Information Processing Perspective Research Articles

Feeling safe to be empowered: Psychological safety and psychological empowerment in threatening work environments

Jobs are changing. Less routinized and more knowledge-intensive and creative jobs call for psychologically empowered employees. To achieve results in complex jobs, employees need to work together. Working together with others comes with interpersonal risks such as conflict, misunderstandings, and competition. Psychological safety captures the extent to which people feel safe to face these interpersonal risks. Based on the social information processing perspective, we shed light on when workers feel psychologically safe to be empowered. We investigate two complexities of this relationship to explain variations in the relationship: differences regarding the four dimensions of psychological empowerment (i.e. meaning, competence, self-determination, and impact) and influences from threats in the environment (i.e. global crises and perceived subgroups in the team). To test the hypotheses, we utilized data from three studies in working samples. Results indicate that employees indeed need to feel safe to be empowered. This relationship varies depending on the psychological empowerment dimension in focus and depending on the presence of threats in the environment. The findings shed light on precursors and boundary conditions to psychological empowerment in a complex and interdependent working world. Practitioners should be aware that under certain circumstances, employees need to feel psychologically safe to be empowered.

CEO Cross-Sector Work Experience and Public–Private Partnership Formation of Private Firms in China

Abstract As the need for collaboration across multiple organizations to deal with complex social issues such as poverty, crime, and public health grows, Public–Private Partnership (PPP) is of increasing importance. However, little is known about when and why private firms engage in such partnerships. Drawing on upper-echelon theory and the information-processing perspective, we highlight the importance of institutional knowledge and information embedded in CEO cross-sector work experience. We argue that such tacit knowledge and information enables CEOs to better identify the potential risks associated with PPPs. Consequently, CEOs with cross-sector work experience tend to be more cautious in participating in such partnerships, especially in developing economies like China, where private actors face greater information incompleteness concerning post-collaboration hazards due to the government's selective disclosure. Moreover, we develop a multi-moderator framework in which regional marketization and political connection alter the main effect by serving as supplementary information channels for private actors. A panel dataset of Chinese private listed firms from 2013 to 2021 provides strong support for our hypotheses. This study contributes to our understanding of the micro-foundation of PPP formation and draws attention to CEOs’ prior career experiences in different organizational forms.

Logistics distribution model and storage planning design based on multi-source information positioning in smart city development

The research mainly focuses on the inefficient planning of autonomous distribution and storage modes of distribution vehicles in smart city logistics and distribution, which in turn leads to poor customer experience, rising distribution costs, and wasted distribution resources. From the perspective of information processing in the logistics distribution process, the study takes multi-angle and multi-source information collection and fusion processing strategy as the main basis to help smart delivery robots realize map construction and autonomous positioning in the distribution process, and then facilitate real-time logistics distribution and storage mode planning by robots in combination with their own states. The research results show that the algorithm accuracy, standard error, and average running time of the extended Kalman filter localization model designed in the study are 0.96, 1.52, and 105s, respectively, with the algorithm accuracy being the highest and the other two values being the lowest in its class. Meanwhile, in the simulation logistics planning, the research-designed logistics planning model has the strongest information capturing ability, and the planning of distribution routes and storage modes is more reasonable, which can provide more efficient autonomous planning solutions.

Perceived internal corporate social responsibility and employees' proactive behavior: The mediating role of intentions to start personal projects and the moderating role of perceived external prestige

AbstractThis study deepens our understanding of the micro‐level processes underlying the relationship between employees' internal corporate social responsibility (CSR) perceptions (perceived internal CSR) and their proactive behavior. Drawing on the self‐regulation and social information processing perspectives, we propose that perceived internal CSR enacts employees' intentions to start personal projects within the organization. We contend that this relationship is contingent upon employees' perceptions of the external prestige of the organization. Additionally, we argue that this interplay influences employees' proactive behavior, specifically innovative and risk‐taking actions. Employing a multimethod approach, comprising a multisource field study involving 640 employee‐supervisor dyads and a two‐by‐two experimental design with 152 respondents, our findings demonstrate a positive association between perceived internal CSR and employees' intentions to start personal projects. This effect is stronger when employees perceive the organization as highly prestigious. As predicted, this interaction positively influences innovative and risk‐taking behaviors. This research provides valuable insights into the nuanced dynamics between internal CSR and proactive behavior, offering implications for scholars and practitioners in human resource development.

