Cognitive-affective Processing System Research Articles

Does extremes lead to opposites? The influence mechanism of specific ambivalent emotions on tourists’ travel intention

ABSTRACT Emotions are an important basis for decision making, and their influence is increasingly attracting attention from the academic community. However, existing research mainly focuses on the impact of a single emotion on people and lacks information on the impact of ambivalent emotions. Based on the Cognitive-Affective processing system theory, this study explores tourists’ willingness to travel, while experiencing the emotions of hope and anxiety through two situational experiments. This study used the Sojump platform to recover data, and a total of 200 valid samples were collected in Experiment 1 to explore the chain-mediating role of proactive coping and well-being. A total of 240 valid samples were collected in Experiment 2, which verified the boundary conditions of the interaction between hope and anxiety on tourists’ willingness to travel. The results broaden the theoretical research on tourism ambivalence and provide a reference source for tourism companies to use ambivalence in precision marketing.

How Does Digital Leadership Foster Employee Innovative Behavior: A Cognitive-Affective Processing System Perspective.

Employee innovative behavior is crucial for organizations to engage in innovative activities and gain competitive advantages in the context of digital transformation. Despite many studies having focused on the relationship between leadership and employee innovative behavior, the role of digital leadership and the underlying mechanisms for employee innovative behavior remain unclear. Using the cognitive-affective processing system framework, the study investigated the dual mediating role of psychological empowerment and affective commitment between digital leadership and employee innovative behavior and the moderating role of a proactive personality in such relationships. Employing data from 359 employees, the study conducted structure equation modeling to examine the hypotheses. The results show that digital leadership influences employee innovative behavior through psychological empowerment but not affective commitment. Furthermore, a proactive personality does not moderate the direct effect of digital leadership on psychological empowerment and affective commitment or the indirect effect of digital leadership on employee innovative behavior. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Do office tyrants and centralized decision making drive workplace creative behaviours?

Based on affective events theory and the cognitive–affective processing system, this study explores indirect positive and negative effects of perceived abusive supervision on employee creativity through employees' affective reactions at work and how the centralization of decision making can moderate the associations between employee‐perceived abusive supervision and anxiety/anger. Using a cross‐lagged panel method to collect an effective sample of 200 employee participants which provided three‐week survey data, we tested causality between research variables with a structural equation modelling analysis using Mplus 8.0. The findings showed that a positive effect on employee creativity may occur when an employee experiences anxiety rather than anger when subject to abusive supervision. In addition, the influence of employee‐experienced abusive supervision on employee anger increases when the organization has highly centralized decision making, which hinders employees' creative performance. Theoretically and practically, this study contributes interesting and somewhat conflicting views to three areas of management literature—abusive supervision, employees' affective reactions and creativity management—including challenging the supposition that only uplifting styles of leadership can encourage employees to create new ideas.

(Don’t) mind the gap? Information gaps compound curiosity yet also feed frustration at work

Although information gaps frequently occur in the workplace, surprisingly little organizational research considered their psychological consequences for employees. We refine the information gap theory by integrating it with the cognitive-affective processing system (CAPS) framework to argue that work-related information gaps constitute a double-edged sword for work engagement because they elicit both specific curiosity and frustration. We find support for our cognitive-affective process model of information gaps across two experience-sampling studies and an experimental study. In Study 1 (74 employees, 270 days), we validated a work-related information gap scale to empirically disentangle information gaps from specific curiosity. In Study 2 (107 employees, 719 days), information gaps were positively associated with specific curiosity and frustration, which in turn had differential effects on work engagement. In Study 3 (405 employees across two conditions), we provide causal support for our model and rule out alternative cognitive (i.e., boredom) and affective (i.e., thriving) mechanisms.

The relationship between perceived corporate environmental responsibility and employees' pro‐environmental behavior: A moderated serial mediation model

AbstractIn order to achieve corporate sustainable development, it is an effective way to emphasize the development of employees' pro‐environmental behavior at the microlevel. This study examined the relationship between perceived corporate environmental responsibility (CER) and employees' PEB and its mechanisms based on the cognitive‐affective processing system (CAPS) theory. Data were collected from 300 employees in the manufacturing and logistics industries in two stages in this study, with a whole‐group sampling method. The results showed that (1) perceived CER is positively correlated with employees' PEB; (2) environmental internal motivation and harmonious environmental passion play a serial mediating role between perceived CER and employees' PEB; (3) person–organization fit moderates the serial mediating path through which perceived CER influences employees' PEB via environmental internal motivation and harmonious environmental passion, by enhancing the positive influence of perceived CER on environmental internal motivation, such that the higher the level of person–organization fit, the stronger the positive serial mediating effect. This study provides a valuable interpretation for understanding the relationship between perceived CER and employees' PEB from both cognitive and affective perspectives, and provides new ideas for intervening in employees' PEB to achieve corporate sustainable development.

