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Abstract. Background: While belongingness has frequently been investigated in the general population as an antidote to experiencing depression, suicidal thoughts, and suicidal behavior, it has rarely been evaluated as a protective factor among individuals bereaved by suicide. Aims: We examined whether perceived belongingness could moderate the differences between suicide-bereaved, suicide-exposed, and nonexposed respondents regarding depression, suicide ideation, and suicide attempts. Method: We conducted an online survey of the adult Israeli population ( N = 806), with 203 suicide-bereaved, 266 suicide-exposed, and 377 nonexposed respondents. Participants completed several questionnaires tapping depression and suicidality as well as perceived belongingness levels. Results: Individuals bereaved by suicide reported the highest levels of depression, suicide ideation, and suicide attempts in comparison with suicide-exposed and nonexposed individuals. However, belongingness was found to moderate these distinctions concerning suicide ideation and suicide attempts. Limitations: Belongingness was assessed by only a single question, and the online survey suffered from a relatively high nonresponse rate. Conclusion: Our results suggest that belongingness may act as a potent antidote to the adverse mental health consequences among individuals bereaved by suicide. Clinicians should accord adequate attention to fostering social connectedness among their clients bereaved by suicide.

Background Innovation in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields in the U.S. is threatened by a lack of diversity. Social identity threat research finds messages in the academic environment devalue women and underrepresented groups in STEM, creating a chilly and hostile environment. Research has focused on the mechanisms that contribute to STEM engagement and interest at the K-12 and undergraduate level, but the mechanisms that predict sustained engagement at the graduate level have not been studied. Results In a longitudinal study of doctoral students in STEM disciplines, we demonstrate that students’ beliefs that their STEM colleagues believe intelligence is a fixed (vs. malleable) trait undermine women’s engagement in STEM. Specifically, perceiving a fixed ability environment predicts greater perceptions of sexism, which erode women’s self-efficacy and sense of belongingness and lead women to consider dropping out of their STEM career. Conclusion These findings identify one potential pathway by which women leave their STEM fields, perpetuating gender disparities in STEM.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the activity-based workspace (ABW) on employee belonging. Place attachment theory (PAT) is used as a proxy to understand and measure the belongingness of employees to their physical workplaces. Design/methodology/approach A case study of a bank’s newly retrofitted ABW office is conducted, providing fresh perspectives on the effect of ABW on employee belonging. A questionnaire survey was used to understand employee belongingness. Surveys are conducted with employees of the bank (n = 100) who experienced the transition from the conventional open-plan office with designated seats to an ABW, to understand and compare the change in employee belonging after the transition, by studying the level of belonging achieved in the space before and after. Findings The results showed that there was a positive sense of belongingness amongst employees working in the ABW space, as per the PAT framework and an increased sense of belongingness compared with the previous conventional open-plan office. However, ABWs were found to also have a negative effect on employees’ sense of control and security. Originality/value Maslow’s hierarchy of needs indicates that a feeling of belonging is fundamental to humans. The need for belonging is also applicable in the workplaces of today’s progressive corporate organisations, where there is increased pressure and incentive to appeal to and retain talent. This research was conducted in response to the huge growth in interest in activity-based working across the corporate real estate community. As there has been no prior research done in the area of the emotional need for belongingness in ABW.

