Hao Chen

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) has reshaped the employment market, triggering widespread anxiety among college students about their future careers and posing a potential threat to their career decisions. Grounded in Career Construction Theory, this study investigated the impact mechanism of AI anxiety on career decisions among 315 Chinese college students, utilising a questionnaire survey and structural equation modeling (SEM). The analysis specifically examined the mediating role of career adaptability and the moderating role of self-efficacy. The results indicated that AI anxiety not only directly and negatively predicted career decisions but also exerted an adverse indirect effect by undermining career adaptability, with this mediating effect accounting for 63.35% of the total effect. However, the moderating effect of self-efficacy was insignificant, indicating limited buffering capacity. These findings suggest that higher education institutions should promote outcome-based education (OBE) reforms, enhance students’ career adaptability by universalising AI literacy and career planning courses, and deepen industry-education integration. Such measures can help students make more confident and clear-sighted career decisions in the AI era.

Purpose: Based on the cognitive appraisal theory of stress, this study reveals the mechanisms by which leader aggressive humor affects bystander innovation behavior through two different pathways, namely bystander challenge appraisal and bystander threat appraisal. The moderation effect of bystander perspective taking on both pathways was also explored. Design/methodology/approach: In this study, 388 employees and their direct leaders from seven Chinese companies were investigated in a paired survey at three time points, and the empirical data were analyzed using Mplus 7.4 software. Findings: Leader aggressive humor triggers bystanders to develop challenge appraisal, which promotes the display of more innovation behavior. At the same time, leader aggressive humor also leads to bystander threat appraisal, which reduces the frequency of innovation behavior. In addition, this study finds that bystander perspective taking has a moderation effect on how leader aggressive humor affects bystander challenge appraisal and bystander threat appraisal. Originality/value: Starting from the bystander perspective, this study verifies the double-edged sword effect of leader aggressive humor on bystander innovation behavior, as well as the mechanism of differential action through cognitive evaluation, which broadens the scope of research on aggressive humor and deepens the academic understanding and development of the cognitive assessment theory of stress. Meanwhile, it also provides new ideas for reducing the negative effects of aggressive humor in the workplace.

Purpose: Based on the ego depletion theory, this study reveals the mechanism of the leader’s nighttime sleep deprivation inducing daytime abusive supervision and investigates the mediation role of the leader’s resource depletion. At the same time, the moderation effects of the leader’s time pressure and the leader’s mindfulness on the mediation path are discussed.Design/methodology/approach: In this study, 227 leaders and their employees from 5 Chinese enterprises were selected as research objects by the experience sampling method. A paired survey was conducted for 10 consecutive working days. We used Mplus 7.4 and adopted a bootstrapping technique for data analysis.Findings: The leader’s nighttime sleep deprivation can lead to resource depletion, which can lead to daytime abusive supervision. At the same time, this study also finds that the leader’s time pressure and the leader’s mindfulness are the “gate valve” for the leader’s nighttime sleep deprivation to promote daytime abusive supervision. That is, when the leader’s time pressure is higher, the resource depletion caused by the leader’s nighttime sleep deprivation is higher, which induces more daytime abusive supervision; when the leader’s mindfulness is high, the leader’s nighttime sleep deprivation results in less abusive supervision through the leader’s resource depletion.Originality/value: From the perspective of ego depletion, this study explores why a leader’s nighttime sleep deprivation leads to daytime abusive supervision. The above results expand the research on the mechanism and boundary conditions of leaders’ nighttime sleep deprivation in China’s organizational context, contribute to deepening the understanding of the relationship between leaders’ sleep and work, and provide useful references for leadership development and organizational management.

Purpose — This paper examines the mediating effects of emotional exhaustion and the moderating role of promoting regulatory focus and preventing regulatory focus. Exploring the relationship between emotional exhaustion and the personal trait of regulatory focus in E-Leadership and employee creativity. Design/methodology/approach — This study adopted a questionnaire survey method and collected 366 samples. Hierarchical regression analysis and bootstrap method were performed using SPSS 27.0 to test the research hypotheses. Findings— The findings showed that:1.E-leadership negatively affects employees' emotional exhaustion.2.E-leadership positively influences employees' creativity. 3.Emotional exhaustion negatively affects employees' creativity. 4.Promoting regulatory focus moderates the negative relationship between E-leadership and Emotional exhaustion.5.Prevention regulatory focus moderates the negative relationship between emotional exhaustion and employee creativity. Originality/value— This study enriches the research on the influence mechsanism between E-leadership and employee creativity, and also provides references for leadership practices in the digital age. However, the research has some limitations such as using only cross-sectional data and limited representativeness of the sample. Future studies could consider collecting multi-wave data, expanding the sample size, incorporating other influencing factors, etc. to enhance the rigor of the research.

Based on Conservation of Resources Theory, this study tries to reveal the mechanism of action of work connectivity behavior after-hours triggering employees’ time banditry behavior. By using Mplus7.4 software the analysis of 429 leader-employee paired data collected in three stages reveals that work connectivity behavior after-hours has a positive effect on work alienation and psychological distress. Work alienation and psychological distress mediates the relationship between work connectivity behavior after-hours and employees’ time banditry behavior, respectively. In addition, organization-based self-esteem mitigates the positive effects of work connectivity behavior after-hours on work alienation and psychological distress, which in turn also moderates the indirect effects of work connectivity behavior after-hours on employees’ time banditry behavior through work alienation and psychological distress, respectively. This study provides practical guidance for organizations to reduce employee time banditry behavior and human resource management practices in the new technological environment.