Exploring the Impact of Mindful Leadership on Employee Green Creativity in Manufacturing Firms: A Social Information Processing Perspective.

Increasingly, manufacturing enterprises are compelled to pursue innovative solutions to environmental issues. Addressing such issues requires mindful leadership to support employees and organizations in maintaining awareness during complex situations, which then promotes environmental sustainability. Drawing on social information processing theory, this study theorizes and tests the relationships between mindful leadership, employee moral reflectiveness, environmental passion, and employee green creativity. To test the model, we utilize a two-wave multisource dataset comprising 215 workers from manufacturing firms in China. The findings demonstrate that mindful leadership has a positive relationship with employee green creativity. Additionally, our research reveals that both moral reflectiveness and environmental passion serve as mediators in linking mindful leadership to employee green creativity. Crucially, our empirical analysis suggests a serial mediation model, examining the sequential role of moral reflectiveness and environmental passion in the relationship between mindful leadership and employee green creativity. The findings provide a new viewpoint on employees' eco-friendly behaviors and have practical implications for improving environmental sustainability within organizations.

The impact of digitalization on operational risk: An organizational information processing perspective

Digitalization has emerged as a mitigation tool for business risks. However, digitalization has not been effectively utilized because the mechanism of digitalization mitigating risks is still in the dark box. Drawing upon organizational information processing theory, we propose that digitalization reduces operational risk through internal control systems and supply chain networks (SCN). Based on the data of Chinese public firms from 2010 to 2019, we confirm that both improving internal control system quality and reducing SCN centrality are effective vehicles to help digitalization combat operational risk. Specifically, a high degree of digitalization leads to high-quality internal control systems, which, in turn, leads to low operational risk. Inversely, digitalization increases SCN centrality, which, in turn, leads to high operational risk. Furthermore, the positive mediation effect of SCN centrality is significantly more substantial than the negative mediation effect of internal control system quality. Subsequent moderating effect analysis shows that diversification does not impact the mediation effect of internal control system quality but strengthens the mediation effect of SCN centrality. This study deepens the understanding of the risk mitigation effect of digitalization and offers meaningful metrics for managers to prevent firms from suffering unexpected risks.

Is Leader Humor a Life Buoy in the Workplace Waves? A Social Information Processing Perspective

Is Leader Humor a Life Buoy in the Workplace Waves? A Social Information Processing Perspective

Empowering Leadership and Proactive Behavior: A Social Information Processing Perspective

Empowering Leadership and Proactive Behavior: A Social Information Processing Perspective

A Motivated Information Processing Perspective on Team Leaders’ Responses to Employee UPB

A Motivated Information Processing Perspective on Team Leaders’ Responses to Employee UPB

‘Are ad endorsements really annoying?’ The impact of advertising in short-form tourism videos on tourists’ information processing

ABSTRACT Short-form tourism videos show high effectiveness in online destination marketing. However, some disruptive factors (i.e. embedded endorsement advertisements) diminish their marketing effectiveness by burdening the viewer’s cognitive processing and breaking one’s online interactive experience with the original tourism-related content in the video. Using a between-subjects online experimental design and 354 valid data from short-form video users, this study explored the effect of interruption by advertisements on the cognitive experience evoked by information stimuli from the perspective of information processing. This study also assessed the difference in short-form tourism video information processing between disturbed and undisturbed situations. In general, results revealed that the formation of destination-related mental imagery in short-form tourism videos is influenced by information processing fluency, and co-predicted both the attitudes and behavioural intentions of travel consumers. Meanwhile, the presence of advertising information in short-form videos notably obstructed users’ information processing fluency as well as the formation of mental imagery, and it also attenuated their destination visit intentions. This study provides a theoretical basis for the moderate interpretation of endorsement advertisements in short-form tourism videos and sheds light on insights related to tourism marketing strategies for short-form tourism videos for relevant practising practitioners.

