University of Innsbruck, Department of Psychology, Innrain 52, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
University of Zurich, Department of Psychology, Psychology of Motivation, Volition and Emotion, Binzmuehlestrasse 14, Box 6, CH-8050 Zurich, Switzerland.
Acta Psychol (Amst). 2023 Apr;234:103848. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2023.103848. Epub 2023 Feb 2.
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.
个体对在公司获得更好职位的感知机会如何影响他们对雇主的感受和行为？ 最近的研究证实了相对剥夺理论，表明社会流动信仰对人们对相对社会地位的愤怒具有减弱作用。当个体相信他们可以改变自己目前的社会地位时，与人们相信目前的等级制度是固定的相比，对自己不利地位的消极影响会得到缓解。我们在工作场所环境中检验了这个模型，考察了个体感知到的组织内流动是否能减轻工作中地位低下对消极工作态度（研究 1）和行为（研究 2）的影响。研究 1（n=498）发现，确实，感知晋升机会削弱了工作地位与对雇主敌对情绪之间的关联。为了将这个模型扩展到对相对剥夺理论的直接检验，我们设计了一个调节中介模型，检验工作地位对反生产工作行为的影响是否通过相对剥夺来中介，以及这种间接效应是否受到感知晋升机会的调节。正如假设的那样，研究 2（n=408）发现，感知晋升机会通过相对剥夺减弱了工作地位对反生产工作行为的不利影响。这两项研究的结果都独立于公司等级、薪酬、教育程度、性别和工作领域。总的来说，研究结果表明，感知到个人晋升的可能性与较低水平的消极工作态度和反生产工作行为有关。
