Interpersonal Harmony Research Articles

간호대학생을 위한 대인관계조화 프로그램의 효과

간호대학생을 위한 대인관계조화 프로그램의 효과

How Can Indigenous Research Contribute to Universal Knowledge? An Illustration with Research on Interpersonal Harmony

AbstractThe indigenous perspective can provide a more complete, in‐depth, and accurate account of psychological phenomena for a given culture, but a major issue is that indigenous research tends to be ignored by researchers from other cultures. Chinese researchers who conduct research on indigenous issues may find it hard to publish in major English‐language journals. This paper explores how Chinese indigenous research is able to contribute to universal knowledge. Chinese are characterized by a relational and collectivistic orientation, whereas theories in the West tend to have a self‐focus, primarily due to its individualistic culture. However, most psychological research conducted in the Chinese context is guided by Western theories, which likely results in incomplete understanding of Chinese behavior. A relational perspective can augment Western theories and facilitate the contribution of Chinese indigenous research to new theory development. To illustrate this possibility, this article summarizes current indigenous research on two harmony motives, and shows how such research can contribute to a compelling refinement and extension of social exchange theory.

Structure and Mechanism of Organizational Interpersonal Harmony in Chinese Business

Harmony is not only an important value in traditional Chinese culture, but also a key to social development in modern Chinese society. In this study, I explored the theoretical structure and influence of organizational interpersonal harmony on organizational commitment and turnover intention. Interviews with 52 Chinese managers revealed 3 dimensions of interpersonal harmony. An organizational interpersonal harmony scale was then developed and pretested on 117 employees. Further, I conducted a field study of 480 employees from 8 Chinese organizations to test a 2-hierarchy structure of organizational interpersonal harmony. Using hierarchical regression, I found that organizational interpersonal harmony had a positive impact on organizational commitment and a negative impact on turnover intention.

Interpersonal harmony and creativity in China

SummaryThis research examined the influence of interpersonal harmony on employee creativity in China. The dualistic model of harmony differentiates harmony enhancement, a genuine desire for a harmonious and mutually beneficial interpersonal relationship, from disintegration avoidance, a tendency to avoid the disruption of an interpersonal relationship to protect self‐interest. A survey in China showed that the harmony enhancement motive had a positive relationship, and the disintegration avoidance motive had a negative relationship, with creativity mediated by creative effort. Reward for creativity showed different moderating effects on the two mediated relationships, such that it mitigated the positive relationship between harmony enhancement and creativity mediated by creative effort, and buffered the negative relationship between disintegration avoidance and creativity mediated by creative effort. We replicated some major findings with a multi‐wave survey study and provided direct evidence for the underlying mechanisms that account for the opposite relationships between the two harmony motives and creative effort. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The impact of organizational commitment and leadermember exchange on nurses' organizational citizenship behavior

Objective The study aimed to explore the relationship between organizational commitment, leader member exchange and nurses' organizational citizenship behavior based on an empirical study. Methods A total of 264 nurses recruited from four general hospitals were investigated with the Organizational Commitment Scale, Leader-Member Exchange Scale, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior Scale. Results Affective organizational commitment and leader-member exchange correlated with every factor of organizational citizenship behavior. Both affective organizational commitment and leader member exchange predicted the variance of identification with organization 0.29, altruism toward colleagues 0.06, interpersonal harmony 0.09, protecting organizational resources 0.12, and conscientiousness 0.28. Conclusions Affective organizational commitment and leader-member exchange had a positive influence on nurses' organizational citizenship behavior, thus, hospital managers should strengthen nurses' affective organizational commitment and leader-member exchange to promote their organizational citizenship behaviors. Key words: Nurse; Leader; Organizational commitment; Organizational citizenship behavior

Beyond Risk-Taking

In addition to risk-taking behavior, we propose that psychological safety also promotes prosocial behavior through cooperative goal interdependence. To differentiate these two types of effects, we contrasted the moderating effects of two interpersonal harmony motives. A survey in China supported the indirect effect of psychological safety on helping behavior through cooperative goal interdependence. This mediated relationship was moderated by harmony enhancement such that the mediated effect of psychological safety was weaker when harmony enhancement was high. Psychological safety was positively related to innovative behavior, and this relationship was moderated by disintegration avoidance such that it was weaker when disintegration avoidance was high. These results shed light on the different effects of psychological safety and their underlying mechanisms.

