Search Results (204)

Employees do not always respond to dysfunctional workplaces by leaving; increasingly, they remain in their jobs while quietly withdrawing the discretionary effort that organizations depend on. Little is known about why some employees respond to political work environments in this way. Drawing on Psychological Contract Theory and Conservation of Resources Theory, this study examined whether psychological contract breach (PCB) and perceived job security (PJS) explain how perceived organizational politics (POPS) translates into quiet quitting (QQ). A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 147 employees drawn from a convenience sample at a selected federal university in Nigeria. Data were analyzed using Hayes’ PROCESS macro (Model 4). The findings revealed that POPS significantly predicted QQ (β = 0.51, p < 0.001). When both mediators were entered simultaneously, the direct effect remained significant (β = 0.43, p < 0.001), indicating partial mediation. PCB significantly mediated the relationship between POPS and QQ (β = 0.079, 95% CI [0.0151, 0.1401]), whereas PJS did not. Although POPS was positively associated with PJS (β = 0.09, p < 0.001), PJS did not significantly predict QQ. These findings indicate that employees withdraw discretionary effort primarily because organizational politics signals a failure to fulfil implicit employment obligations, rather than because of concerns about job security. To reduce QQ, organizations need to move beyond preserving employment security and strengthen fulfilment of psychological contract obligations. Full article

Background/Objectives: Nurses in Taiwan faced markedly increased nurse-to-patient ratios and a high risk of occupational infection during the COVID-19 pandemic, generating considerable psychological and social strain. Professional commitment—reflecting nurses’ identification with, investment in, and intention to remain in the profession—is important for workforce retention and care quality, yet little is known about how contracting COVID-19 affects it. This study examined whether COVID-19 infection and the presence of long COVID symptoms were associated with professional commitment among clinical nurses, and identified sociodemographic, work-stress, and social-support correlates of commitment. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among registered nurses at a medical center in eastern Taiwan between 21 September 2023 and 28 February 2024. An anonymous electronic questionnaire assessed sociodemographic characteristics, COVID-19 infection/long-COVID status, work stress (Stress Scale for Healthcare Workers Caring for Patients with High-Risk Infectious Diseases), social support (Social Support Scale for clinical nurses), and professional commitment (Hospital Nurses’ Job Satisfaction and Professional Commitment Scale). Data from 364 valid responses (response rate 39.8% of the 914 nurses employed at the study hospital) were analyzed using independent-sample t-tests, Pearson correlation, one-way ANOVA, and multiple linear regression. Results: Professional commitment did not differ significantly by COVID-19 infection status (t = 0.50, p = 0.619) or by presence of long COVID symptoms (t = 0.85, p = 0.397). Social support was positively correlated with professional commitment (r = 0.261, p < 0.001), as was work stress, although the latter association was weak (r = 0.116, p = 0.027). Age, job rank, years of service, and education level were significantly associated with commitment (all p < 0.05). Multiple regression indicated that higher social support (B = 0.206, p < 0.001), greater work stress (B = 0.079, p = 0.006), and older age were independently associated with higher professional commitment (R² = 0.297). Conclusions: In this cross-sectional sample, COVID-19 infection and long COVID symptoms did not appear to be associated with nurses’ professional commitment. Social support, age, and work stress emerged as the correlates most consistently related to commitment, with social support showing the largest association. Given the observational design and the retrospective measurement of work stress and social support, these findings should be regarded as preliminary and hypothesis-generating rather than conclusive. They tentatively indicate that workplace social support may merit further investigation as a potential avenue for sustaining nurses’ professional commitment during infectious disease outbreaks. Full article

