That is how we do it around here: Levels of identification, masculine honor, and social activism against organized crime in the south of Italy

Masculine honor is an important cultural code in the south of Italy. Italian criminal organizations (COs) manipulate and exploit this code to maintain legitimacy among local populations and exert social control in the territory where they operate. This research tested the hypothesis that different levels of identification—the region and the nation—would have opposite associations with male honor-related values and, indirectly, with intentions to oppose COs collectively. Results from a sample of young southern Italians (N?=?170) showed that regional identification positively predicted endorsement of male honor-related values, which in turn were associated with lowered intentions to oppose COs. In contrast, national identification negatively predicted male honor-related values, associated in turn with stronger intentions to oppose COs. These results also held when perceived risk and social dominance orientation were taken into account. Directions for future research are discussed

Ethics Versus Success? The Acceptance of Unethical Leadership in the 2016 US Presidential Elections

Before and after the 2016 US Presidential Election, this research examined Trump and Clinton supporters’ attributions about behavior of each leader, both of whose ethicality had been publicly questioned. American voters (N = 268) attributed significantly more dispositional factors to the outgroup leader than to the ingroup leader. Moreover, when the ingroup candidate won the election (i.e., among Trump supporters), unethical leadership subsequently became more acceptable and there was less desire to tighten the election process when dealing with unethical candidates. The opposite pattern was found among voters whose ingroup candidate lost the election (Clinton supporters). The results and implications are discussed

The role of organisational structure and deviant status in employee’s reactions to and acceptance of workplace deviance

Purpose: To examine the role of deviant status (lower vs. higher rank) and organizational structure (vertical vs. horizontal) on individuals’ responses to workplace deviance. Design/methodology/approach: Two studies (N = 472) were designed to examine the role of deviant status and organizational structure in responses to workplace deviance. Study 1 (N = 272) manipulated deviant status and organizational structure. Study 2 (N = 200) also manipulated deviant status but focused on participants’ subjective evaluations of the organizational structure of their workplace. Findings: Study 1 found that participants reported lower job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and higher turnover intentions when they imagined being confronted with deviant behaviors displayed by a manager (vs. by a subordinate), regardless of the type of organizational structure. Study 2 extended this finding by showing that the indirect effect of organizational structure (vertical vs. horizontal) on turnover intention via job satisfaction and organizational commitment was moderated by deviant status: when the deviant’s status was higher, working in a vertical (vs. horizontal) organization was associated with decreased job satisfaction and commitment, which in turn was associated with a higher level of turnover intentions. Originality/value: The findings broaden our understanding of how individuals respond to deviance at the workplace, by simultaneously considering the effects of organizational structure (vertical vs. horizontal) and deviant status (upward vs. downward directions of deviance)

Mental Simulation and The Individual Preference Effect

Purpose - The “Individual Preference Effect” (IPE: Faulmüller et al., 2010; Greitemeyer & Schulz-Hardt, 2003; Greitemeyer et al., 2003), a form of confirmation bias, is an important barrier to achieving improved group decision-making outcomes in Hidden Profile tasks. Group members remain committed to their individual preferences and are unable to disconfirm their initial suboptimal selection decisions, even when presented with full information enabling them to correct them, and even if the accompanying group processes are perfectly conducted. This paper examines whether a mental simulation can overcome the IPE. Design/Methodology/Approach – Two experimental studies examine the effect of a mental simulation intervention in attenuating the IPE and improving decision quality in an online individual Hidden Profile task. Findings – Individuals undertaking a mental simulation achieved higher decision quality than those in a Control condition and experienced a greater reduction in confidence in the Suboptimal solution. Originality – To the authors’ knowledge, no study has examined whether mental simulation can attenuate the IPE. Research limitations/implications – Results suggest a role for mental simulation in overcoming the IPE. The test environment is an online individual decision-making task and broader application to group decision-making is not tested. Practical Implications – Since mental simulation is something we all do, it should easily generalise to an organisational setting to improve decision outcomes

Counter-Stereotypes and Feminism Promote Leadership Aspirations in Highly Identified Women

Although women who highly identify with other women are more susceptible to stereotype threat effects, women's identification might associate with greater leadership aspirations contingent on (1) counter-stereotype salience and (2) feminist identification. When gender counter-stereotypes are salient, women's identification should associate with greater leadership aspiration regardless of feminism, while when gender stereotypes are salient, women's identification would predict greater leadership aspirations contingent on a high level of feminist identification. In our study US-based women (N = 208) attended to gender stereotypic (vs. counter-stereotypic) content. We measured identification with women and identification with feminism, and, following the manipulation, leadership aspirations in an imagined work scenario. The interaction between identification with women, identification with feminism, and attention to stereotypes (vs. counter-stereotypes) significantly predicted leadership aspirations. In the counter-stereotypic condition women's identification associated with greater leadership aspirations regardless of feminist identification. In the stereotypic condition women's identification predicted leadership aspirations only at high levels of feminist identification. We conclude that salient counter-stereotypes and a strong identification with feminism may help high women identifiers increase their leadership aspirations.</p

