Are virtues national, supranational, or universal?
Many studies investigated cultural differences in values, most notably by Hofstede and Schwarz. Relatively few have focused on virtues, a related and important concept in contemporary social science. The present paper examines the similarities and differences between nations, or blocks of - culturally related - nations on the perceived importance of virtues. Adults (N = 2.809 students) from 14 countries were asked to freely mention which virtues they found important to practice in daily life, and next to rate a list of 15 virtues, which reflect the most frequently mentioned categories in The Netherlands, as found in a previous study. The 14 nations included the United States, Mexico, nine E…
How does job insecurity relate to self-reported job performance? Analysing curvilinear associations in a longitudinal sample
The study focuses on the relationship between job insecurity and self-reported job performance. Based on theoretical, empirical, and statistical arguments, we propose that this relationship is U-shaped and mediated by vigour at work. This assumption was tested cross-sectionally and across two measurement points, and against two alternative explanations, namely that the U-shaped relationship might be due to the influence of the moderators optimism and supervisory support. The findings of a study among a large group of job-insecure employees of two Finish universities ( n = 2,095) confirm the U-shaped effect of job insecurity on self-reported job performance. This effect was shown to be robus…
Does job insecurity threaten who you are? Introducing a social identity perspective to explain well-being and performance consequences of job insecurity
Summary This paper introduces a social identity perspective to job insecurity research. Worrying about becoming jobless, we argue, is detrimental because it implies an anticipated membership of a negatively evaluated group—the group of unemployed people. Job insecurity hence threatens a person's social identity as an employed person. This in turn will affect well-being and job performance. A three-wave survey study amongst 377 British employees supports this perspective. Persons who felt higher levels of job insecurity were more likely to report a weaker social identity as an employed person. This effect was found to be stable over time and also held against a test of reverse causality. Fur…
Factor Structure and Longitudinal Factorial Validity of the Core Self-Evaluation Scale
Abstract. The personality high-order concept of core self-evaluations (CSE), which refers to a basic evaluation of one’s worth, capability, and effectiveness, has attracted a lot of research interest. Yet little is known about the construct validity of the core self-evaluation scale (CSES) while information on its longitudinal factorial validity is wholly lacking. This study investigated the factor structure of the CSES using both confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis implemented in Mplus program. In addition, the factor loading invariance over time was investigated using exploratory structural equation modeling. Longitudinal data with three follow-ups over 2 years, gathered among u…
Toward an understanding of a healthy organizational change process : A three-wave longitudinal study among university employees
This study aimed to improve our understanding of what constitutes a healthy organizational change process among university employees. Positive attitudes and proactive participation toward organizational change were presumed to affect and be affected by personality resources measured via core self-evaluations and work-related motivational well-being (vigor). The study used 3-wave longitudinal data collected in 2 large Finnish universities during their recent process of organizational change (N = 926). Structural equation modeling was used to establish the direction of the relationships between the variables. The results showed that high levels of both core self-evaluations and vigor were ass…