‘If They Don’t Listen to Us, they Deserve It’: The Effect of External Efficacy and Anger on the Perceived Legitimacy of Hacking

We conducted two studies examining the factors underlying individuals’ legitimization of hackers (digital actors operating on the internet). Drawing on the social banditry framework, and research on political action, we focused on the mediating role of anger in the association between external political efficacy and perceived legitimization of hackers’ actions. Specifically, we manipulated whether the system was responsive to participants’ demands following unfair treatment in a university (Study 1) and in an online work platform (Study 2) context. In Study 1 (N = 259) British undergraduate students read about unfair ‘grading’ practices. They were then informed that the management was either willing (high external political efficacy) or unwilling (low external political efficacy) to investigate the matter. In Study 2 (N = 222), British participants were recruited via Prolific Academic and were presented with a scenario describing an unfair rejection of their work. They were then informed that the platform admin was either willing or not willing to investigate their case. Across studies, participants were informed that hackers had attacked the website. Supporting the social banditry framework, results indicated that individuals who perceive the system as unresponsive to their demands tended to legitimize hackers’ actions via stronger perceived anger against the system. Implications of the results, and future directions are discussed

The Impact of Privacy and Security Attitudes and Concerns of Travellers on Their Willingness to Use Mobility-as-a-Service Systems

This paper reports results from an online survey on the impact of travellers' privacy and security attitudes and concerns on their willingness to use mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) systems. This study is part of a larger project that aims at investigating barriers to potential MaaS uptake. The online survey was designed to cover data privacy and security attitudes and concerns as well as a variety of socio-psychological and socio-demographic variables associated with travellers' intentions to use MaaS systems. The study involved n = 320 UK participants recruited via the Prolific survey platform. Overall, correlation analysis and a multiple regression model indicated that, neither attitudes nor concerns of participants over the privacy and security of personal data would significantly impact their decisions to use MaaS systems, which was an unexpected result, however, their trust in (commercial and governmental) websites would. Another surprising result is that, having been a victim of improper invasion of privacy did not appear to affect individuals' intentions to use MaaS systems, whereas frequency with which one heard about misuse of personal data did. Implications of the results and future directions are also discussed, e.g., MaaS providers are encouraged to work on improving the trustworthiness of their corporate image

Service User Experiences of the Humber and North Yorkshire Resilience Hub

With increasing workplace pressures within the NHS, the Humber and North Yorkshire Resilience Hub offers support to health, care, and emergency service staff in the Humber and North Yorkshire region. The Resilience Hub provides priority access to confidential and independent services for a range of mental health issues with the aim of supporting staff in staying at work, returning to work, and being more productive at work. This report assesses service user experiences among health and care workers, and other professionals accessing the service, with the aim of informing and improving future service delivery

Team Interventions for Burnout, Resiliency, and Psychological Safety in Healthcare Settings: Systematic Literature Review, Evaluation, and Meta-Analysis

Resiliency Hubs were established as a response to the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and efforts to enhance the support available to an NHS workforce that, based on available data, were already displaying signs of decreasing morale and increasing absenteeism and intention to leave their jobs. A network of Resiliency Hubs now exists with a broader and longer-term purpose – to support and develop all staffs’ resilience and well-being, and to allow staff to be effective and remain in their work. Evaluation of these services is a continuous process, necessary to ensure their ongoing quality and enhancing provision. The current project was commissioned by the Humber, Coast and Vale Resiliency Hub as part of this process. The project was undertaken by an external team of researchers with the aim of providing a systematic review, evaluation, and meta-analysis of team-based interventions that could be used by the Humber, Coast and Vale Resiliency Hub as an evidence-base to inform the team/organisation pathway of their service

Power Moderates the Effects of Social Dominance Orientation on Punishment: An Experimental Analysis

In this study, it was hypothesized that experimentally manipulated levels of power would moderate the association of dispositional social dominance orientation (SDO) with preferences for harsh punishment. In particular, we expected to detect a stronger effect for dispositional SDO in the low-power condition, relying on the notion that low power enhances sensitivity to threats to the status quo, and that high SDO individuals are particularly motivated to enforce hierarchy-enhancing measures as punishment. SDO scores were measured two months prior to the experiment, and then immediately after the experimental session. As expected, preexperimental SDO interacted with the power manipulation. We found stronger preexperimental SDO effects on punishment among low-power participants. We also anticipated and found that individuals high in SDO increased further their postexperimental SDO scores if assigned to a high-power condition. The discussion focuses on the importance of SDO effects among low-status groups and on how situational roles shape dispositional self-descriptions

Social Banditry: How authorities' irresponsiveness fosters support for vicarious dissent

