Workplace Behavior Research Articles

SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORKPLACE: A STUDY ON THE POLICIES AND PREVENTIVE MEASURES

Sexual harassment in the workplace is a widespread and distressing issue that impacts people in all walks of life and all types of careers. Victims of sexual harassment often experience negative consequences such as decreased job satisfaction, increased stress, and a diminished sense of self-worth. Employers have a responsibility to prevent as well as address SH in the workplace through implementing clear policies, training employees on appropriate workplace behavior, and taking appropriate action when harassment is reported or observed. “(In 1997 S.C. through Vishaka V. State of Rajasthan” held that sexual harassment of women is violation of two utmost fundamental rights guaranteed by “Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Indian Constitution)”. Later, India passed legislation to prevent sexual harassment, such as "The Protection of Women Against SH at Workplace Bill, 2010" and "Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013," which were meant to stop this kind of sexual harassment of women, and "Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, which included section 354A IPC, 1860”, which defined sexual harassment and set a penalty of 3 years in prison with or without a fine. Sexual harassment and assault harm individuals, communities, and society. This study should wake up leaders and citizens to how India's culture allows so much sexual abuse, especially against women and other historically marginalised groups. It's important to understand the scope of this issue and to work together to prevent sexual harassment in the short and long term. This paper discusses modern sexual harassment, the law, and how organisations can help women maintain dignity.

The workforce revolution: Reimagining work, workers, and workplaces for the future

AbstractAs the world experiences unprecedented changes driven by groundbreaking technological advancements, increasing competitive pressures, shifting demographics, evolving societal expectations, and ongoing global crises or mega‐disruptions, the nature of work is evolving at an accelerated pace. This editorial introduces The Workforce Revolution, a critical movement that aims to reimagine work, workers, and workplaces for the future to harness these transformations effectively. As businesses and organizations adapt to new realities, innovative leadership and human resource management strategies become indispensable to ensure long‐term success and sustainability. This issue of Global Business and Organizational Excellence explores the latest research, trends, and insights on the topic, providing valuable guidance to leaders and managers as they shape the future of work. Articles within this issue cover a range of topics, including employee expectation‐organizational performance gaps, positive and negative workplace behaviors, toxic and responsible leadership, traditional and transformational roles of human resources, and the future of work in the new normal. By equipping leaders and managers with the knowledge to navigate these complexities, the journal aims to foster a more resilient and adaptable workforce, poised to thrive in the dynamic landscape of the future.

Incivility in Hybrid Workplaces: Setting agenda for Future Research

Purpose - Remote working is a common practice adopted by Industries post covid. Hybrid working is predicted as the future of work. A continuously growing body pertaining to the research areas explored incivility, which is defined as the aspect of low-intensity deviant workplace behaviors and intent to harm colleagues. In this paper, researchers aim to (i) analysing components and connections with both the incivility and negative social effect for physical and virtual workplaces. (ii) investigate how incivility in the workplace impacts the person's personal and professional life in physical and virtual workplaces. (iii) suggest organizational measures that support or increase the incidence of employment by mitigating incivility at the workplace, physical and virtual. Methodology - The study is done based on secondary research methodology as the existing literature is considered with the help of the internet and keywords, and relevant, accurate, and available information will be reviewed and mentioned in this paper. Findings – Close to the past two decades, some of the theoretical and conceptual introduction about workplace instability has always been constructive, and all the research in this domain has taken off in various directions. Much research has been carried out on workplace incivility; however, in this paper’s discussion is directed toward incivility in remote working environments. Novelty - The authors concluded that hybrid workplaces are more sensitive and prone to incivility at the workplace. Therefore, leaders must be sensitive towards dealing with such issues while working in hybrid work culture. There is hardly any study in this area, and the impact of incivility in hybrid will be the focus of researchers in the coming few years. Type of Paper: Review JEL Classification: M12, J23, J24. Keywords: Workplace Incivility, Remote Working, Negative Behaviors, Hybrid Workspace. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Pandey, S; Singh, M; Pandey, S. (2023). Incivility in Hybrid Workplaces: Setting agenda for future research, J. Mgt. Mkt. Review, 8(1), 17 – 27. https://doi.org/10.35609/jmmr.2023.8.1(3)

