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Abstract Objective The aim was to compare the effects between pre‐pandemic mask‐free living versus pandemic‐related continuous mask use. Methods A retrospective study was carried out. This study was conducted with 542 face mask users. Assessments included presence, frequency and impact of headache, temporomandibular disorders, and quality of life (QoL). Results Continuous mask use had a large main effect on headache, temporomandibular pain, and QoL (p .05; d = .06). QoL decreased regardless of mask type (p

In the present study, we complement role congruity theory with insights from the Social Identity Model of Leadership. We propose that especially female leaders benefit from team prototypicality, i.e., being representative of the group they are leading. We assume that team prototypicality shifts the comparative frame away from higher-order categories like gender and leader roles to more concrete team-related properties and thereby reduces disadvantages for female leader that stem from the incongruity between the leader role and the female gender role stereotypes. Further, this effect should affect both (female) leaders themselves and their perception by their followers. Building on previous research, we predict, first, lower authentic leadership behavior for female than male leaders. Second, that team prototypicality positively relates to authentic leadership and trust in leader. Third, that team prototypicality has stronger relations to authentic leadership and trust in leader for female compared to male leaders. We tested assumptions in a randomized online experiment (Study 1, N = 315) and a cross-sectional survey study (Study 2, N = 300). We did not find consistent support for the assumed gender differences in authentic leadership. But our results (both in manifest and in latent analyses) show that team prototypicality—both self-perceived (Study 1) and as perceived by employees (Study 2)—is related to more authentic leadership and more trust in leader (Study 2) and that these relations are stronger for female than for male leaders. Furthermore, we tested in Study 2 an extended model including follower’s job satisfaction as the final follower outcome affected via team prototypicality, leader gender, authentic leadership, and trust in leader. Thereby, we found that team prototypicality has direct and indirect effects on job satisfaction as carried through authentic leadership and trust in leader, respectively. Together, the results of both studies support our assumptions and show that female leaders can reduce role incongruity barriers through high team prototypicality. Implications for future research and practical implications of these results for gender equality are discussed.

The COVID-19 global pandemic will likely change how organizations conduct business. For example, a white paper from McKinsey claims that flexible and remote work arrangements (e.g., “working-from-home”) will become increasingly frequent in the “new normal” that will follow the COVID-19 pandemic. Our work is motivated by the premise that in a post-pandemic workplace, traditional management practices like unilaterally assigning goals and displaying contingent rewarding behaviors will likely be replaced by positive management practices. In this context, positive management practices include allowing employees to self-set their goals and displaying authentic leadership behaviors while managing them. However, whether these positive management practices are more efficient in sustaining performance is unknown. Our study benchmarked positive management practices against traditional management practices in a remote work environment, using three individual performance metrics: goal attainment, goal commitment, and perceived task efficacy. In a panel laboratory experiment consisting of a baseline measurement and two work sessions, we randomly assigned participants to an authentic vs. transactional leadership condition (amateur actor recording) and one of three possible goal-setting types (assigned, self-set, “do-your-best”). Our results show that participants in the authentic leadership × self-set goals condition outperformed all other experimental conditions. Further, a post hoc analysis revealed a serial mediation effect of (a) goal attainment and (b) goal commitment at time 1 on perceived task efficacy reports at time 2.

The purpose of this study was to investigate which social groups are perceived as a threat target and which are perceived as a threat source during the COVID-19 outbreak. In a German sample ('N' = 1454) we examined perceptions of social groups ranging from those that are psychologically close and smaller (family, friends, neighbors) to those that are more distal and larger (people living in Germany, humankind). We hypothesized that psychologically closer groups would be perceived as less affected by COVID-19 as well as less threatening than more psychologically distal groups. Based on social identity theorizing, we also hypothesized that stronger identification with humankind would change these patterns. Furthermore, we explored how these threat perceptions relate to adherence to COVID-19 health guidelines. In line with our hypotheses, latent random-slope modelling revealed that psychologically distal and larger groups were perceived as more affected by COVID-19 and as more threatening than psychologically closer and smaller groups. Including identification with humankind as a predictor into the threat target model resulted in a steeper increase in threat target perception patterns, whereas identification with humankind did not predict differences in threat source perceptions. Additionally, an increase in threat source perceptions across social groups was associated with more adherence to health guidelines, whereas an increase in threat target perceptions was not. We fully replicated these findings in a subgroup from the original sample ('N' = 989) four weeks later. We argue that societal recovery from this and other crises will be supported by an inclusive approach informed by a sense of our common identity as human beings.