Remembrance of Contact Past: When Intergroup Contact Meta-Cognitions Decrease Outgroup Tolerance

Positive intergroup contact reliably reduces prejudice, yet little is known about the meta-cognitive processes involved in recalling prior contact experiences and their impact on outgroup tolerance. The present research examined whether contact interventions that rely on the recollection of past contact experiences can be susceptible to ease of retrieval effects, and the potential impact on intergroup attitudes. Specifically, we tested whether manipulating the number of contact memories participants were asked to recall (5 vs 1) impacts on outgroup tolerance, and whether this effect is contingent upon participants’ prior contact experiences. Results of two experiments (N = 220) revealed a moderated mediation effect of contact recollection on outgroup tolerance via perceived ease of retrieval, dependent upon levels of prior contact. Recalling more (5) versus fewer (1) contact memories was perceived as more difficult and this in turn decreased tolerance, specifically for individuals low in prior contact. Countering this negative indirect effect, however, recalling more contact experiences had a positive direct effect. Therefore, greater cognitive effort appears to act as a suppressor of the positive effect of contact recall. Our findings provide insight into meta-cognitive processes involved in recalling autobiographical contact memories, and the resulting impact on intergroup relations

Collective deviance: Scaling up subjective group dynamics to superordinate categories reveals a deviant ingroup protection effect

Six experiments examined responses to groups whose attitudes deviated from wider social norms about asylum and immigration (in the United Kingdom), or taxation levels (in the U.S.). Subjective group dynamics (SGD) theory states that people derogate in-group individuals who deviate from prescriptive in-group norms. This enables members to sustain the subjective validity of those norms and, hence, a positive social identity. Research also shows that in-group deviants who accentuate the difference between the in-group and out-group norm (e.g. extremists) are derogated less than deviants who attenuate that difference (e.g. a member who veers toward the outgroup’s norm; Abrams et al., 2000). We hypothesized that these effects and the associated group dynamics should scale up when people evaluate deviant groups that are part of larger in-categories. Consistent with SGD theory, participants in Experiments 1, 2, and 3 derogated an in-category attenuating deviant group and upgraded an out-category attenuating deviant group relative to groups that consolidated or accentuated the respective norms of those categories – thereby reinforcing in-category norms relative to out-category norms. Across all experiments, this pattern of differential evaluation was associated with greater subjective validity of the in-category norm. We also hypothesized a novel Deviant Ingroup Protection (DIP) effect, wherein people should curtail derogation of an in-category deviant group when that group is their own. Consistent with this hypothesis, , participants in Experiments 4, 5 and 6 evaluated an accentuating in-group (Experiments 4 and 6), or an attenuating in-group (Experiments 5 and 6) equally to or more positively than other in-category groups. Implications for political and organizational entrenchment are discussed

Counter-Stereotypes and Feminism Promote Leadership Aspirations in Highly Identified Women

Although women who highly identify with other women are more susceptible to stereotype threat effects, women's identification might associate with greater leadership aspirations contingent on (1) counter-stereotype salience and (2) feminist identification. When gender counter-stereotypes are salient, women's identification should associate with greater leadership aspiration regardless of feminism, while when gender stereotypes are salient, women's identification would predict greater leadership aspirations contingent on a high level of feminist identification. In our study US-based women (N = 208) attended to gender stereotypic (vs. counter-stereotypic) content. We measured identification with women and identification with feminism, and, following the manipulation, leadership aspirations in an imagined work scenario. The interaction between identification with women, identification with feminism, and attention to stereotypes (vs. counter-stereotypes) significantly predicted leadership aspirations. In the counter-stereotypic condition women's identification associated with greater leadership aspirations regardless of feminist identification. In the stereotypic condition women's identification predicted leadership aspirations only at high levels of feminist identification. We conclude that salient counter-stereotypes and a strong identification with feminism may help high women identifiers increase their leadership aspirations

Anticipated organizational identity change, job anxiety and affective commitment during macro-level turbulence: a cross-lagged study in the shifting sands of Brexit

The current study examines how events external to organizations raise a challenge to perceptions of organizational identity continuity leading to a negative affective and attitudinal workforce response. This 5-wave study surveys full-time employees (N = 1309) from around the UK during a period of socio-political turmoil during negotiations of terms of withdrawal from the EU (Brexit). Drawing on Conservation of Resources Theory and Affective Events Theory we hypothesize that employees’ anticipation of change in organizational identity will lead to negative individual-level affective responses of job anxiety and a subsequent reduction in affective commitment. Utilizing a Random Intercept Cross Lagged Panel Model, the results show that within-person increases in perceptions of anticipated organizational identity change are followed by increases in job anxiety, which is followed by reductions in affective organizational commitment. Thus, the turbulent external context challenges employees’ enduring sense of organizational identity which can have profound effects on employees and their relationship with their employer