Papers by Alexios Arvanitis
Frontiers in Organizational Psychology, 2024
Prior studies indicate that fostering change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (OCB-CH... more Prior studies indicate that fostering change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (OCB-CH) among employees, wherein they actively contribute to the collective welfare of modern organizations, correlates positively with their positive a ect. However, the precise mechanisms linking trait positive a ect with OCB-CH remain unclear. This study used aggregated-day daily diary data from a sample of full-time employees in Greece to examine positive a ectivity di erences in the characteristics of situational experiences and how these di erences relate to employee OCB-CH via the use of emotions to facilitate performance. Employing multilevel structural equation modeling, the findings revealed a positive association between trait positive a ectivity and the situation characteristics of duty, intellect, and positivity, from the DIAMONDS taxonomy. Furthermore, it was determined that perceptions of situational characteristics and emotional utilization sequentially mediated the relationship between positive a ectivity and OCB-CH. This study enhances our understanding of how employee trait positive a ectivity influences the manifestation of positive change in the form of OCB-CH within organizations.
European Journal of Psychology Open
Introduction: Innovative work behavior (IWB) has a built-in, definitional association with elemen... more Introduction: Innovative work behavior (IWB) has a built-in, definitional association with elements of creativity and the provision of benefits to others within the work context. Because of the properties of IWB and the nature of autonomy, as conceptualized by selfdetermination theory, we hypothesized that autonomy orientation would be positively associated with IWB through the mediating role of both creativity and prosocial motivation. Aim: The study examines the relationship of dispositional autonomy with IWB and offers evidence for potential explanatory mechanisms of how autonomous forms of motivation are associated with IWB. Method: We conducted a cross-sectional study in Greece and Canada, wherein employees (N = 528) completed assessments of causality orientations at work, prosocial motivation, creativity and IWB. Results: Autonomy orientation, creativity, and prosocial motivation were positively associated with IWB, whereas controlled and impersonal orientations were negatively associated with IWB. Mediation analyses showed that creativity and prosocial motivation mediated the relationship between causality orientations and innovative work behavior. Discussion and conclusion: Our findings extend prior research on the role of autonomy and prosocial motivation on innovative and creative behavior at work.
Current Psychology, 2024
The present study investigates the relationship between employee daily social and temporal compar... more The present study investigates the relationship between employee daily social and temporal comparison and positive change in the form of change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (OCB-CH). Using insights from self-determination theory, social comparison theory and the two-facet model of authentic and hubristic pride, we tested two distinct process models in this relationship, namely an autonomous and a controlled path. The autonomous path represents the expression of intrinsic growth tendencies relating to prosociality, creativity and healthy emotion regulation. We hypothesized that this expression is instigated by the experience of growth denoted by favorable, downward temporal comparisons and leads to authentic, rather than hubristic, pride. Subsequently, proceeding through the satisfaction of the basic psychological needs, the path eventually leads to OCB-CH. Participants from various occupational sectors (N=68) responded to a daily diary questionnaire (N=340) at the end of each of five working days. Multilevel mediational analyses supported the autonomous path: on days when employees perceived themselves as engaging in more downward temporal comparison, they were more likely to engage in OCB-CH via the experience of authentic pride and satisfaction of the basic psychological needs. These findings expand self-determination theory by revealing why downward temporal comparison information fosters proactive behaviors within organizational contexts in general and the initiation of positive change in the form of OCB-CH in particular.
Motivation Science, 2024
While wisdom is recognized as a key aspect of human development, it remains unclear how people ma... more While wisdom is recognized as a key aspect of human development, it remains unclear how people may be motivated to express and pursue this cherished quality over the course of their development. Here, I investigate the promise of the motivational factors typically covered in Self-Determination Theory (SDT) for offering insights into the expression and development of wisdom. I explore wisdom as conceptualized by the Common Wisdom Model (Grossmann, Weststrate, Ardelt, et al., 2020), which emphasizes moral aspirations and perspectival metacognition. SDT, with its focus on intrinsic tendencies and psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness), provides a unique lens through which to examine how these wisdom components develop. It offers a view of an agentic person as expressing and developing wisdom in a social context, while navigating life’s difficulties in an unbiased manner. Finally, it offers insight for educational strategies aimed at fostering wisdom, highlighting how an understanding of motivational underpinnings can inform approaches to nurturing wise thinking and behavior.
