1. Managing Others Like You Were Managed: How Prevention Focus Motivates Copying Interpersonal Norms.
- Author
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Zhang, Shu, Higgins, E. Tory, and Chen, Guoquan
- Subjects
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INTERPERSONAL relations , *MOTIVATION (Psychology) , *SOCIAL norms , *ROLE models , *DUTY , *IDEALS (Psychology) , *NORMATIVITY (Ethics) , *DYADS , *STATISTICAL sampling , *HEDONISM , *EXPERIMENTAL design , *LOGISTIC regression analysis - Abstract
In 5 studies, we investigated the relation between regulatory focus and the tendency to copy a role model's managing behavior after one experiences this behavior as its recipient and later takes on the same managing role. Because enacting role-related behaviors fulfills interpersonal norms that fit prevention concerns, we predicted a stronger tendency to copy among individuals with a stronger prevention focus on duties and obligations ("oughts") but not among those with a stronger promotion focus on aspirations and advancements (ideals). We also predicted that individuals with a stronger prevention focus would tend to copy a managing behavior regardless of their earlier hedonic experience with this behavior as its recipient. These predictions were first supported in 2 experimental studies, where a stronger prevention focus was measured as a chronic disposition (Study 1) and experimentally induced as a temporary state (Study 2). Further, we tested the mechanism underlying the relation between stronger prevention and stronger copying and found that concerns about the normativeness, but not the effectiveness, of a managing behavior motivated copying for individuals with a strong prevention focus (Studies 3 and 4). We generalized these experimental results to the field by surveying a sample of superior-subordinate dyads in real world organizations (Study 5). Across all studies, we found that individuals with a stronger prevention focus tend to copy more a role model's managing behavior—independent of their hedonic satisfaction with the behavior as its recipient and their perception of its effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2011
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