How do idiosyncratic deals influence innovation performance? From the perspective of coworker.

In the hypercompetitive marketplace, contemporary organizations incorporate the diversity of talents into job design (i.e., offering idiosyncratic deals), in order to meet the unique needs of talented employees and achieve the purpose of attracting, motivating, and retaining them. Based on the cognitive-affective processing system framework, this study aims to explore the effect of coworkers' perceptions of employees' idiosyncratic deals (CPEID) on coworker innovation performance, the mediating role of thriving at work, and the moderating role of humility. Two-wave data were obtained from 248 employees of 15 China firms. The findings suggest that (a) CPEID increase coworker innovation performance by fostering coworker learning; (b) CPEID decrease coworker innovation performance by undermining coworker vitality; (c) Coworker humility not only positively moderates the relationship between CPEID and coworker learning, but also positively moderates the indirect effect of coworker learning between CPEID and coworker innovation performance; and (d) the moderating role of coworker humility is not significant in the relationship between CPEID and coworker vitality. This study provides a theoretical explanation for whether CPEID have both positive and negative effects on coworker innovation performance, and extends boundary conditions of idiosyncratic deals (i-deals). Besides, the findings inspire managers to make reasonable use of the positive role of i-deals.

The “Double-Edged Sword” Effects of LMX Ambivalence———An Integrated Model of Two Approaches Based on Cognitive Flexibility and Job Anxiety

Bootleg Innovation helps enterprises create unconventional innovation achievements, and has gradually become an important approach for radical innovation under the background of open innovation. Through the integration of the cognitive-affective processing system and conservation of resources (COR) theory, the present study takes integrative complexity as a moderator, and explores the mechanism of LMX ambivalence on employees' bootleg innovation. A total of 387 employees and 110 supervising managers participated in the two-wave dyadic survey. To test our hypotheses, we performed the hierarchical regression and conducted bootstrapping analyses to test our hypotheses. Findings indicated that LMX ambivalence not only improves employees' cognitive flexibility and promotes bootleg innovation, but also aggravates employees' job anxiety and hinders bootleg innovation. In addition, integrative complexity significantly moderates the above two mediating paths. Specifically, when integrative complexity was higher, the negative mediating effect of job anxiety was attenuated, and the positive mediating effect of cognitive flexibility was enhanced. Contrasting with previous research, this research analyzed the triggering mechanism of bootleg innovation combined with the dynamic interaction of environmental stimulus, emotion and cognition. The findings provide novel insight into how to achieve bootleg innovation.

Do illegitimate tasks undermine hospitality employees’ proactive customer service performance? A moderated dual-path model

ABSTRACT As hospitality firms face labor shortages, employees are asked to perform a greater range of tasks than ever before. However, employees may view certain tasks as outside the acceptable boundaries of their role, and consider them illegitimate. Illegitimate tasks can have a range of negative outcomes, yet we still do not understand how such tasks affect hospitality employees. Drawing on the cognitive-affective processing system framework, we investigate the effects of illegitimate tasks on proactive customer service performance (PCSP) of hospitality employees. In addition, we examine the intervening roles of harmonious work passion and perceived insider status, and the buffering role of traditionality. The results of two studies, using mixed methods, show that illegitimate tasks negatively affected proactive customer service performance (PCSP), and that perceived insider status and harmonious work passion mediate this relationship. Moreover, traditionality moderated these effects. These findings offer several theoretical and practical implications.

Helping But Also Deviance! Why Does Promotion-Oriented Job Crafting Lead to Two Distinct Behaviors?