Digital human resource management (HRM) systems can expand employees’ access to information, development opportunities, and organisational services, but their employee-level implications remain insufficiently understood in manufacturing settings. This cross-sectional study examines whether perceived digital HRM accessibility is associated with organisational justice, psychological contract fulfilment, employee voice behaviour, and innovative work behaviour in Morocco’s automotive manufacturing sector. Survey data from 180 employees across five manufacturers were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. Perceived accessibility was positively associated with organisational justice (β = 0.521, p < 0.001) and psychological contract fulfilment (β = 0.551, p < 0.001). Organisational justice was associated with voice (β = 0.339, p < 0.001), and psychological contract fulfilment was associated with innovative work behaviour (β = 0.439, p < 0.001). The specific indirect associations were β = 0.177 through justice and β = 0.242 through psychological contract fulfilment. For the justice–voice route, both the indirect and direct associations were statistically significant; for the psychological-contract–innovation route, only the indirect association was significant. The findings concern employee-level perceptions and behaviours; they do not establish objective digital inequality, causal effects, or supply-chain-level outcomes. Full article

This study examined how residents of Culiacán, México, adapted over time to prolonged community violence and perceived insecurity. We evaluated a two-speed adaptation theory, which proposes that indicators of acute psychological distress and economic strain decline over time, whereas protective behavioral responses persist as a state of chronic vigilance. A mixed-longitudinal design was employed, consisting of a baseline survey of 1163 residents conducted in October 2024 and a longitudinal cohort of 100 participants followed in February and June 2025. Longitudinal changes were evaluated using Cochran’s Q tests with exact McNemar post hoc comparisons, proportions were reported with 95% Clopper–Pearson confidence intervals, and multivariable logistic regression was used to examine predictors of migration intent. Pharmacologic treatment utilization declined significantly from 36% to 20%, and reported economic strain decreased from 62% to 35% over the study period. In contrast, behavioral routine modifications remained persistently high, decreasing only from 95% to 88%, with no statistically significant longitudinal change. These findings are consistent with the proposed theory, suggesting that while acute psychosocial and economic impacts may diminish over time, protective behavioral adaptations remain comparatively stable. Regarding migration intent, individual economic strain was not significantly associated with the intention to leave the city. Instead, participants who attributed insecurity primarily to social contract collapse, conceptualized as the perceived erosion of community trust, institutional legitimacy, social polarization, and the breakdown of social order, had substantially greater odds of reporting migration intent than those primarily concerned with economic factors (OR = 11.56, 95% CI 1.55–85.98). Overall, these findings suggest that prolonged community violence produces distinct trajectories of psychosocial adaptation, in which acute distress decreases while chronic vigilance persists. Furthermore, migration intentions appear to be more strongly associated with perceived deterioration of the social environment than with individual economic hardship, highlighting the importance of restoring community trust and institutional legitimacy alongside traditional public health and economic interventions. Full article

Against the backdrop of the “Rural Revitalization” strategy, contract farming has emerged as a new mechanism and a growing research focus. This study employs differential game theory to systematically analyze the dynamic decision-making and operational performance differences among supply chain members by comparing scenarios with and without research institution participation, as well as different government subsidy policies. The innovative contribution lies in introducing a dual-effect index to capture consumers’ quality utility from agricultural products and psychological utility derived from supporting farmers. Furthermore, we explore the synergistic effects of research institutions’ technological empowerment and government subsidy strategies on supply chain efficiency. Through the above research and analysis, the study draws the following conclusions: (1) The collaborative agricultural supporting model significantly enhances both farmer yields and overall supply chain profits through technology diffusion and brand premium effects. However, revenue distribution conflicts may lead enterprises to limit their cooperation depth. (2) Government subsidies can alleviate benefit allocation conflicts. Subsidizing a research institution proves more effective at stimulating long-term technological dividends, while subsidizing an enterprise primarily ensures short-term market stability. (3) Brand advantage, technological leadership, and consumer preferences exhibit nonlinear driving effects on supply chain efficiency. Specifically, the positive impact progressively strengthens with wider brand advantages, greater technological leadership, and more intense consumer preferences. The study provides a theoretical foundation for tripartite collaboration, revealing the pivotal role of policy precision and dynamic benefit allocation equilibrium in agricultural supply chain upgrading. Full article