PurposeAlthough graphic-based emoticons in mobile instant messenger (MIM) services became an important revenue source for their service provider, empirical research investigating factors influencing graphic-based emoticon purchase from the consumer's perspective is insufficient. The authors explore how user's achieved belongingness (acceptance or rejection) affects graphic based emoticon usage motivations and its purchase intentions.Design/methodology/approachA structural model is used to examine the relationship among individual's overall achieved belongingness, motivation factors of graphic-based emoticon usage in MIM such as perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, perceived enjoyment for others, social norm and emoticon purchase intentions. The authors collected and analyzed survey data of 279 Korean KakaoTalk users.FindingsThe analysis shows that perceived acceptance/inclusion positively impacts perceived usefulness, enjoyment and enjoyment of others in graphic-based emoticon usage. Meanwhile, perceived rejection/exclusion positively impacts perceived enjoyment and enjoyment of others but negatively influences perceived social norms. Moreover, social norms and perceived enjoyment directly affect graphic-based emoticon purchase intentions. The authors also find that perceived enjoyment of others and perceived social norms in a serial causal order mediate the relationship between perceived acceptance/inclusion (and rejection/exclusion) and emoticon purchase intentions.Research limitations/implicationsAdditional research including users from other demographic groups, such as other age groups, is required to generalize our findings and to increase external validity.Originality/valueUnique implications related to the role of user's achieved belongingness and perceived enjoyment of others in graphic-based emoticon usage in purchase intentions are found.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/ 10.1108/OIR-02-2020-0036

This study tested whether Punjabi-English bilinguals feel a stronger rapport with another bilingual stranger when communicating in L1 Punjabi or their dominant L2 English. Some previous studies hav...

An upward trend in drug driving has been observed in several countries around the world. Research suggests that younger drivers are more likely to engage in drug driving compared to older drivers. There is also evidence to suggest young drivers differ from older drivers in their capacity for self-regulation. Despite this, research has yet to explore the impact of age on the self-regulatory processes with regard to decisions to drug drive among drug users. A total of 507 Queensland drivers (72.8% female), who reported ever taking an illegal drug, were involved in the research. Participants completed an online questionnaire, which collected demographic and drug consumption information, as well as items assessing the self-regulatory processes influencing drug driving, and drug driving behaviour. Regardless of age, participants reported a tendency towards internalised regulation. However, results suggest that young drivers (aged 18–24 years) feel greater belongingness to people who promote safe transport decisions after taking drugs, compared to drivers aged 25 years and over. Interaction effects revealed that for young drug takers, feeling greater relatedness, along with perceiving competence and importance in planning alternative transport after taking drugs, can be protective against drug driving behaviours. Significant predictors of drug driving were lower relatedness, greater perceived pressure to drug drive, lower effort/importance to plan safe alternatives after taking drugs, being of older age, and greater drug abuse. Counterintuitively, perceiving more options (choice) to take alternative transport after taking drugs also predicted the offending behaviour. The results of this study suggest that enhancing drivers’ competency to make (and value) safe driving decisions is a critical step for road safety.

This study examined the multiplicative associations of the social categories of ethnicity (Hong Kong Chinese, mainland Chinese, or ethnic minorities), gender, and socioeconomic status (SES) with overall belongingness (to one’s self, personal networks, and society) and national belonging to China among youth (aged 18–24 years) in Hong Kong. Our analysis revealed similar levels of overall belongingness and national belonging among ethnic minority youth relative to Hong Kong Chinese youth. The intersectionality of mainland Chinese female youth determined a higher degree of belongingness compared with their male counterparts and Hong Kong Chinese female youth. Although SES was positively associated with belongingness, it was not significantly associated with national belonging to China. We provided explanations of these patterns and recommends policy strategies to strengthen individual and national belongingness.

PurposeOstracism is a subjective and relative concept that renders itself to multiple manifestations and context-specific outcomes. Therefore, this study identified specific behaviours that are perceived as workplace ostracism by teaching faculty of Pakistani Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs). Building on belongingness theory, the ramifications of ostracism on psychological well-being are outlined along with the context-specific factors that shape these outcomes.Design/methodology/approachA phenomenological approach was adopted, and 30 semi-structured interviews from the teaching faculty of HEIs in Lahore, Pakistan, were conducted. The transcribed interviews were coded, and an inductive thematic analysis via NVivo 12 Plus software was used to generate themes and sub-themes.FindingsFive behaviours, i.e. biased treatment, exclusion from formal and informal interactions, interpersonal alienation, delayed sharing or hiding of knowledge, lack of work-related, social and emotional support constituted the acts of ostracism in studied HEIs. The psychological well-being of faculty suffered in terms of negative emotions, reduced job, career and life satisfaction in their work and family life. The contextual factors deciding the intensity of outcomes resulting from workplace encompassed head of department (HOD) support, pay, friendly relations, fear of confrontation, alternative job options and designation of faculty members.Originality/valueThis research is a pioneer in using an in-depth phenomenological approach to define a behavioural typology of ostracism in academia. Moreover, a much needed holistic outcome of psychological well-being is explored in work and non-work domains and further elucidated in light of context-specific factors.