Although the positive effects of job crafting on task performance have been documented, we know little about its detrimental impacts. Drawing from the cognitive-affective processing system framework, we propose an integrative model that simultaneously considers the beneficial and detrimental effects of promotion-oriented job crafting on employee outcomes. We test this model using a multi-wave data collected from 288 employees. We find that employees’ promotion-oriented job crafting is positively related to positive affect, but it also incurs the perception of psychological entitlement. Positive affect then mediates the influence of promotion-oriented job crafting on helping behavior. And psychological entitlement mediates the impacts of promotion-oriented job crafting on workplace deviance. The implications of this study for the job crafting literature are discussed.

Malleable character: organizational behavior meets virtue ethics and situationism

This paper introduces a body of research on Organizational Behavior and Industrial/Organizational Psychology (OB/IO) that expands the range of empirical evidence relevant to the ongoing character-situation debate. This body of research, mostly neglected by moral philosophers, provides important insights to move the debate forward. First, the OB/IO scholarship provides empirical evidence to show that social environments like organizations have significant power to shape the character traits of their members. This scholarship also describes some of the mechanisms through which this process of reshaping character takes place. Second, the character-situation debate has narrowly focused on situational influences that affect behavior episodically and haphazardly. The OB/IO research, however, highlights the importance of distinguishing such situational influences from influences that, like organizational influences, shape our character traits because they are continuous and coordinated. Third, the OB/IO literature suggests that most individuals display character traits that, while local to the organization, can be consistent across situations. This puts pressure on the accounts of character proposed by traditional virtue ethics and situationism and provides empirical support to interactionist models based on cognitive-affective processing system theories of personality (CAPS). Finally, the OB/IO literature raises important challenges to the possibility of achieving virtue, provides valuable and untapped resources to cultivate character, and suggests new avenues of normative and empirical research.

Why do consumers buy impulsively during live streaming? A deep learning-based dual-stage SEM-ANN analysis

The power of livestreaming commerce to rake in billions of revenues within hours has thrust this nascent commercial model into the global spotlight; that said, despite the prevalence of impulsive buying in livestreaming commerce, the existing knowledge regarding the phenomenon remains relatively scarce. This research seeks to unravel the critical determinants that influence consumers’ impulsive buying in livestreaming. Grounded in the Stimulus-Organism-Response paradigm, a framework is proposed to elucidate the underlying mechanism on how parasocial interaction, social contagion, vicarious experience, scarcity persuasion, and price perception translate into impulsive buying urge and behaviour in livestreaming commerce via the cognitive-affective processing system. A self-administered online questionnaire survey was conducted with 295 respondents. The data collected was validated empirically through a multi-analytical hybrid structural equation modelling-artificial neural network (SEM-ANN) technique. The results reveal that parasocial interaction, vicarious experience, scarcity persuasion, and price perception can drive cognitive and affective reactions, which in turn, induce impulsive buying urge, subject to the boundary condition of impulsive buying tendency. In sum, the findings have drawn some insightful theoretical and practical implications that can facilitate the advancement of livestreaming commerce in the modern business arena.

The influence of entrepreneurial leadership on employee improvisation in new ventures: based on cognitive-affective processing system framework

PurposeEmployee improvisation is valuable in seizing opportunities, creating radically new ideas and dealing with unexpected events. It is increasingly important for new ventures in unpredictable environments. However, as an important organizational factor, the mechanism of leadership style on employee improvisation has not been fully explored. Against this background, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of entrepreneurial leadership on employee improvisation. Specifically, drawing on cognitive-affective processing system framework and regulatory focus theory, the study investigates the dual mediating role of workplace spirituality and positive affect between entrepreneurial leadership and employee improvisation and the moderating role of promotion focus in such relationships.Design/methodology/approachUsing time-lagged data from 327 leader–employee dyads from new ventures in China, the study tests all hypotheses using hierarchical multiple regression and bootstrapping analysis in IBM SPSS 26.0.FindingsThe results reveal that entrepreneurial leadership is positively related to employee improvisation, and this link is mediated by workplace spirituality and positive affect. Additionally, moderated path analysis indicates that promotion focus strengthens the direct effect of workplace spirituality and positive affect on employee improvisation and the indirect impact of entrepreneurial leadership on employee improvisation.Practical implicationsThe findings also provide some practical suggestions for managers on how to promote employee improvisation. Managers can promote employee improvisation by cultivating their entrepreneurial leadership. The results also constitute valuable information for new ventures in terms of suggesting steps that can be taken to promote employee improvisation in the workplace, particularly in regard to employees' cognition and affect. In addition, personality traits such as promotion focus should also be considered in recruitment.Originality/valueThe study makes an original contribution by showcasing the complex cognitive and affective mechanism of entrepreneurial leadership on employee improvisation. Through the dual mediating role of workplace spirituality and positive affect, the study expands the research results on employee improvisation and enriches the application of cognitive-affective processing system framework in the entrepreneurship field. The study also provides deeper insights into promotion focus research by exploring the boundary conditions of employee improvisation.