How Narcissism and Susceptibility to Emotional Contagion Affect Belief in Fake News on Social Media from a Dual Information Processing Perspective: A Hybrid SEM and ANN Approach

Objectives: To answer who believes in fake news and provide strategies to combat it, we examined how narcissism and susceptibility to emotional contagion influences belief in fake news on social media through heuristic and systematic processing; we also evaluated the moderating effect of media literacy. In addition, we ranked the relative importance of these factors to belief in fake news. Methods: We used a hybrid structural equation modeling (SEM) and artificial neural networks (ANN) approach to analyze data collected from 347 respondents in an online survey. Results: The SEM results showed that narcissism and susceptibility to emotional contagion positively influenced heuristic and systematic processing, thus positively influencing belief in fake news. Media literacy moderated the relationship between systematic processing and belief in fake news. Conclusion: The ANN results indicated that narcissism is a more critical factor for belief in fake news. ANN predicted belief in fake news with an accuracy of 99.9%.

Building resilience or maintaining robustness: Insights from relational view and information processing perspective

Drawing upon the relational view and information processing perspective, we investigate how supply chain integration (SCI) comprising supplier integration and customer integration influence supply chain risk management (SCRM) practices embracing supply chain (SC) resilience and supply chain (SC) robustness, and subsequently influence supply chain (SC) performance. We further examine how big data analytics (BDA)-enabled agility moderates the impacts of SCI on SC resilience and SC robustness. Based on data collected from 121 match-paired surveys of manufacturing firms in China, we find that supplier integration positively impacts SC resilience, whereas customer integration positively impacts on SC robustness. BDA-enabled agility complements supplier integration while substitutes customer integration to improve SC resilience and SC robustness. Besides, our results reveal that SC resilience and SC robustness both improve SC performance, and SC robustness mediates the relationship between SC resilience and SC performance.

Religion, spirituality, and susceptibility to conspiracy theories: examining the role of analytic thinking and post-critical beliefs

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the political and scholarly attention on conspiracy theories. Among other predictors, religious and spiritual influences on conspiracy beliefs have been widely discussed in the literature. We suggest analyzing the relationship between religion and spirituality on the one hand and conspiracy beliefs on the other hand from the perspective of religious information processing. Based on the Post-Critical Beliefs Scale (PCBS), we argue that literal interpretations of religious information are positively associated with conspiracy beliefs. Furthermore, we assume that individual differences in analytic cognitive style account for the relationship between religious attitudes, spirituality, and conspiracism. Using a quota sample of German adults, we find that literal interpretations of religious content positively correlate with conspiracy beliefs for the literal affirmation of transcendence (e.g., orthodoxy) and the literal disaffirmation of transcendence (e.g., atheism). These findings suggest that religious information processing is related to conspiracy beliefs for religious and nonreligious individuals. Moreover, our results show a stable association between holistic spirituality and conspiracy beliefs. The relationships between different types of religious attitudes, spirituality, and conspiracy beliefs hold, even after accounting for analytic (versus intuitive) thinking. The implications for the study of religious attitudes and conspiracy beliefs are discussed.

How does humble leadership stimulate employees’ service improvisation in hospitality? A social information processing perspective

PurposeDrawing on social information processing theory (SIP), this paper examines whether and how humble leadership affects employees' service improvisation (ESI) in the hospitality industry. Further, the study investigates the mediating role of psychological safety and the moderating role of creative self-efficacy (CSE).Design/methodology/approachTo test the proposed relationships, the study adopts a cross-sectional design, administering questionnaires to 456 frontline staff in Egypt’s hospitality industry across three main sectors: restaurants, hotels and travel agencies. SPSS 27 and AMOS 22 were used for statistical analysis.FindingsThe study reveals a positive relationship between humble leadership and ESI, partially mediated by psychological safety. Furthermore, CSE not only strengthens the relationship between psychological safety and ESI but also enhances the indirect effect of humble leadership on ESI via psychological safety.Practical implicationsThe study offers valuable insights for practitioners in the hospitality industry. To boost ESI, organizations can incorporate humble leadership attributes into their leadership development programs. Fostering a psychologically safe workplace would facilitate the positive impact of humble leadership on ESI. Recognizing CSE as a pivotal moderator underscores the importance of strategically selecting and developing employees with high CSE. These insights aim to cultivate a more service-oriented and effective workforce in the hospitality industry.Originality/valueThis study significantly contributes to leadership research in the hospitality industry by uncovering a previously unexplored link between humble leadership and ESI. Exploring psychological safety as a mediator and CSE as a moderator enhances our comprehension of how and when humble leadership influences ESI.