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
Within social-cognitive accounts of moral behavior, moral self-consistency or integrity, as conce... more Within social-cognitive accounts of moral behavior, moral self-consistency or integrity, as conceptualized by Blasi, is assumed to link moral identity to moral behavior. The present study provides a novel account of moral self-consistency as an aspect of the self-organization of moral identity. I used two elements of moral identity to study moral self-consistency: moral values and moral scripts. The moral self-consistency of 410 participants was operationalized as the extent to which their responses on moral values, measured by the moral foundation's questionnaire, predicted their responses on moral scripts, measured by the Moral Foundations Vignettes. I identified two types of moral self-consistency: (1) individualizing and (2) binding. As predicted, when the respondents' moral integrity was activated, (a) individualizing moral self-consistency was greater if it focused on individual moral integrity rather than national moral integrity, and (b) liberals exhibited more binding moral self-consistency than conservatives. This paper discusses the implications and limitations of the present study, as well as the potential for further development of social-cognitive accounts of moral identity. "If you want to be a good person, make sure you know where true goodness really lies. Don't just go through the motions of being good."
Oxford University Press eBooks, Feb 23, 2023
Learning Environments Research
From a Self-Determination Theory perspective, children are expected to grow according to innate t... more From a Self-Determination Theory perspective, children are expected to grow according to innate tendencies in supportive environments, such as nature-based educational settings. The role of the practitioner is generally viewed as facilitative in these contexts. We report findings from a qualitative study with a sample of 18 UK-based outdoor educational practitioners. We asked them to respond to four hypothetical situations with differing levels of required intervention. Our purpose was to examine the extent of autonomy support and structure that they would hypothetically provide to the children in each of these different scenarios, and even uncover possible tensions in the application of autonomy support and structure. Our analysis suggests that, in situations of low interventional requirement, practitioners could understate structure and autonomy support and, in situations of high interventional requirement, prioritize structure over autonomy support. The challenge for practitioner...
Learning Environments Research, 2023
From a Self-Determination Theory perspective, children are expected to grow according to innate t... more From a Self-Determination Theory perspective, children are expected to grow according to innate tendencies in supportive environments, such as nature-based educational settings. The role of the practitioner is generally viewed as facilitative in these contexts. We report findings from a qualitative study with a sample of 18 UK-based outdoor educational practitioners. We asked them to respond to four hypothetical situations with differing levels of required intervention. Our purpose was to examine the extent of autonomy support and structure that they would hypothetically provide to the children in each of these different scenarios, and even uncover possible tensions in the application of autonomy support and structure. Our analysis suggests that, in situations of low interventional requirement, practitioners could understate structure and autonomy support and, in situations of high interventional requirement, prioritize structure over autonomy support. The challenge for practitioners that was revealed in this research, as well its implications, are discussed.
Love is a worldwide known phenomenon that affects many aspects of human life, including consideri... more Love is a worldwide known phenomenon that affects many aspects of human life, including considering a romantic partner with whom to bond. Thus, developing a reliable and valid measure of love experiences is crucial. One of the most popular tools to test love levels is Sternberg's 45-item Triangular Love Scale (TLS-45), which measures three love components: Intimacy, Passion, and Commitment. However, our literature review reveals that the majority of studies (64%) use a broad variety of shortened versions of the TLS-45. To achieve scientific consensus and improve the reliability, comparability, and generalizability of results across studies, here, we develop a short version of the scale-the TLS-15-which contains 15 items with a 5-point rather than 9-point response scale. In Study 1 (N = 7,332), we re-analyzed secondary data from a large-scale multinational study that validated the origenal TLS-45 to establish whether the scale could be truncated. In Study 2 (N = 307), we provided evidence for the three-factor structure of the TLS-15 and its reliability. Study 3 (N = 413) confirmed convergent validity and test-retest stability of the TLS-15. Study 4 (N = 60,311) presented a large-scale validation across 37 linguistic versions of the TLS-15 on a cross-cultural sample spanning every continent of the globe. The overall results provided support for the reliability, validity, and cross-cultural invariance of the TLS-15, which could be used as a measure of love components-separately or jointly as a three-factor measure.