Japanese Control Strategies Regulated by Urgency and Interpersonal Harmony

People use control strategies to improve their physical as well as interpersonal situations. Previous research has maintained that Japanese, compared with North Americans, are more oriented toward secondary control (changing oneself) than primary control (changing one’s circumstances). However, Heckhausen and Schulz’s work suggests dominance of primary control over secondary control across cultures. The conflicting views regarding Japanese control orientations are reconciled by considering situational variation. Based on an extended framework of primary control, two empirical studies examined the alternative hypothesis that control orientation would be affected by perceived urgency and concern about harmony maintenance. Study 1 used open-ended questions ( n = 171) to validate the extended primary control taxonomy, and revealed that participants’ control orientations were influenced by their subjective urgency of control and perceived difficulty in maintaining interpersonal harmony. Study 2 ( n = 246) replicated the latter results with Likert-type scale ratings. These results support the extended framework of primary control and identify two situational predictors of control orientation.

Voluntary settlement and its consequences on predictors of happiness: the influence of initial cultural context.

Hokkaido—a northern island of Japan that was settled by ethnic Japanese during the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century—may remain to be a hybrid of interdependent culture of the mainland Japan and independent culture associated with frontier settlement. We thus anticipated that contemporary Hokkaido residents would exhibit either independent or interdependent psychological profiles depending on the types of behaviors that were required in a given situation. As expected, happiness was associated with positive disengaging emotions (e.g., pride in the self)—an independent profile—in situations that required personal goal pursuit and interpersonal influence; however, happiness was associated with positive engaging emotions (e.g., feelings of closeness)—an interdependent profile—in situations that required interpersonal harmony and adjustment. In contrast, such situational dependency was not observed for either mainland Japanese or Americans. For mainland Japanese happiness was associated with positive engaging emotions whereas for Americans happiness was associated with positive disengaging emotions.

Loneliness and Subjective Well-Being Among Chinese Undergraduates: The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy

Previous studies have shown a negative relationship between loneliness and one’s subjective well-being. However, it has not been fully examined within the Chinese context which highlights the importance of social relationship and interpersonal harmony for one’s life, and the mechanism between them has not been thoroughly explored. Based on social cognitive theory, this study examined the main effects of loneliness on individuals’ stress, depression, and life satisfaction, as well as the mediating effect of self-efficacy between them. Survey data were obtained from 444 Chinese undergraduates. The results of multiple regressions revealed that loneliness was negatively correlated with life satisfaction and positively correlated with stress and depression. Moreover, self-efficacy partially mediated the relationship between loneliness and stress, as well as depression, and fully mediated the relationship between loneliness and life satisfaction. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

The influence of the psychological contract on the performance of inter-organizational networks: perspetive from behaviors of organizational citizenship

The objetive of this article is to show, conceptually, the relevance of the psychological contract in the performance of the functioning of inter-organizational networks, through its influence on the emergence of behaviours of organizational citizenship. The work contract can be perceived in two ways: the formal contract, described in the form of a written work contract, and the other, the informal and implicit psychological contract. A more favourable psychological contract is related to high levels of commitment and performance, making collaborators show a set of actions that are not directly related to their main functions, but which are important in modelling the organizational, social and psychological context that serves as a catalyst for task activities and processes. Various studies have revealed that organizations where behaviours of organizational citizenship are more marked show better indicators of effectiveness. It seems obvious to assume that organizational citizenship behaviours influence positively the performance of inter- organizational networks. But will it in fact be possible to establish some relationship between the results of inter-organizational networks and organizational citizenship behaviours, associated with organizational effectiveness? We explore the conceptual relationship between the dimensions of organizational citizenship – inter-personal harmony, spirit of initiative, conscientiousness and identification with the organization – and the results associated with the functioning of inter-organizational networks – strategic and economic benefits, learning and knowledge, innovation and transformations in the environment. After presentation of a conceptual model of analysis, we also present propositions to be explored in future investigations within this area of knowledge.