The mediating role of information integration: information technology capabilities and supply chain resilience in Ugandan agro-food processing firms

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the relationship between information technology (IT) capabilities, information integration and supply chain resilience within the context of a developing country.Design/methodology/approachEmploying a structured questionnaire survey, the study collected cross-sectional data from 205 agro-food processing firms in Uganda, drawn from a sample of 248. The data were subsequently analyzed using SPSS version 27 to validate the hypothesized relationships.FindingsThe study findings revealed that IT capabilities and information integration are positively and significantly associated with supply chain resilience. Moreover, it established a positive and significant link between IT capabilities and information integration. The results further revealed both IT capabilities and information integration account for 62.2% of the variance in supply chain resilience (SCRES) in agro-food processing firms in Uganda. Notably, the findings revealed the partial mediating role of information integration, addressing the need to understanding the mechanisms through which IT capabilities influence SCRES.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, the study used a cross-sectional design which makes it difficult to test causality. Some of the study variables need to be studied over time due to their inherent behavioral elements such as collaboration and information sharing. Hence, future research that could, where possible, collect longitudinal data on the study variables would add value to the findings. Second, the study was limited to agro-food processing firms in Uganda in selected districts of Kampala, Wakiso, Mukono and Jinja. Further research needs to be done in other sectors such as service industry and other geographical locations in Uganda and other developing economies to provide more generality of the findings. Third, the study was based on IT capabilities, information integration and supply chain resilience. There are other variables that affect supply chain resilience such as business continuity planning strategy, interactions between teams within an organization in building resilience, supply chain velocity, system orientation and flexibility among others which can be interesting for further research.Practical implicationsManagers are advised to motivate their IT-related personnel. Efficient use of IT systems by staff, especially who are skillful at self-study, enhances their ability to respond to disruptions accordingly. This enhances SCRES. Additionally, to get feedback from supply chain stakeholders, agro-food processing firms should assess the quality of their supply chain services through using IT capabilities as well as integrating their information.Originality/valueThis study contributes to existing literature by adopting information processing perspective to provide an empirical understanding of IT capabilities and information integration as key resources and capabilities essential for information processing in building SCRES. Furthermore, the study introduces the novel insight of the mediating role of information integration as a pathway in which IT capabilities enhance SCRES in agro-food processing firms in Uganda.

Conscientiousness and perceived ethicality: Examining why hierarchy of authority diminishes this positive relationship

AbstractHuman resource (HR) managers hire conscientious employees because they are both productive and are viewed as upholding high ethical standards due to their propensity to engage in voice. Organizations may strive to create a work context conducive to all employees acting ethically, not just conscientious ones, by centralizing decision‐making authority and promoting formalization through a higher hierarchy of authority. Yet, we propose that from the social information processing perspective, in higher hierarchy of authority contexts, peers may view their highly conscientious colleagues as less ethical. We hypothesize these effects through the lens of trait activation theory, according to which in a higher hierarchy of authority context, others are less likely to notice the voice behaviors of conscientious employees. Problematically, when others fail to notice conscientious employees' voice, they may perceive these workers as being less ethical. We tested our hypothesized moderated mediation model in a matched sample of employees (N = 820), their supervisors (N = 445), and peers (N = 529). As predicted, hierarchy of authority moderated the positive relationship between conscientiousness and voice, which in turn explained others' perceptions of their ethicality. Conscientiousness was positively related to peer assessments of ethicality via promotive (not prohibitive) voice when hierarchy of authority was lower (but not higher), partially supporting our hypotheses. These results suggest HR practitioners should be cognizant of the differential evaluations of highly conscientious employees in contexts with different levels of hierarchy of authority, and continuing challenges associated with balancing flexibility and formalization.

Impacts of leader anger expressions on newcomer proactive career behavior and work alienation in the construction industry

