The Journal of Behavioral Science

Coping Behaviors of Filipino Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Contextual Application of the PERMA-H Framework

Christian Anton Ng — 2024-01-28

This study utilized an interdisciplinary approach within behavioral science to understand the coping behaviors among undergraduate students in a low- and middle-income country (the Philippines) during the occurrence phase of a global crisis. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this period was marked by strict physical restrictions and a shift to remote learning. The PERMA-H framework was utilized to identify the coping behaviors of students and how these behaviors improved their well-being through each domain of the framework: positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, accomplishments, and physical health. Qualitative data was gathered from 110 undergraduate students through an online survey about their coping behaviors during the community quarantines in 2020. Deductive thematic analysis yielded 17 themes across the six domains. Examples of themes include indulging in personal hobbies, practicing self-improvement, and reconnecting with family and friends, with the behaviors producing positive effects relative to the domain (e.g., behaviors under positive emotions enhanced feelings of joy, productivity, comfort, and companionship; behaviors under engagement led to greater control and involvement in their lives). The study highlighted the relevance of the PERMA-H framework in understanding the impact of actions on the well-being among students during a crisis, as well as the importance of including the physical health domain within the framework. Findings suggest various ways to enhance well-being among students in rapidly changing environments, such as providing opportunities for extra-curricular activities, promoting physical health, and enhancing relationships.

Resilience and Self-Leadership as Moderators of Academic Stress and Burnout Among Thai University Students

Chuchai Smithikrai — 2024-01-28

The objectives of this study were twofold: (1) to investigate the relationship between academic stress and academic burnout among Thai university students; and (2) to examine the moderating roles of resilience and self-leadership in the relationship between academic stress and academic burnout among Thai university students. Employing an anonymous questionnaire survey, the study involved a sample of 601 undergraduate students enrolled in Thai universities. The research instruments comprised four questionnaires: (1) an academic stress scale, (2) an academic burnout scale, (3) a resilience scale, and (4) a self-leadership scale. The hypotheses regarding moderating effects were evaluated using the SPSS Program with the PROCESS macro (Model 2). The results unveiled a significant positive link between academic stress and academic burnout (b = 1.12, SE = .19, p < .01). Additionally, the results indicated that higher levels of resilience (b = -.09, SE = .04, p = .03) and self-leadership (b = -.09, SE = .05, p = .05) had a dampening effect on how academic stress influenced students' experiences of academic burnout. This study provides substantial implications for educational institutions. It underscores the importance of implementing resilience training programs, incorporating self-leadership principles into educational frameworks, and launching mentorship initiatives aimed at nurturing these essential attributes among students. By understanding and harnessing the moderating potential of resilience and self-leadership, universities can actively contribute to the well-being and academic achievements of their students, ultimately fostering a more supportive and empowering educational environment.

Participatory Action Research for Developing a Wellness-Promoting Model for Community-Dwelling Older Adults in Thailand

Jurawan Jitdorn — 2024-01-28

Older adults have a high prevalence of long-term negative health consequences and this is a challenging public health concern. Aging brings an increase in the prevalence of chronic diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes, and dementia. Older adults face more challenges with everyday living activities. Promoting wellness for them is an important issue. This research study had two phases, phase I for examining the experiences, backgrounds, and health perspectives of older adults. In phase II, a participatory action research (PAR) approach was utilized for developing a wellness-promoting model for community-dwelling older adults in Thailand. A total of forty-six participants participated in interviews and focus groups. The results of phase I revealed seven factors related to the wellness behaviors of older adults: 1) physical, 2) psychological, 3) social, 4) family, 5) age-friendly environment, 6) life goals, and 7) spiritual. These findings were used for creating the preliminary wellness-promoting model in phase II, which consisted of four input factors, namely, personal, family, social, and environmental factors. All these factors affected the cycle of change among older adults. This cycle consisted of three steps. The first was to promote self-competence, the second was to promote self-empowering, and the last was to promote growth. The output of the model was aging independently with four components: 1) physical fitness, 2) psychological fitness, 3) spiritual fitness, and 4) social fitness. This model can be applied continuously and sustainably because it suits older individuals' lifestyles, cultures, and community contexts.