Helpful or hurtful? A study on the behavior choice of bystanders in the context of abusive supervision

Purpose The purpose of this study is to reveal the mechanism of peer abusive supervision on bystander behavior based on the perspective of bystander from two different paths of bystander empathy and bystander hostility toward supervisor. At the same time, it discusses the moderation effect of bystander traditionality on the two paths. Design/methodology/approach This study conducted a three-wave longitudinal survey. The data were collected from 454 employees and their coworkers in several Chinese enterprises. The authors used Mplus 7.4 and adopted a bootstrapping technique in the data analysis. Findings Peer abusive supervision leads bystanders to empathize with the abused colleague and thus exhibit more organizational citizenship behaviors, and peer abusive supervision also induces bystanders to develop hostility toward the abusive supervisor and thus produce more workplace negative gossip behaviors. In addition, it is found that bystander traditionality has a moderation effect in the process by which peer perceptions of abusive supervision influence bystander empathy and bystander hostility. Originality/value Based on Affective Events Theory, this study explores the mechanism of colleague perception of abusive supervision on bystander behavior from a bystander perspective. The results of this study not only provide a more comprehensive expansion of the weighting factors in the influence mechanism of abusive supervision but also provide new ideas for organizations to reduce the negative effects of workplace abusive behaviors.

Impact of dark triad personality traits on turnover intention and mental health of employees through cyberbullying

The increased usage of technology has engendered different forms of bullying. While scholars affirm that cyberbullying is considered to exhibit the most harmful impacts on individuals among the different types of bullying. It needs to be underscored that the multifaceted and recurring nature of cyberbullying, particularly in the workplace, has a more hazardous effect on employees. It is urged that the highly competitive working environment has exacerbated the problems of rivalry among employees, which subsequently pushes them towards cyberbullying. Despite an extensive body of knowledge on traditional bullying, research still lacks the effect of cyberbullying in the workplace context. This research addresses the gaps by explaining the impact of the dark triad of personality traits (DTPT) on turnover intention and employees’ mental health through cyberbullying. It incorporated a unique multistage sampling approach in which data were gathered through self-administered questionnaires from the banking sector. The analyses showed a direct relationship between the DTPT and turnover intention. Cyberbullying partially mediates the relationship between DTPT and turnover intention. Findings also indicate that the DTPT negatively affects employees’ mental health. A vital facet of this research is testing the mediating role of cyberbullying between DTPT and employees’ mental health and turnover intention. The findings are of great value to organizational stakeholders, where management can adopt various strategies and training programs to reduce the detrimental effects of cyberbullying. Such initiatives enable employees to cope with mental health issues, mitigating negative workplace behaviour and minimizing turnover intention.

All stressors are not bad: an affect-based model of role overload – the supervisor-level antecedent of abusive supervision

PurposeExpanding on the research of the antecedents of abusive supervision, this study aims to explore supervisor role overload as a supervisor-level predictor of abusive supervision. Based on transactional stress theory, the authors investigate role overload that is appraised as a challenge or a hindrance stressor by supervisors, leading to pleasant or unpleasant feelings, respectively. The authors propose that, based on their appraisal, these feelings of supervisors act as a mediating mechanism that can facilitate or inhibit their abusive behaviour at work. Additionally, the authors posit emotional intelligence (EI) as a key moderator in helping supervisors manage the negative feelings arising from perceiving role overload as a hindrance and preventing them from demonstrating abusive supervision.Design/methodology/approachTo test the proposed moderated mediation model, the authors collected two-wave data from middle-level supervisors or managers from several organisations located in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia (N= 990).FindingsThe results largely support the hypothesised relationships and show that depending on supervisor appraisal, role overload can generate pleasant or unpleasant feelings in supervisors and, consequently, impede or facilitate abusive supervision. They also shed light on the moderating effect of EI, in that supervisors scoring high on EI are better equipped to deal with unpleasant feelings arising from role overload and effectively manage their workplace behaviour, that is, to avoid abusive behaviours.Originality/valueRole overload can have different impacts on employees: on the one hand, there is a potential for growth, which entails drive and enthusiasm; on the other hand, it could feel like an unsurmountable mountain for employees, leading to different forms of anxiety. Because what we feel is what we project onto others, supervisors experiencing unpleasant feelings cannot be the best leader they can be; even worse, they can become a source of negativity by displaying destructive behaviours such as abusive supervision. The corollary of something as minor as an interaction with a leader experiencing unpleasant feelings could have a ripple effect and lead to adverse outcomes for organisations and their employees. This study explores the different perceptions of role overload and the subsequent feelings coming from those perceptions as supervisor-level predictors of abusive supervision. While it is not possible to objectively put a different lens inside the minds of supervisors when they face stressors at work, to feel pleasant or unpleasant, they can be trained to manage their negative feelings and keep their behaviours in check. Particularly, training managers to be more emotionally intelligent can help them not only achieve growth by overcoming challenges at work but also acknowledge and adapt their feelings to keep their behaviours in the workplace positive. In practical terms, this research can provide organisations with the knowledge required to nip the problem of abusive supervision in the bud, as prevention is always better than cure.