Across societies, judges are entrusted with extraordinary authority to shape legal norms, public policy, and individual rights, with decisions that can influence communities and future generations. This social contract rests on expectations of competence, impartiality, and ethical self-regulation. Popular representations often portray judges as detached, stoic, and immune to typical human emotional reactivity and outside influence. However, judges remain subject to the same biological, psychological, and social realities that affect all humans, including stress physiology, neurocognitive load, emotional strain, and the cumulative effects of allostatic burden. Emerging research suggests that these factors may have important implications for judicial well-being, decision-making, and the effective functioning of justice systems. The recent Nauru Declaration, recognizing that the well-being of judges is essential for a properly functioning judiciary, has led to the 2025 United Nations General Assembly proclamation that the 25th July be recognized as an annual International Day for Judicial Well-being. Drawing on literature identified through scholarly databases, this concept article examines evidence relating to stress, burnout, resilience, and well-being within justice systems, with particular emphasis on judges and judicial well-being. We explore the relevance of lifestyle medicine and whole-person approaches to health in supporting judicial functioning and vitality. Framed through the lens of the judiciary’s societal responsibilities and the broader social contract, we contend that judicial well-being is not merely an individual concern, but one with institutional and societal significance. The article argues that well-being within systems of justice matters to society; it examines evidence relating to judicial stress and self-control fatigue, and concludes with solutions-oriented approaches and future directions for promoting judicial well-being and sustainable justice systems. Full article

The hospitality industry faces increasing challenges in retaining employees, enhancing employee engagement, and ensuring long-term organizational sustainability. There is ample quantitative research regarding employee engagement and talent management; however, there is a lack of qualitative evidence demonstrating how employee engagement can be sustained in the Middle East’s hospitality industry through the fulfillment of the psychological contract. This study examines how talent management and the fulfillment of the psychological contract contribute to the employee engagement of hotel organizations within the Middle East. The study was designed with an inductive qualitative methodology based on the Psychological Contract Theory and utilized semi-structured interviews with 37 hotel managers, human resource directors, chief executive officers (CEOs), and general managers of four- and five-star hotels from nine Middle Eastern countries. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis with the support of NVivo software. Participants identified psychological contract fulfillment as a primary relational mechanism supporting employee engagement, organizational commitment, and workforce retention. They identified that organizational support, transparent communication, responsive leadership, development opportunities, and employee-focused HRM practices strengthened trust and organizational commitment. The findings reconceptualize talent management as a relational and psychologically embedded organizational mechanism supporting employee engagement and workforce sustainability. Full article

The low-carbon transition depends not only on technologies and regulation, but also on how employees interpret and enact organizational environmental commitments. This study examines whether carbon anxiety—employees’ perception of organization-focused uncertainty and insufficient preparedness regarding carbon accounting, emissions reduction, reporting, and operational adaptation—and perceived regulatory pressure are associated with employee green behavior (EGB) through psychological contract fulfillment for the environment (PCFE), and whether pro-environmental consciousness strengthens the PCFE–EGB association. Using a cross-sectional computer-assisted web interview survey of 857 employees in Poland’s energy sector, the proposed second-stage moderated mediation model was tested with structural equation modeling and bootstrap analysis. Carbon anxiety and regulatory pressure were positively associated with psychological contract fulfillment for the environment, which was positively associated with employee green behavior. Pro-environmental consciousness strengthened the psychological contract fulfillment for the environment–behavior relationship, and both conditional indirect associations increased at higher pro-environmental consciousness levels. The model explained 33.2% of the variance in psychological contract fulfillment for the environment and 37.1% in employee green behavior; the main pattern remained stable across robustness and subsector analyses. The observed associations support psychological contract fulfillment for the environment as a theoretically specified relational mechanism linking transition pressures with the employee-level implementation of decarbonization. Given the cross-sectional design, the results indicate associations rather than causal effects. Organizations should translate transition pressures into credible environmental commitments, workforce capabilities, transparent communication, and meaningful employee participation. Full article