What drives entrepreneurs to engage in antisocial economic behaviors? Without dismissing entrepreneurs’ agency in their decision-making processes, our study aims to answer this question by proposing that antisocial economic behaviors are a dysfunctional coping mechanism to reduce the psychological tension that entrepreneurs face in their day-to-day activities. Further, given the overlap between the male gender role stereotype and both leader and entrepreneur role stereotypes, this psychological tension should be stronger in female entrepreneurs (or any person who identifies with the female gender role). We argue that besides the well-established female gender role – leader role incongruence, female entrepreneurs also suffer a female gender role – entrepreneur role incongruence. Thus, we predicted that men (or those identifying with the male gender role) or entrepreneurs (regardless of their gender identity) that embrace these roles stereotypes to an extreme, are more likely to engage in antisocial economic behaviors. In this context, the term antisocial economic behaviors refers to cheating or trying to harm competitors’ businesses. Finally, we predicted that embracing an authentic leadership style might mitigate this effect. We tested our predictions in two laboratory studies (Phase 1 and 2). For Phase 1 we recruited a sample of French Business school students (N = 82). For Phase 2 we recruited a sample of Costa Rican male and female entrepreneurs, using male and female managers as reference groups (N = 64). Our results show that authentic leadership reduced the likelihood of entrepreneurs and men of engaging in antisocial economic behaviors such as trying to harm one’s competition or seeking an unfair advantage.

We investigated the relationship between self-ratings of leader character and follower positive outcomes-namely, subjective well-being, resilience, organizational commitment, and work engagement-in a public-sector organization using a time-lagged cross-sectional design involving 188 leader-follower dyads and 22 offices. Our study is an important step forward in the conceptual development of leader character and the application of character to enhance workplace practices. We combined confirmatory factor analysis and network-based analysis to determine the factorial and network structure of leader character. The findings revealed that a model of 11 inter-correlated leader character dimensions fit the data better than a single-factor model. Further, judgment appeared as the most central dimension in a network comprising the 11 character dimensions. Moreover, in a larger network of partial correlations, two ties acted as bridges that link leader character to follower positive outcomes: judgment and drive. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Research in human spaceflight has extensively documented how microgravity environments, such as spaceflight across Low Earth Orbit (LEO), affects astronauts’ and Spaceflight Participants’ emotions. However, a more refined understanding of this topic will become especially relevant as national and international space agencies increase the duration of manned space missions, and as the private sector fully enters the aerospace arena. In this paper, we analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the four main types of interventions for dealing with the stressors associated with human spaceflight (i.e., ergonomic, physiological, psychological, and psychosocial), and then elaborate on a psychosocial intervention grounded on evidence-based interventions across several fields of psychological research. Among the components of such interventions, we recommend adopting advanced stress coping strategies, developing emotional and intercultural competencies and crafting a shared social identity among crew members. Our proposed intervention aims to enhance the efficacy of social support as a key coping mechanism and applies to crewmembers and spaceflight participants of diverse cultural backgrounds who, most likely, will work using computer-mediated communication (CMC).

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0201189.].

The primary objective of this study was to explore the mechanisms and conditions whereby Tension-Type Headache (TTH) presenteeism relates to health-related loss of productivity as a result of both reduced physical and mental health. To this end, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to conduct a secondary data analysis of a randomized clinical trial involving 78 Tension-type Headache (TTH) patients. The results showed that TTH presenteeism did not directly relate to health-related loss of productivity, either due to physical, or mental health problems. However, through anxiety-state, TTH presenteeism decreased patients' productivity, as consequence of reduced physical and mental health. Moreover, by increasing the severity of the Tension-Type Headache, TTH presenteeism indirectly decreased patients' productivity as consequence of reduced physical health (but not mental health). Finally, our results show that such indirect effects only occur when the cause of TTH is non-mechanical (e.g., hormonal causes, etc.). Our work provides an integrative model that can inform organizational behaviorists and health professionals (e.g., physiotherapists). Implications for organizational health are discussed.