PurposeDespite the growing body of empirical research on leader anger expressions, the issue of how and when leader anger expressions shape newcomers’ proactive career behavior and work alienation in the construction industry has been largely overlooked. Building upon social information processing theory, this research identifies newcomers’ organization-based self-esteem as a mediator, and suggests that newcomers’ performance goal orientation could moderate the relationship.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire study was conducted on the construction industry in China, and the PROCESS program developed by Hayes was used to test the hypothetical model with 215 valid cases.FindingsThe results suggest that leader anger expressions are negatively associated with newcomers’ organization-based self-esteem, and organization-based self-esteem mediated the link between leader anger expressions and newcomers’ proactive career behavior and work alienation. Furthermore, the newcomers’ performance goal orientation moderates the negative impact of leader anger expressions on newcomers’ organization-based self-esteem.Research limitations/implicationsDue to the cross-sectional nature of this study, causal implications are difficult to draw. Moreover, all data we received was based on participant self-reports, which may raise concerns about common method variance.Originality/valueIn this paper, we contribute to a deeper understanding of the mediating mechanisms and boundary conditions by which leader anger expressions influence newcomers’ proactive career behavior and work alienation from social information processing perspective, in addition to providing valuable insights for management of newcomers in the construction industry.

EEG generation mechanism of lower limb active movement intention and its virtual reality induction enhancement: a preliminary study.

Active rehabilitation requires active neurological participation when users use rehabilitation equipment. A brain-computer interface (BCI) is a direct communication channel for detecting changes in the nervous system. Individuals with dyskinesia have unclear intentions to initiate movement due to physical or psychological factors, which is not conducive to detection. Virtual reality (VR) technology can be a potential tool to enhance the movement intention from pre-movement neural signals in clinical exercise therapy. However, its effect on electroencephalogram (EEG) signals is not yet known. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to construct a model of the EEG signal generation mechanism of lower limb active movement intention and then investigate whether VR induction could improve movement intention detection based on EEG. Firstly, a neural dynamic model of lower limb active movement intention generation was established from the perspective of signal transmission and information processing. Secondly, the movement-related EEG signal was calculated based on the model, and the effect of VR induction was simulated. Movement-related cortical potential (MRCP) and event-related desynchronization (ERD) features were extracted to analyze the enhancement of movement intention. Finally, we recorded EEG signals of 12 subjects in normal and VR environments to verify the effectiveness and feasibility of the above model and VR induction enhancement of lower limb active movement intention for individuals with dyskinesia. Simulation and experimental results show that VR induction can effectively enhance the EEG features of subjects and improve the detectability of movement intention. The proposed model can simulate the EEG signal of lower limb active movement intention, and VR induction can enhance the early and accurate detectability of lower limb active movement intention. It lays the foundation for further robot control based on the actual needs of users.

Does competitive action intensity influence team performance via leader bottom-line mentality? A social information processing perspective.

Leader bottom-line mentality (LBLM) exists when leaders solely focus on securing bottom-line outcomes to the exclusion of alternative considerations. Our research examines why leaders adopt LBLMs and the implications of this focused leadership strategy on team sales performance and pro-environmental behavior. Utilizing social information processing theory, we examine LBLM as a mediator and contend that competitive action intensity in the work environment provokes LBLM, which then signals to teams the importance of raising sales performance and reducing pro-environmental behavior. We also suggest that leader performance reward expectancy (i.e., perceptions that rewards are directly tied to high performance) serves as a first-stage moderator and team performance reward expectancy serves as a second-stage moderator, with higher (vs. lower) levels of each strengthening the indirect effects of competitive action intensity, through LBLM, onto team sales performance and pro-environmental behavior. Utilizing field data from a large pharmaceutical company (Study 1) as well as an experimental causal chain design (Studies 2a and 2b), we found support for our theoretical model. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The effect of total sleep deprivation on working memory: evidence from diffusion model.

Working memory is crucial in human daily life and is vulnerable to sleep loss. The current study investigated the impact of sleep deprivation on working memory from the information processing perspective, to explore whether sleep deprivation affects the working memory via impairing information manipulation. Thirty-seven healthy adults attended two counterbalanced protocols: a normal sleep night and a total sleep deprivation (TSD). The N-back and the psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) assessed working memory and sustained attention. Response time distribution and drift-diffusion model analyses were applied to explore cognitive process alterations. TSD increased the loading effect of accuracy, but not the loading effect of response time in the N-back task. TSD reduced the speed of information accumulation, increased the variability of the speed of accumulation, and elevated the decision threshold only in 1-back task. Moreover, the slow responses of PVT and N-back were severely impaired after TSD, mainly due to increased information accumulation variability. The present study provides a new perspective to investigate behavioral performance by using response time distribution and drift-diffusion models, revealing that sleep deprivation affected multicognitive processes underlying working memory, especially information accumulation processes.