The scientific foundations of sport-training methodology are commonly attributed to physiological principles; however, the extent to which these principles directly inform practical training models remains unclear. This narrative review examines the historical development of training theory—from early adaptology and integrative physiology to contemporary molecular discoveries in muscle biology—and evaluates their relevance to strength development. Strength expression is shown to be highly variable, influenced by neural, mechanical, technical, and psychological factors, challenging the traditional reliance on fixed percentages of maximal strength for training prescription. Additional complexities arise from individual response variability, performance plateaus, and the interference between molecular pathways activated by strength and endurance training. Emerging artificial intelligence systems offer new opportunities for individualized training optimization, injury prediction, and motor-learning analysis, while advances in brain decoding technologies highlight the potential role of willpower and cognitive processes in strength expression. Overall, current training methodologies remain heterogeneous and incomplete, although recent evidence increasingly supports modality-specific prescription principles based on load, contraction velocity, movement intent, and athlete training status. So, substantial research is required to more clearly connect physiological mechanisms with practical training applications. Full article

Against the backdrop of the growing alignment between green agricultural transformation and rural land system reform, how stable land tenure promotes farmers’ adoption of green production technologies has become an important issue in achieving high-quality agricultural development. Using 2024 survey data from 1117 farm households in Inner Mongolia under China’s second-round land contract extension policy, this study applies Poisson regression and mediation models to examine how land tenure stability affects farmers’ adoption of green production technologies. The results show that legal, factual, and perceived tenure stability, measured by second-round contract extension signing, no land disputes since the second round, and expectations of no future land adjustment, all significantly promote adoption. Tenure stability promotes adoption through higher income, better credit access, stronger benefit expectations, and greater risk-coping capacity, reflecting both economic and psychological effects. Its positive effect is stronger among small-scale farmers and those with lower-quality cultivated land. Policy efforts should not only prudently advance the second-round land contract extension, but also strengthen tenure security in practice and coordinate support for green production, rural finance, and risk protection. From a multidimensional land tenure stability perspective, this study provides new empirical evidence on how rural land reform translates into green behavioral responses. Full article

Background/Objectives: Minimally invasive surgery benefits patients but places physical and cognitive demands on surgeons. While robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery (RALS) reduces musculoskeletal strain, it may increase cognitive load. This study examined whether physical and psychological preparatory protocols (warm-ups) influence surgeon strain during RALS. Methods: Ten consultant surgeons from East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (UK) participated in a preregistered, randomized study. Each performed RALS under three conditions: control, physical warm-up (10 min simulation tasks on the Da Vinci system), and psychological warm-up (10 min PETTLEP-based mental imagery). Electromyography (EMG) and electroencephalography (EEG) were recorded during key surgical phases. EMG data were normalized to maximal voluntary contractions. Results: The physical warm-up significantly increased EMG activity in the right deltoid and right trapezius (p < 0.05) compared to control, with no differences observed in other muscle groups. EEG alpha power data did not significantly differ between conditions. Conclusions: These findings suggest that brief physical warm-up can enhance muscle activation in key regions involved in RALS, potentially improving motor control and reducing fatigue. Incorporating such strategies may support surgeon performance and well-being. Full article

