Rajneesh Choubisa

Social connections and experiences of loneliness are fundamental human needs. Despite the well-established effects of social connections and loneliness on employee outcomes and well-being, very little research has focused on these phenomena in the Indian workforce. Using the Job-demands and Resources (JD-R) model as a theoretical underpinning, the current study investigated how social connectedness and loneliness affect employee well-being with perceived organizational support (POS) as a mediator. A total of N=289 employees from Indian pharmaceutical sector participated in the study. Results from EFA and CFA revealed a one-factor solution for social connectedness and two-factor solution for loneliness. The data was then subjected to Structural equation modelling to check values for further interpretation. The findings showed that social connectedness and social disconnectedness were both significant positive and negative predictors of employees’ well-being respectively, where employees’ Perceived Organizational Support (POS) acted as a partial mediator. Importantly, only social loneliness was found to be significantly and positively related to employees’ well-being. Besides, emotional loneliness was found to be fully mediated by POS. The results of the study suggest that organizations should consider adopting policies, programs and values which encourage employees to develop meaningful connections in order to support employee well-being through quality workplace relationships. This study follows up on recent research that investigates the role of POS on employee’s well-being and uniquely distinguishes between social and emotional loneliness as a job and personal demand respectively within the JD-R framework.

Environmental exigencies like deforestation and pollution are prominent threats to human existence. However, promoting Sustainable Attitudes and Behaviors (SABs) can effectively curb the adverse effects of these issues to an extent. Understanding the factors that encourage sustainability is the key to promoting environmentally conscious behaviours. While assuming that personality traits and positive psychological attributes are related to SABs, this research explores how interpersonal mindfulness and dark traits might influence it. Using young adult respondents from India, we found that interpersonal mindfulness and dark traits differentially predict SABs, with personality factors playing a crucial role. We provide theoretical and practical implications from an environmental psychology perspective and further deduce implications to promote pro-planet citizenship behaviors. Moreover, we recommend replication attempts and also suggest conducting extensive experimental, longitudinal and qualitative investigations contextually, to help unearth the dynamic determinants of sustainable attitudes and behaviors.

People desire friends who have qualities such as similarity, the ability to provide support, opportunities for socialisation, assistance in achieving self‐serving goals and access to potential mates. In the current study, we aimed to examine the degree of overlap between the friends people consider ideal and those they actually have. Using a sample of 6224 participants from 12 countries, we found that, across five dimensions of friendship, ideal and actual friendships considerably overlapped and ideal preferences were significant and strong predictors of actual friendships. Still, the overlap between ideal and actual friendships was not complete; rather, a small deficit emerged, with participants getting less of what they wanted. These results were consistent across the 12 countries in our sample. We also found significant effects of the Dark Triad personality traits on several dimensions of friendship.

College students worldwide are encountering significant mental health challenges and positive psychological approaches are effective in addressing these issues. Psychological capital as a construct having origin from organizational psychology plays an important role in young people’s education and mental health. The dimensions of psychological capital and spiritual well-being play an important role in manifesting emotional experiences, both positive and negative, among young individuals. In the contemporary scenario, where social and economic factors act as deciding factors in deciphering and influencing emotions, there is a dire need to focus on the positive developmental aspects of human behavior. We, thus, explore the interconnection between psychological capital and spiritual well-being and quantitatively investigate how both of them influence the emotional experiences of college students (N = 214). Results from the regression analysis suggest that psychological capital predicts positive emotions, whereas spiritual well-being mediates this relationship. One of the practical implications of our results suggest that these three variables have good interventional potential for well-being promotion studies.

Friendships vary in closeness and endurance: Some friendships are closer while others are more casual; some are more enduring while others last only as long as they are convenient. The present study examined friendship preferences in these dimensions. Using data from a cross-cultural sample ( N = 6224) taken from 12 countries, we found that the vast majority of participants preferred a combination of close and casual friendships, with a preference for having more close friendships. Similarly, most participants preferred a combination of enduring and convenience friendships, with a preference for having more enduring friendships. Additionally, participants’ preferences closely matched their actual friendships, with these findings being generally consistent across cultures. We found also that participants who preferred friendships that enabled them to receive support and social input were more likely to prefer close and enduring friendships over casual and convenient ones. The opposite was true for participants who preferred friendships that allowed them to achieve self-serving goals and gain access to mates. Furthermore, we found significant but small direct and indirect effects of the Dark Triad personality traits, especially Machiavellianism, on preferences for closeness and endurance in friendship.

Background and aims: Despite the last decade's significant development in the scientific study of work addiction/workaholism, this area of research is still facing a fundamental challenge, namely the need for a valid and reliable measurement tool that shows cross-cultural invariance and, as such, allows for worldwide studies on this phenomenon. Methods: An initial 16-item questionnaire, developed within an addiction framework, was administered alongside job stress, job satisfaction, and self-esteem measures in a total sample of 31,352 employees from six continents and 85 cultures (63.5% females, mean age of 39.24 years). Results: Based on theoretical premises and psychometric testing, the International Work Addiction Scale (IWAS) was developed as a short measure representing essential features of work addiction. The seven-item version (IWAS-7), covering all seven components of work addiction, showed partial scalar invariance across 81 cultures, while the five-item version (IWAS-5) showed it across all 85 cultures. Higher levels of work addiction on both versions were associated with higher job stress, lower job satisfaction, and lower self-esteem across cultures. The optimal cut-offs for the IWAS-7 (24 points) and IWAS-5 (18 points) were established with an overall accuracy of 96% for both versions. Discussion and conclusions: The IWAS is a valid, reliable, and short screening scale that can be used in different cultures and languages, providing comparative and generalizable results. The scale can be used globally in clinical and organizational settings, with the IWAS-5 being recommended for most practical and clinical situations. This is the first study to provide data supporting the hypothesis that work addiction is a universal phenomenon worldwide.

There remains considerable ambiguity in predicting which Indians seek professional psychological services during times of distress and which do not. This study expands past research on predicting professional psychological help-seeking attitudes of Indians to help-seeking intentions. Drawing on variables previously examined as predictors of help-seeking attitudes from a frame of psychotherapy as a manifestation of Western culture, this study aimed to investigate the predictive ability of six cultural variables (Asian values, European American values, importance of one’s ethnic group to their identity, commitment to one’s ethnic group, westernization, and cultural mistrust). Participants were 377 university students from India. The results can be taken to suggest that a highly westernized lifestyle and greater adherence to European American values are best predictive of professional psychological help-seeking intentions among Indians. Assessing these two variables will enable practitioners to direct prospective clients to culturally congruent treatment methods that they are most likely to attend and perhaps benefit more from. Overall, the findings of this study are in line with conceptualizing professional psychological treatment as a manifestation of Western culture.