Harassment, Discrimination, and Assault: The Unseen Crisis in Fire Service Professions

Fire service professionals put their lives on the line every day serving their communities and are expected to perform their professional duties with kindness and compassion. However, behind closed doors, harassment and discrimination are widespread. Probationary periods filled with hazing rituals are used to test the mental toughness of new members. In many cases, this hazing behavior continues in the form of harassment, discrimination, and assault often targeting females in the workplace causing lasting consequences. 
 This study evaluates the prevalence of harassment, discrimination, and assault in fire service professions including both firefighters and emergency medical service personnel. Participants (n=305) were asked to report on various workplace behaviors involving their experiences with sexual harassment, discrimination, and assault. Results show that harassment, discrimination, and assault, particularly sexual assault, are pervasive within fire service professions, disproportionately targeting female employees. Findings suggest that women were statistically more likely to report incidents of harassment, discrimination and/or assault to their employers, less likely to feel their reports were handled appropriately by administrative personnel, and more likely to experience workplace sexual assault than their male colleagues.

Impact of, and mitigation measures for, burnout in frontline healthcare workers during disasters: A mixed-method systematic review.

Burnout is a global concern for the healthcare community, especially following a disaster response. It is a major obstacle to providing safe and quality health care. Avoiding burnout is essential to ensuring adequate healthcare delivery and preventing psychological and physical health problems and errors among healthcare staff. This study aimed to determine the impact of burnout on healthcare staff working on the frontline in a disaster context, including pandemics, epidemics, natural disasters, and man-made disasters; and to identify interventions used to mitigate burnout among those healthcare professionals before, during, or after the disaster. A mixed methods systematic review was used and included a joint analysis and synthesis of data from qualitative and quantitative studies. The was guided by the preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analyses (PRISMA) of qualitative and quantitative evidence. Several databases were searched, for example, Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, and CINAHL. The quality of included studies was assessed using the Mixed Method Appraisal Tool (MMAT), version 2018. Twenty-seven studies met the inclusion criteria. Thirteen studies addressed the impact of burnout in relation to disasters and highlighted the association between burnout and the physical or mental well-being of healthcare workers, work performance, and workplace attitude and behavior. Fourteen studies focused on different burnout interventions including psychoeducational interventions, reflection and self-care activities, and administering a pharmacological product. Stakeholders should consider reducing risk of burnout among healthcare staff as an approach to improving quality and optimizing patient care. The evidence points to reflective and self-care interventions having a more positive effect on reducing burnout than other interventions. However, most of these interventions did not report on long-term effects. Further research needs to be undertaken to assess not only the feasibility and effectiveness but also the sustainability of interventions targeted to mitigate burnout in healthcare workers.

A Process Perspective on Adaptive Performance: Research Insights and New Directions

Given its acceptance and value as an important facet of workplace behavior, research has primarily attempted to understand adaptive performance by way of examining its antecedents. Although useful, these findings provide little insight into the in-situ, intra-individual processes that occur during adaptive performance (i.e., How do people adapt to change? What determines the speed at which people adapt? How do failures to adapt occur?). The current paper develops and presents a process model of adaptation in order to provide a framework for organizing, understanding, and investigating the in-situ process involved when individuals adapt to changes in job demands. In particular, we suggest that in order to successfully adapt to a changing task environment, individuals must go through a series of processes in order to detect the nature of a change, diagnose its cause, develop or refine strategies, learn additional knowledge or skills, and enact appropriate performance behaviors. At the same time, dynamic emotional, cognitive, motivational, and situational factors serve as proximal inputs and outputs of these processes. In doing so, they shape the success and speed with which people adapt and suggest a broadened set of outcomes of adaptive performance. We describe how this model can be leveraged to stimulate dynamic adaptive performance research and to promote adaptive performance in applied settings.