This paper explores the impact of frugality and materialism on workplace deviant behaviors in business organizations. The investigation sample was drawn from selected business organizations (Stanbic IBTC Bank, Globacom Limited, International Alpha Limited, and Nextzon Business Services Firm) across the Ibadan and Lagos cities of Nigeria. This study espouses a quantitative research approach, and the study’s questionnaires were randomly dispersed. Out of 400 questionnaires, 323 questionnaires were useful for investigation, and the data obtained were analyzed using SPSS version 26. The research results show that the frugal are less likely to engage in workplace deviant behaviors, while materialists are more inclined to exhibit workplace deviant behaviors in business organizations. This paper further indicates that demographics (gender, marital status, and educational qualification) have a statistical effect on workplace deviant behavior. It was confirmed that frugality, materialism, and employee demographics significantly influenced workplace deviant behaviors in business organizations. Therefore, business organizations’ leadership and management should encourage frugality, thereby directly reducing employee workplace deviant behaviors. Besides, the main focus should be on reducing materialistic tendencies through periodic training and seminars on debt prevention, particularly among vulnerable employees who discourage workplace deviant behaviors. AcknowlendgmentThe authors acknowledge the Department of Industrial Psychology and People Management, College of Business and Economics, University of Johannesburg, under Professor Wilfred Ukpere, for funding this study and publishing it.

Departing from a universal perspective on affective organizational commitment, the present article examines the situational and personal variables that act as potential moderators of the relationship between affective commitment and its antecedents and outcomes. Based on emerging evidence and theory, it is argued that the relationship between extrinsic and intrinsic rewards and other job experiences and affective commitment is stronger when employees exert an influence over rewards and job experiences. This can be achieved when the organization offers opportunities for such influence or when employees’ traits help them earn expected rewards. Similarly, theory and empirical evidence suggest that the relationship between affective commitment and work outcomes is subject to moderating influences. For example, affective commitment may foster employee retention when more career opportunities are available, making one’s belongingness to the organization more attractive. Such career opportunities may result from the organization’s action or from individuals’ own proactivity to obtain them. Likewise, the relationship between affective commitment and work performance is likely stronger when supervisors’ leadership helps employees engage in those behaviors that are rewarded by the organization. Finally, we discuss avenues for future inquiry by identifying group-level and cultural variables as promising moderators that warrant attention.

Limited work has focused on understanding mechanisms through which violence negatively impacts youth outcomes. The present study investigates how three different facets of violence exposure (witnessing violence, victimization and armed conflict) relate to Colombian youth externalizing behaviors via the indirect influence of aggressive cognitions and the moderating role of community belongingness. Data were from a sample of students ( N = 3,483) in public high schools in Colombia. Findings indicated all three facets of violence were positively associated with youth externalizing behaviors. Armed conflict and witnessing community violence positively predicted externalizing behaviors via the indirect effect of aggressive cognitions. Community belongingness moderated the association between armed conflict and witnessing on aggressive cognitions. Results highlight the need for understanding risk and protective factors from a contextual lens. The role of community belongingness as a resilience factor is discussed, as such it has implications for intervention programs targeting youth at greater risk to violence exposure.