Perceived Social Support and Workplace Deviant Behaviors: The Mediating Role of Self-esteem in Employees in Saudi Arabia

Rhonda Salamah Alyafi — 2024-01-28

Workplace deviant behaviors (WDB) are considered a threat to organizations because they lead to negative consequences that affect the wellbeing of the organization and its employees. This study explored the role of perceived social support (PSS) from family, friends, and significant others on WDB, including its two dimensions, interpersonal (WDBI) and organizational (WDBO), with self-esteem (SE) as a mediator, proposed from the lens of social support theory. The purpose of this study was to test the proposed model with a sample that included 244 employees from the construction sector in Saudi Arabia. The data were collected via surveys, and the model was analyzed using structural equation modeling. The analysis revealed insignificant direct relationships between the three social support sources and interpersonal and organizational deviance. For the indirect relationships, SE fully mediated the relationships between family support with both WDBI (β = -.04, p =.02) and WDBO (β = -.05, p = .02). However, the relationship between friends support, WDBI and WDBO through SE were insignificant. Likewise, the relationship between significant others support, WDBI and WDBO through SE were insignificant. The study recommends that HR practices should enhance employees’ moral values and skills, and emphasize the organizational laws and punishments. Further, managers should consider investing in strategies that strengthen employee relationships with their families so that they could provide adequate support to boosts the members’ self-esteem, and hence enhance their positive behaviors and attitudes.

The Determinants of Pro-Environmental Behavior Toward Goal Setting in Indonesian Cement Industry

Daconi Khotob — 2024-01-28

The role of leaders in supporting pro-environmental behavior is an essential factor in encouraging sustainable practices in organizations, as global environmental challenges increase. Therefore, this study tries to analyze the effect of transformational leadership on pro-environmental behavior mediated by employee work motivation, organizational commitment, and moderation of goal setting in Indonesia. Data was collected from 276 employees across various work units in the cement industry and analyzed using partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results showed that transformational leadership positively affects work motivation (β = .63, p = .00), organizational commitment (β = .62, p = .00), and pro-environmental behavior (β = .30, p = .00). Furthermore, organizational commitment positively affected pro-environmental behavior (β = .37, p = .00), while work motivation did not affect pro-environmental behavior (β = 0.00, p = .94). Organizational commitment fully mediated the effect of transformational leadership on pro-environmental behavior (β = .23; p = .00), and goal setting had a moderate effect (β = .09, p = .00). It was also discovered that employee motivation was not able to mediate the effect of transformational leadership on pro-environmental behavior (β = 0.00, p = .94). These results showed the effect leadership plays in creating an organizational setting capable of fostering employee habits, motivation, and commitment to support pro-environmental behavior in the workplace.

The Influence of Employee-Perceived High-Commitment Work System on Employee Innovation Behavior in China

Sidi Chen — 2024-01-28

For organizations, enhancing employee innovation behavior (EIB) is among the most effective means to gain competitive advantage in the current modern business environment. Based on the conservation of resources theory, this study proposed a model to investigate the influence of the employee-perceived high-commitment work system (EPHCWS) on EIB, with two intervening variables, job embeddedness (JE) as the mediating variable, and creative self-efficacy (CSE) as the moderating variable. In total, 601 valid questionnaires were collected from Chinese employees between November to December 2022. Structural equation modeling technique was used to test the hypotheses. Results showed that EPHCWS positively affected EIB (β = 0.36, p < .001, t = 11.93) and JE (β = 0.26, p < .001, t = 7.86). When JE mediated the relationship between EPHCWS and EIB, the direct effect was significant (β = 0.28, p < .001, t = 9.30). Furthermore, JE positively affected EIB (β = 0.33, p < .001, t = 9.31), indicating that it exerts a partial mediation effect on the relationship between EPHCWS and EIB. Additional moderation results revealed that the interaction between EPHCWS and CSE significantly affected EIB (β = 0.08, p < .01, t = 3.27), which indicated that CSE moderated the effect of EPHCWS on EIB. The study suggests that managers should increase employees' positive perceptions of the organization-implemented high-commitment work system and enhance EIB by promoting JE and CSE.