Light magic at workplace due to empowering leadership: situation strength conceptions for intrapreneurial behaviour

PurposeThe present study enriches the person-situation debate by developing and testing a theoretical model on the nexus between empowering leadership (EL) and intrapreneurial behaviour (IB) in the presence of a strong organisational situation of perceived organisational support (POS).Design/methodology/approachCross-sectional survey data collected from 237 engineers working for Pakistani automakers were used to evaluate the suggested theoretical framework. The survey results were analysed using the partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) method.FindingsThe results from the analysed data revealed a significant and positive relationship between EL and IB. POS significantly moderate the relationship between EL and IB as per the conceptualisation of situation strength theory (SST) and is established as a strong organisational situation that generates situational cues for IB outcomes from employees.Originality/valueThe present study provides new insights into determining employees' workplace behaviour as viewed from the organisational situations. Hence, top management in organisations can create a conducive environment by improving employees' POS for valued work behaviours like IB.

Research on the impact of cultural differences in the workplace between China and Japan

Cultural differences generally refer to differences that arise due to regional similarities and differences or the unique cultures of people in different places. Such differences can be beneficial to a certain extent, but at the same time they can also be fraught with dangers and challenges. With the globalisation of the economy, more and more people have the opportunity to work in multinational companies or in cross-cultural teams, which provides more opportunities for people in the workplace to learn and grow, and increases their competitiveness and market value, but it can also affect the efficiency and effectiveness of communication, cooperation, decision-making and innovation. In order to explore this, the GLOBAL project was chosen as an entry point to analyse workplace behaviour in China and Japan, exploring the difficulties and ways of coping with cultural differences in the Chinese and Japanese workplace, based on the dimensions of contextual culture and event perceptions respectively.

Sweat the Small Stuff, How Small Incidents of Negative Workplace Behavior Lead to Larger Misconduct

Small losses, measurable incremental negative workplace behaviors that do not align with organizational and societal norms often trigger a dynamic, magnifying process that produces greater undesirable outcomes, which once started, can often result in a downward spiral. Quickly addressing small problems can prevent minor misconduct and wrongdoing from escalating into greater difficulties later that can appear unstoppable. Failure to tackle the small issues and big problems will often follow. Managers should celebrate small victories or wins but also need to address small losses. Just as small wins can result in significant organizational gains, small losses can result in business losses.

Exploitative leadership and counterproductive work behavior: a discrete emotions approach

PurposeIntegrating appraisal theories of discrete emotions with the emotion regulation literature, this study aims to explore the relationships between exploitative leadership and certain types of counterproductive workplace behavior (CWB). Besides, this study seeks to examine the mediating roles of discrete emotions (i.e. anger and fear) and the moderating role of cognitive reappraisal within the proposed relationships.Design/methodology/approachBased on time-lagged survey data from 440 Chinese employees, this study conducted hierarchical regression analysis and bootstrapping approach to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe results revealed that exploitative leadership was positively related to approach-oriented CWB and avoidance-oriented CWB. In addition, this study found that anger mediated the relationship between exploitative leadership and approach-oriented CWB, whereas fear mediated the relationship between exploitative leadership and avoidance-oriented CWB. Further, cognitive reappraisal buffered the positive effects of exploitative leadership on anger and fear and the indirect effects of exploitative leadership on approach-oriented CWB (via anger) and avoidance-oriented CWB (via fear).Practical implicationsManagers should reduce leaders' exploitation and enhance employees' skills on emotional management and cognitive reappraisal.Originality/valueFirst, by verifying the effects of exploitative leadership on both approach-oriented and avoidance-oriented CWB, this study adds to the literature on exploitive leadership and provides a more complete understating of the relationship between exploitative leadership and workplace deviance. Second, this study enriches the understanding of the process through which exploitative leadership affects employees by demonstrating the novel mediating roles of discrete emotions (i.e. anger and fear) through the lens of appraisal theories of discrete emotions. Third, by verifying the moderating role of cognitive reappraisal, this study provides insights into the boundary conditions of the influences of exploitive leadership.