The Problem The COVID-19 pandemic caused many workers to move from brick and mortar buildings to virtual/remote environments. This created situations in which workers were forced to not only work virtually, but to work alone. The lack of physical contact with others has the potential to stifle efforts to remain engaged and consequently impede career development and progress. The Solution Virtual mentoring is essential for providing emotional support, creating opportunities for dialogue, helping employees discover a balance between work and life, implementing a reward system, and enhancing an overall sense of well-being and belongingness for employees working in virtual/remote environments. Self-efficacy, a component of social learning theory, is a useful concept to study virtual/remote workers who often become self-empowered and rely on their own cognitive abilities to perform in a virtual/remote environment to ensure successful career outcomes. The Stakeholders HRD professionals, managers, supervisors, and others involved in ensuring that workers are engaged, supported, and continuously building skills while working virtually.

Older age, especially advanced age, is accompanied by changes in the social relations amongst the elderly and specifically by a decrease in the size of their social networks: peers pass away and contact with other people may be restricted, often due to declining physical and mental strength. Gerontosociology notes the elderly's preferential focus on the family, which is usually defined in terms of intergenerational relationships and a support network in old age. Relationships with siblings lie outside the research interest of gerontosociology because they are considered peer relationships, which is to say that they, too, are subject to the effects of ageing and old age and, consequently, are less reliable as a source of help or care. However, the article shows that the elderly assign meaning to their relationships with their siblings, which go beyond mere instrumental assistance and which challenges the generally accepted view that sibling bonds are of secondary importance compared to relationships between older parents and adult children. The article answers the question of what the essence of siblinghood in old age is, its possible forms, and in what ways (according to what rules) the elderly maintain or develop sibling relationships - how they communicate in interactions with each other and in interactions with other members of their family of procreation and their shared family of origin. The article is based on the results of an analysis of data from a qualitative study carried out by conducting unstructured individual and group interviews as part of the project 'Greying Siblinghood: Sociological Study of Siblinghood in Late Adulthood'. In the theoretical framework of interpretive sociology, in which the article is anchored, both the key concepts of the relationist approach (family configuration, relatedness, belongingness, practices and rules of kinship interaction) and the concept of kinship ambivalence come to the forefront.

Sense of belonging, or belongingness, describes how accepted one feels in their academic community and is an important factor in creating inclusive learning environments. Belongingness is influenced by many factors including: students' backgrounds and experiences; other people; environments (physical and virtual); academic discipline; external factors such as local, regional, and global issues; and time. 2020 has been dominated by several major events including the COVID-19 pandemic which dramatically impacted education. The Black Lives Matter movement has further raised global awareness of equality, diversity and inclusion not just in society, but in educational contexts. Climate change concerns, and politically-charged news are also increasingly affecting our students. We have been monitoring our undergraduate computing students' sense of belonging for over three years, providing us with a unique opportunity to gauge recent changes during the pandemic. Our results surprised us. We found statistically significant reductions in the belongingness of students identifying as men as well as those not identifying as being part of a minority. However, investigating intersectionality of self-identified gender and minority status revealed more complicated and nuanced trends, illustrating important shifts in the belongingness of our students that we are only beginning to understand.

PurposeAlthough consumption is a universal phenomenon, it is characterised with considerable degree of diversity in relation to various factors such as culture, age, gender, ethnicity and many others. Accordingly, more often than not, these factors underpin consumers' reactions to different market offerings including luxury products. While a plethora of scholarship efforts are evident in the extant literature in regards to luxury consumption, there is dearth of studies around how this is linked hedonism and ethnic consumers. Hence, this paper aims to fill a palpable gap in the literature by exploring the UK Black African women's taste for luxury fashion consumption.Design/methodology/approachThe study is interpretive in nature with the use of 20 in-depth interviews conducted with Black African women through the use of snowballing and purposive sampling methods.FindingsThe study shows that the respondents' motivation for luxury consumption is driven by success and evolutionary motives, belongingness, societal pressures, cultural connection, anthropomorphism, consumer brand relationship and hedonism.Originality/valueApart from the theoretical implication of the study, which revolves around extending the discourse of taste in consumption and ethnic consumer behaviour, the paper will be greatly beneficial for marketing practitioners, especially in the area of segmentation, targeting and positioning vis-à-vis the marketing of luxury products.