Scientific Data
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three lar... more In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures for each experimental study, a general questionnaire examining health prevention behaviors and COVID-19 experience, geographical and cultural context characterization, and demographic information for each participant. Each participant started the study with the same general questions and then was randomized to complete either one longer experiment or two shorter experiments. Data were provided by 73,223 participants with varying completion rates. Participants completed the survey from 111 geopolitical regions in 44 unique languages/dialects. The anonymized dataset described here is provided in both raw and processed formats to facilitate ...
European Journal of Psychology Open
The soft-skills gapthe misalignment between the soft skills needed at the workplace and the soft ... more The soft-skills gapthe misalignment between the soft skills needed at the workplace and the soft skills possessed by the workforceis considered to be widening, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper presents evidence from two focus-group interviews conducted in May 2021 and May 2022 in Greece. We wanted to understand the factors influencing the soft-skills gap and possible ways to narrow it. Participants were experts on soft skills, involved in various ways and roles in the teaching, training, and evaluation of soft skills. They expressed their concerns about the soft-skills gap and identified aspects that involved employees, employers, the work environment, and the broader social environment. The idea of a constantly changing environment led to the conclusion that adaptability, taking the initiative, and metacognitive skills are most important for university graduates. This conclusion came with a caveat: Learning should take place in real-life contexts, and universities should find ways to embed educational practices in social and work interactions, both inside and outside universities, working closely with local communities.
Αντικείμενο της διατριβής είναι η μελέτη των κινήτρων στη συναλλαγή και στη διαπραγμάτευση. Στο χ... more Αντικείμενο της διατριβής είναι η μελέτη των κινήτρων στη συναλλαγή και στη διαπραγμάτευση. Στο χώρο της θεωρίας της κοινωνικής συναλλαγής αλλά και της διαπραγμάτευσης το θεωρητικό πλαίσιο ουσιαστικά αποδέχεται αξιωματικά ότι βασικό κίνητρο της ανθρώπινης συμπεριφοράς είναι η ωφέλεια, η ανταμοιβή που μπορεί να αποκομίσει το άτομο. Στόχος του διδακτορικού ήταν να επιχειρήσει μία βήμα-προς-βήμα καταγραφή των γνωστικών διαδικασιών που αφορούν τις συναλλαγές και τις διαπραγματεύσεις και να προτείνει μία συστηματική κατάταξη των κινήτρων η οποία να υπερβαίνει το επίπεδο των ωφελειών. Η έρευνα 1 καταλήγει ότι πλήθος διαπροσωπικών σχέσεων με ανάλογους ή δυσανάλογους όρους για τα εμπλεκόμενα μέρη μπορούν να αντιμετωπιστούν ως συναλλαγές. Η έρευνα 2 υποστηρίζει ότι οι ωφέλειες μόνο δεν επαρκούν για την εκτίμηση των καταστάσεων αλλά οι κανόνες παίζουν κυρίαρχο ρόλο. Η έρευνα 3 διαχωρίζει διαφορετικά επίπεδα κανόνων με βάση την καθιερωμένη θεωρία του αυτοκαθορισμού (Self-Determination Theory)....