Is Abusive Supervision the Last Straw? The Buffering Role of Construal Level in the Association of Abusive Supervision With Withdrawal.

Drawing on the theory of cognitive-affective processing system and that of construal level, we propose a moderated mediation model illustrating the relationship among abusive supervision, shame, construal level, and work withdrawal. We tested this model with a two-source time-lagged survey of 387 employees from 129 work teams in central and East China. Results revealed that abusive supervision had a positive association with the emotion of shame and supported the mediating role of shame linking abusive supervision to work withdrawal. Besides, our findings supported the buffering effect of construal level on the shame-work withdrawal relationship as well as the indirect relationship between abusive supervision and work withdrawal channeled through the emotion of shame.

The Study on the Influence of Green Inclusive Leadership on Employee Green Behaviour.

As a result of the implementation of the “double carbon” strategy, the issue of how to encourage green behaviour has become a prominent one in society. According to the cognitive-affective processing system theory, this study constructs two paths through which green inclusive leadership influences employee green behaviours: the cognitive pathway mediated by pro-environmental goals clarity and the affective way mediated by green organization identification. Data analysis of 372 employees in chemical enterprises reveals that first, employees' perception of green inclusive leadership positively affects employee green behaviour; second, green inclusive leadership enhances employee awareness of environmental goals and green organization identification so that employees are more likely to behave environmentally; furthermore, green HRM practices positively moderate the relationship between green inclusive leadership and pro-environmental goals clarity, as well as positively moderate the relationship between green inclusive leadership and green organization identification. This study aims to provide theoretical and practical insight into how to promote the green development of organizations from the perspective of leadership style to facilitate green development.

The socio-cognitive theory of personality and its clinical applications

Personality is a cognitive-affective processing system, which, according to the socio-cognitive theory, creates four dimensions. They are reflected in the skills, beliefs, standards and goals of the individual, which are consistent and consistent patterns of behaviour.
 Self-efficacy judgments and self-patterns determine the choice of goals and persistence in achieving them. On the other hand, the emotions preceding and accompanying the achievement of goals affect coping with stress and problems.
 The review of the clinical and therapeutic applications of this theory included stress inoculation training, REBT rational emotive therapy, Beck's cognitive depression therapy, schema therapy and modelling methods. The great advantage of this theory is the possibility of verifying its theoretical assumptions and confirming their huge amount of research.
 Besides, it has a practical application as many types of cognitive-behavioural therapies have been developed on its basis.

The Dark Side of a Coworker Receiving Help

The majority of research on helping behavior has focused on the consequences for the helpers and receivers of this behavior, ignoring its consequences on third-party observers (i.e., the person who witnesses the helping event). We shift this predominant focus by investigating how a coworker receiving help impacts third-party observers. By integrating a cognitive-affective processing system framework and sociometer theory, we examined the negative cognitive and affective reactions to a coworker receiving help. Results from an experience sampling study showed that a coworker receiving prompts third-party observers to engage in withdrawal behaviors through their diminished self-esteem (cognitive response) and enhanced anxiety (affective response). Additionally, our results showed that the negative consequences of a coworker receiving help could be mitigated for employees with high (vs. low) team identification. This paper concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.