Purpose: Based on the cognition-affection personality system theory, this study constructs and tests a mediation model of leadership non-contingent punishment on bystander workplace deviance behavior through bystander affective rumination and bystander psychological contract violation, as well as a chain mediation effect of bystander affective rumination and bystander psychological contract violation, and explores the moderation role of bystander performance pressure in this model.Design/methodology/approach: This study takes 454 employees and their colleagues from several Chinese enterprises as the research subjects and conducts a paired survey at three-time points using Mplus 7.4 to analyze the empirical data.Findings: The research results are as follows: Bystander affective rumination and bystander psychological contract violation play a mediation role between leadership non-contingent punishment and bystander workplace deviance behavior, respectively. Bystander affective rumination and bystander psychological contract violation play a chain mediation role in the positive role of leadership non-contingent punishment on bystander workplace deviance behavior. Bystander performance pressure moderates the chain mediation path by enhancing the positive role of leadership non-contingent punishment on bystander affective rumination.Originality/value: This study comprehensively explores the internal path of the impact of leadership non-contingent punishment on bystander workplace deviance behavior from the perspective of bystanders through dual paths of cognition and affection. It enriches the result variables of leadership non-contingent punishment, expands existing research on the mediation mechanism of leadership non-contingent punishment and deepens the understanding of the mechanism of leadership non-contingent punishment. At the same time, it has practical guidance significance to promote the suppression of leadership non-contingent punishment in organizations, reduce the occurrence of employee workplace deviance behavior, help employees better integrate into the organization and build a harmonious organizational environment.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to test the mechanism of visionary leadership on subordinates' work withdrawal behavior through cognitive strain and psychological contract violation, and also to reveal the possible dark side of visionary leadership. The moderation effects of subordinates' facades of conformity and leader behavioral integrity in the cognition–affect dual-path process are also discussed.Design/methodology/approach: This study conducted a three-wave longitudinal survey. The data were collected from 574 employees and their superiors in several Chinese enterprises. The authors used Mplus 7.4 and adopted a bootstrapping technique in the data analysis.Findings: Visionary leadership has positive effects on cognitive strain and psychological contract violation; cognitive strain and psychological contract violation mediate the relationship between visionary leadership and work withdrawal behavior, respectively. Subordinates' facades of conformity and leader behavioral integrity moderate the positive effects of visionary leadership on cognitive strain and psychological contract violation, as well as the indirect effect of visionary leadership on subordinates' work withdrawal behavior through cognitive strain and psychological contract violation.Originality/value: This study reveals the underlying mechanism of visionary leadership's negative impact on job outcome through the cognition and affective reaction of subordinates to visionary leadership, and broadens the scope of visionary leadership research. It also provides some practical suggestions on how to transmit the organizational vision effectively and reduce subordinates' work withdrawal behavior.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the mechanism of benevolent leadership on employee cheating behavior through two paths – employee uncertainty and perceived acceptability of norm violation – and also reveal the possible dark side of benevolent leadership. Meanwhile, the moderating effects of leader behavioral integrity in the cognition dual path process are also discussed.Design/methodology/approach: This study invites 383 employees and their superiors in seven Chinese enterprises as the research objects and conducts a paired survey at three time points, and then Mplus 7.4 software is used to analyze the empirical data.Findings: The results are shown as follows. Benevolent leadership plays a positive role on uncertainty and perceived acceptability of norm violation. Uncertainty and perceived acceptability of norm violation mediate the relationship between benevolent leadership and cheating behavior, respectively. Leader behavioral integrity moderates the positive role of benevolent leadership on uncertainty and perceived acceptability of norm violation. Leader behavioral integrity moderates the indirect effect of benevolent leadership on employees' cheating behavior through uncertainty and perceived acceptability of norm violation.Originality/value: This study reveals the mechanism behind the negative role of benevolent leadership through the cognition reaction of employees to benevolent leadership and broadens the research scope of benevolent leadership. Meanwhile, it provides some practical inspiration for leaders to effectively use the benevolent leadership style and restrain employees' cheating behavior.

Self-objectification can be considered as a specific kind of self-dehumanization that consists of a perception of oneself as more instrument-like than human-like and a decreased self-attribution of mental states. Self-objectification is commonly observed, and its contributing factors need to be better understood. In the present research, we examined whether cultural tightness, which entails strong social norms and punishments for deviant behaviors, is an antecedent to self-objectification. Our hypotheses were confirmed by four studies, involving quasi-experiments and fully controlled experiments ( N = 2,693). In particular, Chinese college students living in a region with a tight culture (compared to a loose culture, Study 1), American employees working in an industry with a tight corporate culture (compared to a loose culture, Study 2), American participants who were induced to support cultural tightness (vs. cultural looseness, Study 3), and those who were situated in a simulated tight culture (vs. a loose culture, Study 4) all showed increased levels of self-objectification. As such, they acknowledged their personhood less and focused more on their instrumentality. Implications are discussed.