Xudong Zhao

Built upon the core tenets of Cybernetic Big Five Theory, the present research explores how Autistic Traits operate dynamically within a unified network encompassing personality meta‐traits (Plasticity and Stability) and multiple facets of prospective cognition. Based on three‐wave longitudinal data of 570 non‐clinical young adults, temporal network analysis was implemented to model cross‐domain temporal interplay. Results revealed an interconnected system: Social Camouflaging negatively predicted subsequent Social Autistic Traits and formed mutually reinforcing bidirectional pathways with Future Imagination. Far‐Target Orientation buffered Cognitive Rigidity but induced a notable “paradox of planning”, as it concurrently suppressed Future Action Agency and Purpose Consciousness. Future Action Agency exerted positive prospective effects on later Purpose Consciousness, and Future Imagination maintained reciprocal positive temporal associations with Purpose Consciousness. Stability exhibited dual concurrent outcomes: it boosted Future Imagination while simultaneously increasing Rigidity. These findings provide the first within‐person evidence that Autistic Traits develop dynamically through interactive processes across personality and future cognition. Practically, supportive strategies should strengthen Future Action Agency and Purpose Consciousness, redirect Future Imagination toward functional planning, and apply Far‐Target Orientation to alleviate Rigidity while safeguarding present agency.

Purpose: Drawing upon social information processing theory, this study investigates the correlation between self-serving leadership and employee expediency. It also explores the mediating effect of self-interest motivation and the moderating effect of trait mindfulness.Design/methodology/approach: A total of 147 part-time MBA students were enlisted to participate in a scenario experiment (Study 1), and 291 valid employee questionnaires were collected through a multiple-time point survey (Study 2). SPSS 23.0, MPLUS 8.0 and PROCESS programs were used to analyze the data and test the hypotheses.Findings: Study 1 illustrated a positive correlation between self-serving leadership and employee expediency. It also identified self-interest motivation as a mediating factor in the correlation between self-serving leadership and expediency. Study 2 replicated the results obtained in Study 1 and expanded upon them by demonstrating that trait mindfulness moderates the association between self-serving leadership and self-interest motivation. Additionally, trait mindfulness moderates the indirect effect of self-serving leadership on expediency.Practical implications: This research argues that organizations should take steps to prevent self-serving leadership in order to reduce employee expediency. Furthermore, it is advisable to provide ethics training to employees who exhibit high trait mindfulness, as they show increased sensitivity to self-serving leadership and are more likely to engage in unethical behavior.Originality/value: This study expands the existing research on the ethical outcomes of self-serving leadership and contributes to a deeper understanding of the negative aspects of trait mindfulness.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show an enhanced response to stressors, and gender plays an important role in stress response. Thus, autistic traits (ATs) in the general population and gender may regulate the emotion changes before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the present study, participants were divided into higher and lower ATs groups. The generalized linear models were used to estimate the effects of the independent variables (e.g. the COVID-19 pandemic status (before, during), gender (male, female), and AT groups (higher ATs, lower ATs) and their interactions on emotions measured by the Positive and Negative Affect scales. The results showed that the COVID-19 pandemic reduced positive emotions and increased fear and anger. Furthermore, compared with the status before the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals with higher ATs and females experienced stronger anger and fear than individuals with lower ATs and males during the pandemic. The present study revealed the emotional impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and greater emotional susceptibility to the pandemic among individuals with higher ATs and females. Our findings provide prospective evidence for understanding the ASD/ATs-related enhanced response to pathogen threat-related stressors and have implications for COVID-19 crisis interventions.