Psychological sense of community is defined as feelings of belongingness and a shared belief that community members will meet one another’s needs. Psychological sense of community has four dimensions: membership, influence, needs fulfillment, and emotional connection. In this study, multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to examine the first and second-order factor structure of the Brief Sense of Community Scale (BSCS) between male and female Hispanic/Latinx adolescents from an urban community (N = 947). To help validate the BSCS model, the second-order factor model was tested with regression to predict the measures of intrapersonal psychological empowerment and ethnic identity, as constructs conceptually related to psychological sense of community. Findings support that: (1) psychological sense of community can be measured through the BSCS and as a four-factor model among Hispanic/Latinx youth, supporting McMillan and Chavis’s (1986) original theoretical discussions; (2) while no differences between genders were present at model-level, there was path-specific variation; and (3) intrapersonal psychological empowerment and ethnic identity were associated with psychological sense of community.

Peer group integration is a crucial acculturative goal for immigrant adolescents who, in order to reach this goal, may use bullying and/or aggressive behavior. The present study aims to explore the underlying aggression motives by investigating the importance of three motives (anger, power, and affiliation) for five different forms of aggressive behavior (bullying, cyberbullying, physical, verbal, and relational aggression) in three groups of adolescents (non-immigrants, first-generation and second-generation immigrants) in Cyprus. The sample consists of 507 non-immigrant Greek Cypriots, 149 first-generation and 93 second-generation immigrants (age M = 16.1, SD = 0.39; range 15-19; 52% female). Data was collected via validated self-report scales. In line with our hypotheses, latent means and covariances structure (MACS) models revealed that the affiliation motive was a stronger predictor for all five forms of aggressive behavior among first-generation immigrant adolescents indicating that the need to belong is especially important for their acculturation. The practical importance of these findings for better integrating newcomer immigrants in schools and aggression prevention are discussed.

Research has struggled to distinguish individuals who have attempted suicide from individuals with suicidal thoughts but no history of suicide attempts. Cognitive attributes such as decision-making mediate thought-behavior relationships; we therefore examined whether different decision-making styles distinguished those who had made suicide attempts from those with suicidal ideation only. Six hundred participants were recruited using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Measures assessed five decision-making styles, histories of suicide ideation and attempts, and several commonly cited correlates of suicide. Consistent with previous work, depression, anxiety, hopelessness, psychological pain, and belongingness were associated with suicidal ideation, but similar in individuals who made suicide attempts compared to individuals with suicidal ideation but no history of attempts. In contrast, a spontaneous decision-making style was moderately higher in individuals who made suicide attempts compared to individuals with suicidal ideation. To a lesser extent, borderline personality traits, some aspects of impulsivity, and a rational decision-making style also distinguished individuals who made suicide attempts from those with suicidal ideation. Findings can help inform suicide theory and prevention.

This article argues that there are firm grounds upon which to regard the act of denying a person's right of return to their country as a crime against humanity. To make its case, the article builds upon two justifications for the right of return: its grounding based on the human need to belong, and its purpose as a means of preventing rightlessness. The human interests underlying these justifications, the article contends, are similarly those reflected by the image of humanness ingrained within the law of crimes against humanity. Therefore, when the right of return is denied, it is also an assault against humanness as such – a crime against humanity. Recently, proceedings before the International Criminal Court (ICC), with regard to the situation in Bangladesh/Myanmar, have made this question highly relevant. Both the Court's Pre-Trial Chamber and Prosecutor have raised arguments in support of regarding the denial of the right of the Rohingya peoples to return to Myanmar a crime against humanity of other inhumane acts. Consequently, this article attempts to offer support for what might turn out to be an important doctrinal development in ICC jurisprudence.