Effects of Supervisor Negative Feedback on Employees’ Feedback Management Behaviours

Studies on feedback management behaviours such as feedback-seeking behaviour (FSB) and feedback-avoiding behaviour (FAB) have developed relatively independently from the broader feedback literature. Little is known about how the feedback that individuals receive affects their subsequent feedback management behaviours. We propose an overarching framework that integrates conservation of resources theory with the cognitive-affective processing system framework to determine why and when supervisor negative feedback affects employees’ FSB and FAB. Data was collected at two points in time from 220 employees of a manufacturing enterprise in China. As anticipated, employee organisation-based self-esteem mediated the negative effects of supervisor negative feedback on employees’ FSB, while frustration mediated its positive effect on FAB. Leader-member exchange serves as a double-edged sword for employees, as it weakens the negative effects of supervisor negative feedback on employees’ organisation-based self-esteem, while strengthening the positive relationship between supervisor negative feedback and frustration. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Does personality affect the individual's perceptions of organizational justice? The mediating role of organizational politics

PurposeThe personality of an individual plays a vital role in the way an individual perceives organizational politics and justice in the workplace. However, there is meager research on how an individual's personality affects the perceptions of organizational politics and justice. This study endeavors to fill this gap by analyzing the mediating role of organizational politics perceptions on the relationship between Big Five personality dimensions and organizational justice by controlling various demographic variables. The study also proposes a benchmarking model that the policymakers can use to create positive organizational justice perceptions.Design/methodology/approachIn this cross-sectional research, the data were collected through a multi-stage random sampling technique from 493 faculty members working in four public universities of Punjab, India. Out of 493 employees, 76.9% of the employees were assistant professors, 12.0% were associate professors and 11.2% were assistant professors. 51.5% of the employees were female, and 48.5% of the employees were male. To test the proposed hypothesized relationships, a structural equation modeling technique was used.FindingsResults of the structural equation modeling showed that openness to experience, conscientiousness and extraversion have a negative relationship with perceptions of organizational politics. However, their relationship with perceptions of organizational justice is positive. Neuroticism has a positive relationship with perceptions of organizational politics, whereas it has a negative relationship with perceptions of organizational justice. Results also showed that high perceptions of organizational politics have a negative effect on employee's perceptions regarding organizational justice. The mediation analysis results showed that perceptions of organizational politics mediate the relationship between an individual's personality and perceptions of organizational justice.Originality/valueThere is a scant amount of research available that considers Big Five personality dimensions and organizational politics as the antecedents of organizational justice. Hence, the current study tries to fill this research gap by proposing a research model on antecedents and consequences of perceptions of organizational politics based on the cognitive-affective processing system (CAPS).

A Multi-Level, Sequential Mediation Model of Union Citizenship Behavior

A growing body of literature explores the effects of unions on union members’ behaviors. In this study, we offered a full picture of union members’ within-person psychological process via which union practices affect their members’ discretionary behaviors. Specifically, we utilized cognitive-affective processing system (CAPS) and social exchange theories to explore the effect of union practices on union citizenship behaviors and the affective and cognitive mechanisms explaining such effect. Using a sample of 287 employees and managers from 30 state-owned and foreign-invested firms in China, we empirically tested a multi-level, sequential mediation model of union citizenship behavior. Our findings show that unions affect their members’ citizenship behaviors via affective commitment first, and then, through the cognitive mechanism of union instrumentality. This study contributes to the literature by improving our understanding of how unions influence employees’ valuable noncontractual behaviors. It gives a first attempt to unpack the “black box” of union members’ citizenship behaviors by empirically examining the mediating roles of both affective and cognitive mechanisms. This study also provides theoretical guidance for stimulating the vitality and development of trade unions in Chinese enterprises.

Environmentally specific transformational leadership and team pro-environmental behaviors: The roles of pro-environmental goal clarity, pro-environmental harmonious passion, and power distance

Does environmentally specific transformational leadership promote team pro-environmental behaviors? If so, why and when? Using the cognitive-affective processing system framework, we explore the idea that environmentally specific transformational leadership facilitates team pro-environmental behaviors via team pro-environmental goal clarity and team pro-environmental harmonious passion separately and that such indirect relationships are stronger when the team power distance is high. We used three waves of data from 113 teams in six Chinese manufacturing organizations to test our theoretical predictions. The results of regression analyses show that environmentally specific transformational leadership is positively related to team pro-environmental behaviors; this relationship is parallel mediated by team pro-environmental goal clarity and team pro-environmental harmonious passion. Furthermore, the team power distance strengthens the above parallel mediation effects such that in teams with high levels of power distance, environmentally specific transformational leadership strongly provokes team members’ pro-environmental goal clarity, pro-environmental harmonious passion, and subsequent pro-environmental behaviors. These findings suggest that environmentally specific transformational leadership is an effective approach for organizations to improve their teams’ pro-environmental behaviors, particularly in the context of strong power distance.