Individuals who cannot directly express their discontents against an unjust system may instead support groups that disrupt the system through deviant, transgressive or even criminal actions. These groups are defined as 'social bandits', and their actions may be construed as a form of vicarious protest. Very little research has examined what drives individuals' support for social bandits. This thesis focused on hackers, groups operating on the internet often illegally. Seven experiments examined the circumstances in which individuals were more likely to support hackers engaging in disruptive and criminal actions. Experiments 1-2 examined whether individuals were more likely to support hackers that attacked a corrupt (either ingroup or outgroup) authority. Results indicated that individuals legitimized hackers more strongly when they attacked an ingroup corrupt authority. Experiments 3-4 extended these findings focusing on the role of an institution' responsiveness. In two different contexts (online work platform and university), participants who dealt with an institution irresponsive to their grievances were more likely to experience anger and, subsequently, legitimize hackers' attacks. Experiments 5-6 explored the role of schadenfreude. These experiments showed how both government corruption (studies 5 and 6) and low government responsiveness (study 6) may trigger schadenfreude in response to hackers' attack, and stronger support for hackers. Experiment 7 consolidated previous findings and explored the role of identification with an aggrieved group. In this study, low responsiveness elicited anger and schadenfreude, which then predicted increased support for hackers. Results also revealed an interaction effect of identification with an aggrieved group participants belonged to, and emotions on the legitimization of hackers; individuals who identified more strongly with the aggrieved group expressed lower anger and schadenfreude and consequently lower support for hackers (Study 7). Theoretical implications for the emerging field of research on social bandits are discussed, in addition to future directions for research

Social Banditry How Authorities’ Irresponsiveness fosters Support for Vicarious Protest - PhD Thesis Maria Sophia Heering

Individuals who cannot directly express their discontents against an unjust system may instead support groups that disrupt the system through deviant, transgressive or even criminal actions. These groups are defined as ‘social bandits’, and their actions may be construed as a form of vicarious protest. Very little research has examined what drives individuals’ support for social bandits. This thesis focused on hackers, groups operating on the internet often illegally. Seven experiments examined the circumstances in which individuals were more likely to support hackers engaging in disruptive and criminal actions. Experiments 1-2 examined whether individuals were more likely to support hackers that attacked a corrupt (either ingroup or outgroup) authority. Results indicated that individuals legitimized hackers more strongly when they attacked an ingroup corrupt authority. Experiments 3-4 extended these findings focusing on the role of an institution’ responsiveness. In two different contexts (online work platform and university), participants who dealt with an institution irresponsive to their grievances were more likely to experience anger and, subsequently, legitimize hackers’ attacks. Experiments 5-6 explored the role of schadenfreude. These experiments showed how both government corruption (studies 5 and 6) and low government responsiveness (study 6) may trigger schadenfreude in response to hackers’ attack, and stronger support for hackers. Experiment 7 consolidated previous findings and explored the role of identification with an aggrieved group. In this study, low responsiveness elicited anger and schadenfreude, which then predicted increased support for hackers. Results also revealed an interaction effect of identification with an aggrieved group participants belonged to, and emotions on the legitimization of hackers; individuals who identified more strongly with the aggrieved group expressed lower anger and schadenfreude and consequently lower support for hackers (Study 7). Theoretical implications for the emerging field of research on social bandits are discussed, in addition to future directions for research

Moral identity, moral self-efficacy, and moral elevation: A sequential mediation model predicting moral intentions and behaviour

Witnessing acts of uncommon moral virtue can elicit feelings of moral elevation, which translate further into prosocial intentions and behaviour. Recent findings suggest that moral identity strengthens the elevation response after witnessing such acts. In the present paper, we propose that the positive relationship between moral identity and elevation is mediated by perceived moral self-efficacy (i.e. perceived ability to behave up to one's moral standards), as a result of the moral vicarious experience. We present a set of five studies that tested the effect of moral identity (either measured or manipulated) and moral self-efficacy on elevation, prosocial intentions, and behaviour, following exposure to an act of uncommon virtue. Results supported a sequential mediation model: the positive effect of moral identity on elevation was mediated by moral self-efficacy; and elevation then mediated the effect of moral identity on prosocial intentions (Studies 3a-3b-4) and behaviour (Study 4). Implications and limitations are outlined

Distrustful complacency and the COVID-19 vaccine: How concern and political trust interact to affect vaccine hesitancy

We test the hypothesis that COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is attributable to ‘distrustful complacency’ – an interactive and not just additive combination of concern and distrust. Across two studies, 9695 respondents across 13 different parts of Britain reported their level of concern about COVID-19, trust in the UK government, and intention to accept or refuse the vaccine. Multilevel regression analysis, controlling for geographic area and relevant demographics, confirmed the predicted interactive effect of concern and trust. Respondents with both low trust and low concern were 10%-22% more vaccine hesitant than respondents with either high trust or high concern, and 20%-29% more hesitant than respondents with both high trust and high concern. Results hold equally among White, Black, and Muslim respondents, consistent with the view that, regardless of mean level differences, a common process underlies vaccine hesitancy, underlining the importance of tackling distrustful complacency both generally and specifically amongst unvaccinated individuals and populations

Changes in political trust in Britain during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020: integrated public opinion evidence and implications

In this paper, we document changes in political trust in the UK throughout 2020 so as to consider wider implications for the ongoing handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. We analysed data from 18 survey organisations with measures on political trust (general, leadership, and COVID-19-related) spanning the period December 2019-October 2020. We examined the percentage of trust and distrust across time, identifying where significant changes coincide with national events. Levels of political trust were low following the 2019 UK General Election. They rose at the onset of UK lockdown imposed in March 2020 but showed persistent gradual decline throughout the remainder of the year, falling to pre-COVID levels by October 2020. Inability to sustain the elevated political trust achieved at the onset of the pandemic is likely to have made the management of public confidence and behaviour increasingly challenging, pointing to the need for strategies to sustain trust levels when handling future crises