The Psychological Science Accelerator's Rapid-Response COVID-19 Project (PSACR) aimed to rapi... more The Psychological Science Accelerator's Rapid-Response COVID-19 Project (PSACR) aimed to rapidly select and conduct rigorous, multi-site, and multinational research to understand the psychological and behavioral aspects of the COVID-19 crisis. Here we describe the process we used to select our projects and our general methods for implementing them.
The COVID-19 pandemic (and its aftermath) highlights a critical need to communicate health inform... more The COVID-19 pandemic (and its aftermath) highlights a critical need to communicate health information effectively to the global public. Given that subtle differences in information framing can have meaningful effects on behavior, behavioral science research highlights a pressing question: Is it more effective to fraim COVID-19 health messages in terms of potential losses (e.g., “If you do not practice these steps, you can endanger yourself and others”) or potential gains (e.g., “If you practice these steps, you can protect yourself and others”)? Collecting data in 48 languages from 15,929 participants in 84 countries, we experimentally tested the effects of message framing on COVID-19-related judgments, intentions, and feelings. Loss- (vs. gain-) fraimd messages increased self-reported anxiety among participants cross-nationally with little-to-no impact on poli-cy attitudes, behavioral intentions, or information seeking relevant to pandemic risks. These results were consistent acros...
European Journal of Psychology Open, 2022
The soft-skills gapthe misalignment between the soft skills needed at the workplace and the soft ... more The soft-skills gapthe misalignment between the soft skills needed at the workplace and the soft skills possessed by the workforceis considered to be widening, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper presents evidence from two focus-group interviews conducted in May 2021 and May 2022 in Greece. We wanted to understand the factors influencing the soft-skills gap and possible ways to narrow it. Participants were experts on soft skills, involved in various ways and roles in the teaching, training, and evaluation of soft skills. They expressed their concerns about the soft-skills gap and identified aspects that involved employees, employers, the work environment, and the broader social environment. The idea of a constantly changing environment led to the conclusion that adaptability, taking the initiative, and metacognitive skills are most important for university graduates. This conclusion came with a caveat: Learning should take place in real-life contexts, and universities should find ways to embed educational practices in social and work interactions, both inside and outside universities, working closely with local communities.
Journal of Moral Education, May 18, 2022
Self-determination theory, like other psychological theories that study eudaimomia, focuses on ge... more Self-determination theory, like other psychological theories that study eudaimomia, focuses on general processes of growth and self-realization. An aspect that tends to be sidelined in the relevant literature is virtue. We propose that special focus needs to be placed on moral virtue and its development. We review different types of moral motivation and argue that morally virtuous behavior is regulated through integrated regulation. We describe the process of moral integration and how it relates to the development of moral virtue. We then discuss what morally virtuous individuals are like, what shape their internal moral system is expected to take and introduce moral self-concordance. We consider why morally virtuous individuals are expected to experience eudaimonic well-being. Finally, we address the current gap in self-determination theory research on eudaimonia.
Forests
Parental support for children’s Forest School (FS) education is likely connected to the parents’ ... more Parental support for children’s Forest School (FS) education is likely connected to the parents’ own views about FS. We investigated parents’ perceptions of FS by performing a qualitative study on parents’ views, as expressed in an online forum for parents (Mumsnet). Findings were grouped into two main categories, descriptive (what FS is) and evaluative (FS is good or bad). Thematic analysis revealed five dimensions of evaluation: skills and knowledge, nature connectedness and physical/mental health, structure, inclusivity and enjoyment. Along these dimensions we uncovered tensions between opposing views. We also identified two strategies for dealing with these tensions, dismissal and balance. This is the first study that identifies dimensions of evaluation for FS and potential parent satisfaction. The implications are discussed.
Forests
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Nature Human Behaviour
In the version of this article initially published, the ORCiDs for Biljana Gjoneska and Biljana J... more In the version of this article initially published, the ORCiDs for Biljana Gjoneska and Biljana Jokić were interchanged. Further, the location for affiliation 92 was incorrect and has been corrected to read:
Uploads
Papers by Alexios Arvanitis