Psychological ownership, organization-based self-esteem and positive organizational behaviors

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of organizational psychological ownership (OPO) and organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) on positive organizational behaviors (POBs).Design/methodology/approach– Based on empirical survey, 2,566 employees from 45 production enterprises in China were surveyed by a self-designed questionnaire on OPO, OBSE and POB. Then, the methods of correlation analysis, multiple regressions, impact effect and path analysis were used to verify the research hypothesis.Findings– The results showed that POB is positively related to OPO and OBSE, and that OPO and OBSE are positive predictors of POBs. The results also demonstrated that OBSE has partial mediating effects on OPO and POB. In particular, psychological ownership has a significant impact on each sub-factor of POB, while OBSE has a remarkable effect on the behavior of devotion and interpersonal harmony.Research limitations/implications– This is a non-experimental field study and as such inferences about causality are limited, and there is a possibility that the results may be influenced by common method variance.Practical implications– The findings of the present study reveal that to strengthen employees’ POBs, manager should enhance employees’ OPO and OBSE, and therefore the organizational performance and the individual efficacy will be improved.Originality/value– This is the first research which studies the relationship among OPO, POB and OBSE under the background of China.

A dispositional approach to psychological climate: Relationships between interpersonal harmony motives and psychological climate for communication safety

This study examined the dispositional antecedents of a climate at the individual level, psychological climate for communication safety. The impact of two interpersonal harmony motives, harmony enhancement and disintegration avoidance, on psychological climate for communication safety, innovative performance and the moderated mediated processes associated with job autonomy were examined in a survey study in China. Results showed that harmony enhancement was positively related to innovative performance through psychological climate for communication safety. Moreover, job autonomy moderated the relationship between harmony motives and psychological climate for communication safety. Harmony enhancement was more strongly associated with psychological climate for communication safety when job autonomy was low. The relationship between disintegration avoidance and psychological climate for communication safety was positive when job autonomy was high, but negative when job autonomy was low. Conditional indirect effects consistent with these interaction effects were also found.

Suppression and interpersonal harmony: A cross-cultural comparison between Chinese and European Americans.

Based on Markus and Kitayama's (1991) theory, this study was conducted to examine whether the association between emotional suppression and interpersonal harmony would be moderated by cultural group (i.e., Chinese and European Americans) and an Asian cultural value (i.e., emotional self-control). A total of 451 college students (205 Chinese and 246 European Americans) participated in this study. As expected, results indicated that the association between emotional suppression and interpersonal harmony was significantly positive for Chinese but not significant for European Americans. Similarly, when emotional self-control was examined as a moderator, the results still confirmed our hypotheses. That is, the association between emotional suppression and interpersonal harmony was significantly positive for those with stronger endorsement of emotional self-control but not for those with weaker endorsement of emotional self-control. Furthermore, we examined whether the above results could be replicated when forbearance (a construct similar to suppression) and distress disclosure (a construct opposite to suppression) were examined. The results showed the same pattern for forbearance and distress disclosure when cultural group or emotional self-control served as the moderator. The convergence of findings increased the robustness of our results. Finally, our data suggest that individuals from Eastern, interdependent cultures (e.g., Chinese) tend to value emotional suppression to preserve interpersonal harmony; individuals from Western, independent cultures may or may not necessarily suppress their emotions for this purpose. A comprehensive understanding of the different meanings of a specific strategy (i.e., emotional suppression) in different cultural contexts is important to promote effective cross-cultural counseling.

