Identifying social courage antecedents and mediating effects: Applying the HEXACO and approach/avoidance frameworks

Abstract

Social courage behaviors are risky actions performed primarily for the benefit of others, and they relate to many beneficial personal (e.g., well-being) and organizational (e.g., performance) outcomes. Much is unknown about social courage antecedents, however, and only initial studies have assessed the ability of relevant theory to explain the dynamics of social courage. We address these concerns in two manners. We study the HEXACO dimensions as antecedents to social courage behaviors, and we apply the approach/avoidance framework to test whether approach and avoidance motivations are mediators of these relationships. Our results demonstrate that five of the six HEXACO dimensions had either direct or indirect effects on social courage, but honesty-humility surprisingly did not demonstrate significant direct or indirect effects. Approach but not avoidance motivations served as a mediator in four of these five significant relationships, in which two were full mediating effects. These results identify novel antecedents of social courage and support that the approach/avoidance framework is useful in identifying mediating effects. At the same time, this framework did not fully explain all observed effects, and we provide many recommendations for future research on social courage and the integration of relevant theory – both involving the applied frameworks and beyond.