Research on learning communities has primarily focused on identifying institutional outcomes such as student achievement and retention. However, more research is needed on how the learning community experience impacts the motivation, beliefs, and perceptions associated with student success. This study investigates the psychosocial effects of participating in a residential research-oriented learning community regarding students’ interest and motivation in pursuing research-oriented careers, research and data self-efficacy beliefs, sense of belongingness with the learning community, and socialization levels and career awareness in research-oriented fields. This study also investigated the mediating effects of students’ initial research self-efficacy beliefs on differential gains regarding career awareness, motivation and interest, and sense of belongingness and socialization after one year of participating in a residential research-oriented learning community. Participants of the study consisted of five cohorts of the learning community, each composed of twenty students. Students in each cohort participated in a pretest-posttest design survey study. Findings suggest that alignment of student interest with the learning community discipline is a key mediator of student growth in their self-efficacy beliefs, sense of belongingness with the learning community and levels of socialization, and career awareness in the selected field. Implications include recommendations for the thoughtful design of learning communities that promote cognitive apprenticeships by orchestrating the content, method, sequencing, and sociology of the learning environment.

Narcissistic vulnerability has been proposed as a dispositional feature that confers susceptibility to depression from earlier maladaptive parent-child relations. Limited research has examined narcissistic vulnerability as a mediator between perceived parental responsiveness and depressive symptoms, particularly with consideration of interpersonal motives such as needs for acceptance and belonging. A sample of 334 college undergraduates completed self-report measures of perceived parental responsiveness, narcissistic vulnerability, the need to belong, and depressive symptoms. Regression analyses using bootstrapped 99% confidence intervals tested a hypothesized moderated mediation model predicting depressive symptoms from parental responsiveness through narcissistic vulnerability as a mediator, moderated by the need to belong. Narcissistic vulnerability was found to significantly mediate the association between perceived parental responsiveness and depressive symptoms, with significant moderation by the need to belong. The mediating effect of narcissistic vulnerability was stronger as the need to belong increased. The findings indicate that narcissistic vulnerability may be an important mechanism in the link between childhood adversity and depressive symptoms, particularly when needs for acceptance from and inclusion with others are prominent.

Although victimization is a serious problem in children and adolescents, research has commonly focused on risk factors and consequences of this experience and largely ignored factors that protect youth mental health and well-being from the effects of victimization. The purpose of the present study sought to investigate the longitudinal mediating effect of school belongingness on the association of school victimization with emotional problems and psychological well-being among Turkish adolescents. Using the short-term longitudinal approach, data was collected from 282 students in a public secondary school in an urban city of Turkey at two different time points. Students responded to questions concerning school belongingness, emotional problems, psychological well-being, and school victimization. Mediation analyses were conducted across the two waves of data. Findings revealed that both victimization and a low sense of belonging were independently shown to be significantly negatively correlated with emotional problems and positively correlated with psychological well-being. Results also demonstrated that victimized students who feel a sense of belonging to their school display fewer emotional problems and greater well-being than those who are victimized but do not feel a sense of belonging to their school.

The effect of the flipped classroom model on students’ academic achievement, academic satisfaction, and general belongingness was investigated using an experimental design. Purposive sampling was used to select 94 undergraduate students as participants. The participants were divided into three groups: one experimental group with the flipped classroom model and two control groups with the traditional classroom and distance education models. The groups attended the same course content sessions that are suitable for their classroom model over eight weeks. For analysis, descriptive statistics, dependent groups t-tests, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, ANCOVA, and ANOVA tests were performed. Students’ academic achievement, academic satisfaction, and general belongingness levels significantly increased in the flipped classroom compared with the other classroom models. Suggestions for future research and limitations of the study are provided.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between diversity climate and tacit knowledge sharing and the mediating role of workplace belongingness between them. Design/methodology/approach The sample for this study consists of 495 employees (52.1% male, n = 258) drawn from varied occupational groups. Data were collected online using existing self-report measures. Hypotheses were tested with ordinary least squares regression-based path analysis. Findings This study provides evidence that diversity climate is positively related to workplace belongingness and tacit knowledge sharing. Furthermore, workplace belongingness is positively related to tacit knowledge sharing. Finally, workplace belongingness mediates the relationship between diversity climate and tacit knowledge sharing. Practical implications The findings highlight the need for organizations to promote fair human resource (HR) policies and practices by enacting and judiciously implementing policies that promote inclusiveness and fair treatment to stand a chance of benefiting from employees’ tacit knowledge sharing. Originality/value This study builds on existing research but shifts the focus to the influence of diversity climate on tacit knowledge sharing and thus sets up a precedent for subsequent research in this area. This study is, therefore, the first to attempt to link diversity climate to tacit knowledge sharing through workplace belongingness.