The Development of the Interpersonal Harmony Scale for Private Class in Korean Military

The Development of the Interpersonal Harmony Scale for Private Class in Korean Military

“I’m sorry, flower”

Apologies have long been considered an important social action in many languages for dealing with frictions of everyday interaction and restoring interpersonal harmony in response to an offense. Although there has been an increasing amount of research on apologies in non-Western languages, little research involves children. Japan is an interesting case in which to examine apologies. In particular, Japan has been called a “culture of apology” in the sense that speakers often ‘apologize’ (ayamaru) in a wide range of communicative contexts. This article examines children’s socialization to a culture of apology as evidenced by a large corpus of audiovisual recordings made over the last decade in households, playgrounds, and a preschool in Japan. In particular, it examines ways Japanese caregivers (e.g. parents, preschool teachers) use the expressions Gomen ne and Gomen-nasai ([I’m/We’re] sorry) when addressing third parties, including not only other people (e.g. children’s peers) but also a range of entities in the surround (e.g. animals, supernatural objects, objects in the environment such as a stone), and ways they prompt children to say these expressions to such third parties. This analysis suggests that apology situations are an important site through which children are socialized to empathy and relationships in the social world. It also examines ways children use these expressions when addressing peers and inanimate objects, and ways they prompt others including peers and even on occasion adults to say them. These findings suggest that while children deploy strategies in ways that reflect the socialization process, they also deploy them in ways that construct this process in creative ways.

Study on Ancient Chinese Ecological Thoughts in Traditional Festivals and Festival Systems

This paper states six ecological thoughts and concepts in ancient China by exploring and analyzing Chinese traditional festivals and festival systems from three aspects, including the relevance between festival systems and traditional agriculture (human and nature,Natural Ecology); the relationship between the people embodied in the ancient traditional festival (interpersonal harmony,Humanistic Ecology); and the Chinese religions involved with conventional ceremonial ritual (Harmony-Integration). This article reveals that a close study of ancient Chinese ecological thoughts has vital significance to construct a harmonious society in China and solve the present ecological crisis.

The Development of the Interpersonal Relation Harmony Scale for Middle School Students

The Development of the Interpersonal Relation Harmony Scale for Middle School Students

Harmony: A Chinese Construct for Extending the Social Exchange Framework

Two Chinese indigenous constructs describing people's motives for maintaining interpersonal harmony, i.e., harmony enhancement (interpersonal harmony as an ideal) and disintegration avoidance (avoi...

Organizational citizenship behavior in Chinese society: a reexamination

Organizations in emerging economies such as China have attracted an increasing amount of research attention during the past few decades, and it is time to scrutinize findings from earlier studies. In this paper, we test the psychometric soundness of a widely used indigenous measure of organizational citizenship behavior in the Chinese context developed by Farh, Earley, and Lin ((1997), ‘Impetus for Action: A Cultural Analysis of Justice and Organizational Citizenship Behavior in Chinese Society,’ Administrative Science Quarterly, 42, 421–444). Using multiple samples from Mainland China, we performed systematic tests of the content validity, discriminant validity, factorial validity and nomological validity of this five-dimension measure. We found that their two culture-specific dimensions, namely (harm to interpersonal) harmony and (personal use of organizational) resources, in fact measure the construct of deviant behavior, and cannot prove the existence of indigenous contents. We discuss our results in light of the ongoing convergence–divergence debate, and provide suggestions to further improve the quality of indigenous research.

Fight or flight? Competing discourses of individualism and collectivism in runaway boys’ interpersonal relationships in India

An examination of interpersonal relationships of runaway youth in varying cultural contexts provides an important glimpse into processes that help construct their personhood. Informed by Relational Dialectics Theory (RDT; Baxter, 2011), this ethnographic study explored competing discourses that animate the meaning of personhood in conflict communication of runaway boys in India. A discourse of individualism with accompanying themes of individual rights, fairness, and protection of self-worth dominated youths’ communications with peers, with secondary emphasis on interpersonal harmony. In contrast, a discourse of collectivism along with themes of respect for elders and non-expression were privileged over individual desires in the relationships between runaway youth and adults. A nuanced understanding of what it means to be a child in the context of relationships in India emerged.