Racial diversity is normatively desirable in public organizations, but the social and psychological processes it activates may lead to employees’ negative work attitudes. Combining social categorization theory, perceived organizational support theory, and psychological contract theory, this study investigates whether racial diversity is negatively related to employee work engagement in U.S. federal agencies and whether the perceived effectiveness of agency ethics programs moderates this relationship. Using multilevel mixed-effects regression analyses with data from 10,088 employees nested within 24 federal agencies drawn from the 2016 Merit Principles Survey, we find that racial diversity was negatively associated with work engagement. However, this negative relationship was reduced when employees perceived their agency’s ethics program as more effective. At high levels of perceived effectiveness, the negative association was no longer statistically significant. These findings suggest that the perceived effectiveness of ethics programs is a meaningful organizational condition under which the negative association between racial diversity and work engagement may be attenuated. This pattern has implications for diversity management and human resource practice in ethical, high-performing, and sustainable public organizations. Full article

Turnover is a major concern for hotel and hospitality industry on a global scale. This research focuses on Dubai 5-star hotels in terms of transactional leadership and how employees perceive its influence on climate and contract fulfillment. This research combines the premises of social exchange, organizational support, and psychological contract, and organizational climate theories to support the development of hypotheses. A total of 24 employee interviews from two 5-star hotels in Dubai were gathered using semi-structured interviews. The research used inductive qualitative approach via thematic network analysis using QSR NVivo software (version 14). Transactional leadership can stabilize the execution of services by clarifying roles, adequate monitoring, and contingent exchanges in the luxury hotel setting. The thematic qualitative evidence demonstrates that organizational climate is an immediate interpretive medium, while psychological contract fulfillment is an emergent factor that is formed through repetitive interactions between employees and leadership. The results provide an in-depth understanding of these dynamics in the luxury hotel context, which can be beneficial for both scholars and practitioners alike. Full article

This study examines how employees’ perceptions of transactional and relational psychological contracts influence emotional labor strategies in contemporary work contexts where AI technologies are increasingly present through AI anxiety, general attitudes toward AI, and generative AI acceptance. Based on Conservation of Resources Theory, Cognitive Appraisal Theory, the Theory of Planned Behavior and technology acceptance frameworks (UTAUT), a conceptual model was tested using survey data from 869 employees across various sectors in Türkiye. Mediation and moderated mediation analyses were conducted using the PROCESS macro for SPSS 30. The results showed that transactional psychological contracts were positively correlated with surface acting, while relational psychological contracts were associated with deep acting. Serial mediation analyses indicated that relational psychological contracts were indirectly associated with higher levels of deep acting, primarily through more positive evaluations of AI, with the full sequential pathway through anxiety reduction not operating as hypothesized. Generative AI acceptance mediated the relationship between negative attitudes toward AI and surface acting. Moreover, generative AI acceptance mediated the relationship between positive attitudes toward AI and deep acting, indicating a pathway through which favorable technology evaluations translate into authentic emotional regulation. Finally, moderated mediation analyses suggest that emotional intelligence strengthens the impact of generative AI acceptance on employees’ emotional labor strategies. Full article

The concept of Elastic Patterns was originally proposed as a prototype-based classification approach that unifies perspectives from cognitive psychology, fuzzy logic, and physics. At their core, Elastic Patterns operate across two levels of deformation: a parameter-level deformation, quantified in terms of axial strain, and a pattern-level deformation, understood as the accumulation of deformation energy to perfectly fit the sample to be classified. This dual representation supports an interpretable and adaptive recognition mechanism, where classification emerges from selecting the Elastic Pattern that requires the minimal deformation energy to align with a real case to classify. This paper extends the theoretical and practical foundations of the proposed Elastic Patterns approach for adaptive pattern classification by introducing several deformation models, Spring Hardening, Weighted Spring Deformation, or Group Parameter Deformation to improve the capacity of Elastic Patterns to adapt to different contexts. These deformation models allow the proposal to adapt to different semantic contexts by controlling how parameter contraction and elongation are penalised. Additionally, novel adaptive mechanisms are introduced, which enable Elastic Patterns to dynamically adjust parameter relevance, capture inter-parameter dependencies, and better reflect contextual knowledge. Furthermore, the framework offers inherently interpretable classification via explicit parameter deformations and energies, avoiding post hoc explanations. Full article