In response to the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global health pandemic, many employees transitioned to remote work, which included remote meetings. With this sudden shift, workers and the media began discussing videoconference fatigue, a potentially new phenomenon of feeling tired and exhausted attributed to a videoconference. In the present study, we examine the nature of videoconference fatigue, when this phenomenon occurs, and what videoconference characteristics are associated with fatigue using a mixed-methods approach. Thematic analysis of qualitative responses indicates that videoconference fatigue exists, often in near temporal proximity to the videoconference, and is affected by various videoconference characteristics. Quantitative data were collected each hour during five workdays from 55 employees who were working remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Latent growth modeling results suggest that videoconferences at different times of the day are related to deviations in employee fatigue beyond what is expected based on typical fatigue trajectories. Results from multilevel modeling of 279 videoconference meetings indicate that turning off the microphone and having higher feelings of group belongingness are related to lower postvideoconference fatigue. Additional analyses suggest that higher levels of group belongingness are the most consistent protective factor against videoconference fatigue. Such findings have immediate practical implications for workers and organizations as they continue to navigate the still relatively new terrain of remote work. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

This study examined belongingness as it related to academic achievement. The need for research in this area derives from a sense of urgency and commitment to advocate for academically struggling Af...

This study investigates the nexus between teacher exposure to student aggression, their level of emotional exhaustion, and the role of belongingness and perceived school safety as mediators. Random...

This study measured the effect of various dimensions of social capital on the reporting of stress impacting the academic performance of Canadian undergraduate students. The American College Health Association collects information on undergraduate students’ habits, behaviors, and perceptions of various health topics through the National College Health Assessment-II (NCHA-II) survey. This cross-sectional study utilized the Spring 2019 NCHA-II survey data from 55,284 respondents across 58 Canadian post-secondary institutions. Of this, 31,091 undergraduate students (56.2%) reported being stressed within the past year and were included in our analysis. Nine factors were selected from the questionnaire based on their relevance to social capital in the literature, and an additional seven socio-demographic factors were controlled for in subsequent analyses. The associations between these predictor variables and stress impacting students’ academic performance were examined by fitting univariable and mixed-effects logistic regression models. Our study found having warm and trusting relationships with others, feeling a sense of belongingness, and feeling society is a good place for all individuals significantly decreased the odds of students reporting stress impacting their academic performance. Campuses that support student mental health, institutions that provide information regarding stress reduction, and feeling safe on campus also lowered the odds of students reporting stress adversely affecting their academics. These components of social capital should be targeted at higher education institutions to cultivate social capital, alleviate the implications of stress affecting academic success, and promote interpersonal resiliency skill-building among students.

There existed a lack of measuring instruments to clarify employees’ psychological motivation for working overtime, which challenged the management of employees’ occupational safety and health. Therefore, this article conducted three studies to develop and validate the Motivation for Overtime Work among Chinese Employees (MOW-CE) questionnaire. Study 1 developed the initial questionnaire, consisting of 55 questions. Study 2 involved a formal questionnaire exploring overtime work motivation, which was based on the data obtained from 208 valid questionnaires. Reliability analysis, item analysis, and principal component analysis were carried out to examine six factors, including promotion, belongingness, survival, companion, standard, and aimless, consisting of 21 items. Based on these data, Study 2 constructed the progressive model of external–internal overtime work motivation. Finally, Study 3 validated the formal questionnaire by analyzing the data obtained from 1412 valid questionnaires. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis showed good convergence validity and structural discrimination, and the questionnaire also passed the reliability test. This study proposes a new questionnaire that facilitates an understanding of why individuals work overtime according to an advanced model of external-internal motivations.