How Spiritual Leadership Influences Creative Behaviors: the Mediating Role of Workplace Climate

Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between spiritual leadership and creative behavior with workplace climate as mediating variable in the Jordanian banking. Theoretical framework: The purpose of this study, which extends the theories of intrinsic motivation and social exchange, is to acquire a deeper knowledge of the mechanisms underlying the relationship between spiritual leadership and innovative workplace behavior. Design/methodology/approach: The study used quantitative research approach through a survey based on random sampling method from (n= 358) employees of 13 Jordanian commercial banks in Amman. For purposes of analysis, structural equation modeling was then utilized for the examination of the research hypotheses. Findings: The results of the research indicated that workplace climate mediates the link between spiritual leadership and creative behavior. Specifically, greater levels of creative behavior among employees were related to spiritual leadership, as was a favorable working environment. Research, Practical & Social implications: The study offers managerial and theoretical implications while considering the study’s limitations to provide guidance for the future. Originality/value: The study identifies the magnificent influence of spiritual leadership and the workplace climate by delineating how these factors stimulate creative behaviors among employees. Specifically, the study focuses on how spiritual leadership and the workplace climate stimulate creative behaviors among employees. We examine the consequences of these findings for both research and practice.

The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on work connectivity behavior.

Based on event system theory, this study analyzed the influence of the event strength of major public health outside the organization on work connectivity behavior. The study collected data from 532 employees on their psychological status and working style during the COVID-19 pandemic through an online questionnaire survey. The results show that driven by financial risk perception, female employees are more willing to pay work connectivity behavior than male employees and unmarried employees are more willing to pay work connectivity behavior than married employees. The risk perception of employees aged 28-33 has the greatest impact on workplace behavior. The impact of financial risk perception on behavior of employees without children is much higher than that of employees with children. The influence of financial risk perception and social risk perception on their behavior of employees with master's degree is much higher than that of health risk perception, but the workplace behavior of employees with doctor's degree is mainly affected by health risk perception. The novelty of the Corona Virus Disease event has a negative influence on work connectivity duration. The criticality, disruption of the Corona Virus Disease event has a positive influence on work connectivity duration. The criticality of the Corona Virus Disease event has a positive influence on work connectivity frequency. Employees' social risk perception, financial risk perception and health risk perception has a positive influence on the work connectivity duration and work connectivity frequency.

Perceiving intraorganizational mobility ameliorates the effects of low-level position on detrimental workplace attitudes and behaviors

How do the perceived chances to get a better position in a company affect how individuals feel and behave towards their employer? Confirming the theory of relative deprivation, recent research showed that social mobility belief has attenuating effects on anger about one's relative social standing. When an individual believes they can change their current social status, negative affect about one's disadvantaged standing is appeased compared to when people believe the present hierarchy is fixed. We tested this model in a workplace context, examining whether perceived intraorganizational mobility ameliorates the effects of a low position at work on negative workplace attitudes (Study 1) and behavior (Study 2). Study 1 (n = 498) found that indeed, perceiving chances of promotion weakened the association of position at work with hostile affect towards the employer. Expanding this model to provide a direct test of the theory of relative deprivation, we designed a moderated mediation model testing whether the effect of workplace position on counterproductive work behaviors was mediated by relative deprivation, and whether this indirect effect was moderated by perceived chances of promotion. As hypothesized, Study 2 (n = 408) found that perceiving chances of promotion attenuated the detrimental effect of workplace position via relative deprivation on counterproductive work behaviors. Effects in both studies occurred independently of company hierarchy, salary, educational attainment, sex, and job sector. Overall, the results suggest that perceiving potential for individual promotion is linked to lower levels of negative workplace attitudes and counterproductive work behaviors.

Abusive Workplace Behavior: Behavioral and Legal Insights

Abusive Workplace Behavior: Behavioral and Legal Insights

Supporting Bystanders and Other Staff Exposed to Negative Workplace Behaviour: Developing and Testing the IMO Intervention Framework in the Clinical Workplace.

