one, the priming elicited more negative emotional appraisals. Additionally, results from the heavy-to-light group suggested that beginning with initiating a sense of heaviness results in more negative emotions, and subsequent exposure to lightness provides emotional relief. Experiences of heaviness and lightness at an embodied level can influence the emotional state of the individual.

Psychological resilience as a buffer against short-form video addiction’s impact on learning

Yanlei Chen — 2026-02-09

Although short-form video addiction is related to learning burnout, the mechanisms underlying this association remain poorly understood. This study explored the roles of self-control and psychological resilience in the relationship between short-form video addiction and learning burnout. We administered the Short Video Addiction Scale, Learning Burnout Scale, Self-Control Scale, and Psychological Resilience Scale to 366 Chinese university students who were in their first year of a publicly funded teacher-training program. The results indicated that short-form video addiction positively predicted learning burnout while self-control played a mediating role in this relationship. Furthermore, psychological resilience had a U-shaped moderating effect on the relationship between short-form video addiction and learning burnout. These results indicate that self-control and psychological resilience could be important factors for a deeper understanding of the links between short-form video addiction and learning burnout, especially among Chinese university students in publicly funded teacher-training programs.

Artificial intelligence technology application on e-commerce platforms influences Chinese consumers’ purchase intention

Changhao Zhang — 2026-02-09

Academic perspectives differ greatly regarding the influence of artificial intelligence (AI) technology application in e-commerce settings on consumers’ purchase intention. Thus, exploring the internal mechanism of this relationship is of great practical value. This study analyzed data from 387 valid questionnaires collected from users of major Chinese e-commerce platforms (JD.com, Alibaba/Taobao, and Pinduoduo) using Mplus 8.0. The results showed that AI technology application on e-commerce platforms was positively related to purchase intention. Further, perceived benefits and psychological resistance mediated the relationship between AI technology application and purchase intention, and brand attachment moderated this relationship. These findings enrich marketing and consumer psychology theories and offer useful references for e-commerce platforms to design targeted marketing strategies and boost consumers’ purchase intention.

From high hopes to deep disappointment: How do sales superstars engage in workplace deviance?

Leilei Zhang — 2026-02-09

As market competition intensifies, sales superstars are coming into the spotlight. Owing to their performance, reputation, status, and social capital, some sales superstars may develop a sense of entitlement, potentially leading to workplace deviance. This study empirically analyzed questionnaire data from 427 sales superstars via Mplus 8.0 to explore the mechanisms of workplace deviance. We found a positive correlation between sales superstars’ star identity and workplace deviance. Both leader–member exchange (LMX) and psychological entitlement mediated the relationship between star identity and workplace deviance; further, moral disengagement moderated the relationship between star identity and workplace deviance. These results contribute to human resource management theory and offer practical guidance for managers to reduce workplace deviance among sales superstars and enhance organizational human resource utilization efficiency.

Leader’s secure attachment, leader–member exchange, and subordinates’ creativity: The role of coworker exchange

Jee Young Lee — 2026-02-09

We examined the relationship between a leader’s secure attachment, leader–member exchange (LMX) relationships, and subordinates’ creativity, incorporating coworker exchange as a moderator of the relationship between LMX and subordinates’ creativity. Participants were 156 leader–follower dyads who completed a survey. The results showed a significant positive association between leaders’ secure attachment and their subordinates’ creativity, with LMX mediating this path. Coworker exchange moderated the relationship between LMX and subordinate creativity, suggesting that for subordinates with low coworker exchange, high LMX may be necessary for creativity, whereas LMX level had less impact for those with high coworker exchange. Finally, leaders’ secure attachment had a moderated mediation effect on subordinate creativity through LMX, and this effect varied depending on the degree of coworker exchange. Our findings clarify the complex nature of team dynamics leading to creative outcomes, emphasizing the source of high-quality work relationships and interplay between LMX and coworker exchange.