Online Impulse Buying: Investigating the Role of E-Commerce Attributes, Customer Motivation, and Urge to Buy Impulsively

Ika Febrilia — 2024-01-29

Online impulse buying is shaped by both external e-commerce factors and individual psychological intricacies. Thus, it is vital to comprehend the interplay between external e-commerce factors and individual psychological intricacies, providing insights essential for developing effective strategies in the digital marketplace. This research, centered on 205 samples from Malaysia, provides a nuanced understanding of the interplay between internal and external factors in shaping impulsive buying behavior by employing the S-O-R paradigm. Structural equation modelling technique was applied for analysis. The findings indicate that hedonistic consumer motivation in online impulsive buying is influenced by three external factors, website personality (β = .25; p .001), product attributes (β = .16; p = .01), and retailer motivational activities (β = .60; p .001). Moreover, the results suggest that website personality (β = .17; p = .02), and retailer motivational activities (β = .57; p .001), have direct significant effects on utilitarian consumer motivation, while product attribute does not affect utilitarian customer motivations (β = .12; p = .11). Results also suggest that features of e-commerce platforms and the motivations of consumers can influence impulsive tendencies, providing an opportunity for businesses to offer conscientious nudges. By deliberately prompting customers about their goals and underscoring the value of products and their attachment from hedonic and utilitarian aspects, companies can guide impulsive buying shoppers towards more deliberate and gratifying decisions aligned with long-term goals and choice architecture in behavioral science.

Psychosocial Risk and Protective Factors Related to Psychological Problems among Widows from the Civil Unrest in Southern Thailand

Wattana Prohmpetch — 2024-01-29

Psychosocial factors have a high influence on both the risk and protective factors leading to psychological problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), complicated grief (CG), and depression in those who have lost loved ones in violent situations. This study aimed to develop and validate a model of the relationships among psychosocial risk and protective factors on psychological problems of bereaved widows from the civil unrest in the southernmost provinces of Thailand. This cross-sectional study involved 350 widows who were asked to join voluntarily prior to participating in this research. The psychologist-volunteers conducted preliminary interviews and assessment using questionnaires between September 2019 and February 2020 in the three provinces of Thailand, Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results indicated that the psychosocial risk factors (interpersonal conflicts, family problems, and external stressors) showed high positive effects, while the protective factors (resilience, self-efficacy, and quality of life) revealed low positive effects on psychological problems (= 14.92, df=13, p = .31, RMSEA = .02, SRMR = .02, CFI = 1.00, TLI = 1.00). Both psychosocial risk and protective factors could explain as 61% of the variance of the psychological problems. Due to the high impact of the psychological problems on both PTSD and CG, protective factors may not be able to function, while risk factors had a high impact to develop psychological problems. Therefore, in order to reduce PTSD and CG among widows, risk factors should be considered to guide the development of psychosocial support programs. However, protective factors should be further studied.

Digital Reproductive Health Literacy Intervention for Enhancing the Service Behavior: A Systematic Literature Review

Kirana Dheva-aksorn — 2024-01-28

The World Health Organization has long recognized that reproductive health literacy (RHL) skills development for service providers is important to ensure safe sexual health behaviors and to guide appropriate sexual decisions and equality for adolescents and youths through digital services. The purpose of this research was to examine interventions for digital reproductive health literacy (DRHL) to enhance service behavior among service providers. In this study, the PRISMA guidelines was used to conduct a systematic literature review involving 622 studies, with five selected for final analysis. The results indicated that firstly, the DRHL intervention can encompass on-site, online, and group activities, accompanied by learning materials, to enhance skills in six areas: (1) promoting reproductive health knowledge among service providers; (2) developing the digital adaptation skills of service providers; (3) cultivating creative communication skills on reproductive health with adolescents through digital channels; (4) shaping the attitudes towards reproductive health in digital age service providers; (5) providing services to adolescents and youth through digital channels; and (6) enhancing team and network management skills. Secondly, DRHL was assessed based on four components; (1) accessing reproductive health information; (2) understanding reproductive health information; (3) applying reproductive health information; (4) appraising reproductive health information. Thirdly, most studies were evaluated to three phases: pretest, posttest, and follow-up assessment. The study finding demonstrated improvements in health behaviors and service behaviors in three key areas; (1) DRH knowledge, (2) skills, and (3) attitude toward service delivery.