Medical student and health-care staff bullying remain international concerns. Our understanding about what might solve such problems is still developing. A common approach suggested for bystanders to bullying is that they challenge or "stand up" to the bully. At the same time, the considerable risks should they act (eg, verbal rebuke) are rarely acknowledged, and neither is the potential for considerable cognitive dissonance should they choose not to. Drawing on a substantial literature review, we developed an interventional program, initially with medical student bullying in mind, that generally employed a discourse for values cultivation. We implemented and evaluated this program through 6 cycles of action research methodology in 6 different departments of one tertiary teaching hospital. Data include individual interviews, discussions with key participants plus freehand comments from wider staff's workshop evaluations. Alongside others, an early serendipitous finding was the "IMO" [Indirect, focus on Me, focus on Outcome] framework, intended for bystanders to student bullying. From using this framework, participants reported developing confidence in tackling negative behaviours, that interactions had better outcomes and that the workplace atmosphere felt more relaxed. It's use also significantly reduced cognitive dissonance. Encouragingly, participants went on to use IMO for staff-staff bullying incidents, and other common negative behaviours. We attribute IMO's utility to its memorability, simplicity and for catering to the many possible causes of bullying, including values issues, without perpetuating or creating conflict. The IMO framework is offered as a widely usable framework for all staff in a clinical environment - a useful addition to popular frameworks used in the clinical workplace, ideas from which might also help these be further refined. Further evaluation would establish whether IMO invites long-term change and its utility in other contexts.

A Study of the Relationship between Safety Perceptions and Mindfulness

It is well known that the construction industry has a high rate of workplace accidents, resulting in complex legal situations and legal cases. Researchers are debating whether the majority of workplace accidents and injuries are the result of employees' unsafe work practices or unsafe working conditions. In this context, it has been determined that we must comprehend the trait predictors of safety behaviors, which influence workplace accidents and injuries. This study's primary objective is to identify the factors that influence safety behavior in construction workplaces. In previous studies, the effects of employee perceptions of safety culture on safety behavior performance were typically measured with the aid of various mediators. This study, unlike previous ones, focuses on revealing the mediating effect of employee mindfulness perceptions in the relationship between safety culture and safety behavior. Using a sample of 387 employees from the Turkish construction industry, a 58-item survey was conducted to determine the impact of safety culture perception and mindfulness on self-reported safety behavior. A structural equation model was used to analyze and explain the relationships between the proposed framework's constructs. The results of the study indicate that safety culture is associated with safety behavior, and that mindfulness mediates this relationship. There are significant relationships between employees' perceptions of safety culture, mindfulness, and safety behavior, according to the findings. Safety culture and mindfulness are significant predictors of safety behaviors, and mindfulness is an essential personal resource for a successful safety-focused organization.

The Effect of “Carrot and Stick” Formal Control on Deviant Workplace Behaviour: A Proposed Framework

Some recent news media and studies reports indicate that deviant workplace behaviours, such as excessive absenteeism, extortion, and the recently publicised sexual harassment of female students, known as “sex for grades”, are prevalent on some campuses in Nigeria and other west African nations. To mitigate these behaviours, this study proposes a testable model of formal control with some theoretical, practical, and managerial implications. The article is a conceptual study that generates research propositions from an extensive literature review and the precepts of general deterrence and social exchange theories. The paper proposed a carrot-and-stick framework that shows that deterrence factors (punishment certainty, punishment severity and punishment celerity) and motivational elements (contingent reward) negatively influence deviant workplace behaviour and the relationship is stronger in an organisation controlled by transactional leadership behaviour. Practically, this paper attempts to help school administrators and policymakers to change the current strategies in fighting the menace of employee deviance by adopting an approach that uses well-validated negative and positive stimulants that mitigate unproductive behaviour at work. Proposing a well-tested approach, hitherto known only in information systems security, to mitigate deviant workplace behaviours in an educational context and a specific setting is one of the noble contributions of this paper. The paper is conceptual, though. However, the propositions made are theoretically grounded, but they need to be tested in the proposed context and setting. Future research can extend the conceptual framework by further validating the propositions and adding mediators in the proposed relationships. Other implications and recommendations were discussed.