Although the need to belong, or the desire for interpersonal attachments, is a basic human motivation, understanding of how and when it influences workplace ostracism is notably limited. Based on b...

The need to belong resonates widely as a fundamental motivation to maintain close, continual human bonds. This commentary integrates findings and conclusions from the special issue of the Australi...

Contains fulltext : 246472.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) This study explores the protective effects of family cohesion and school belongingness against the negative consequences of bullying. 481 immigrant and nonimmigrant US middle-school students (Mage = 13.28(0.87), 49% female; 36% ethnic minority) self-reported their experiences being bullied, school belongingness, family cohesion, and socioemotional well-being measured as externalizing, internalizing, and prosocial behaviors. First- or second-generation immigrant youth (n = 72) came from 30 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and the Caribbean. Family cohesion served as a protective factor for both immigrant and nonimmigrant youth, but for different outcomes of bullying experiences. For immigrant youth who experienced more bullying, having a more cohesive family was associated with decreased levels of internalizing problems. Additionally, stronger school belongingness and especially family cohesion related to more prosocial behaviors among more frequently bullied immigrant youth. Nonimmigrant youth who experienced bullying, however, reported fewer externalizing problems when they had stronger family cohesion and especially school belongingness. The findings highlight the importance of considering the interacting systems in which immigrant youth are embedded and suggest that family cohesion as a protective factor may work differently for immigrant than for nonimmigrant youth experiencing bias-based bullying. 19 p.

Loneliness is a growing public health concern that is associated with poor mental health (e.g., social anxiety, depression) and increased physical health problems (e.g., cardiovascular disease, sleep disturbances). Socially vulnerable groups such as the elderly, migrants, and asylum seekers are more susceptible to the effects of loneliness. We examined loneliness severity in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and other sexual orientation and gender identity diverse (LGBTQIA+) communities. The relationships between loneliness, mental health, social support, belongingness, and quality of life in a sample of LGBTQIA+ (n = 238) and non-LGBTQIA+ (n = 270) adults aged 18-73 years (N = 508) were examined. Overall, LGBTQIA+ adults experienced higher levels of loneliness, depression, and social anxiety than the non-LGBTQIA+ comparison group. LGBTQIA+ adults also reported lower perceived social support and were at higher risk of social isolation than the non-LGBTQIA+ group. Thus, LGBTQIA+ adults may be at greater risk of loneliness and social isolation than has previously been recognized. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Sense of belonging to school has received considerable attention due to the importance of belonging needs in social life and its broad academic and non- academic consequences. However, there is a dearth of research that identifies its multilevel predictors. Thus, this study aimed to investigate student-level and school-level variables related to sense of belonging to the school. The target population was all high school students (n=25000) in Urmia in the academic year 2018-2019. Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) was used to determine the association between school-level and student-level variables. Findings of the study showed that student-level variables, such as socio-economic status, parental involvement, and peer support were related to sense of belonging to school. Moreover, school-level variables including sense of fairness and teacher-student relations could explain the variance in school belonging.The results supported the idea that family, peers, and teachers play significant roles in the school experiences of students.

Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) has gained popularity within K-12 schools for the emotional-social support, academic support, and sense of belongingness animals provide, however, concerns still arise...

There is growing awareness of a mental health ‘crisis’ among graduate students [Evans, T. M., Bira, L., Gastelum, J. B., Weiss, L. T., & Vanderford, N. L. (2018). Evidence for a mental health crisi...

The addition of Generation Z/Centennials to the workplace landscape will bring about new challenges for the management of any organization. To tackle the changing work environment and workforce, we conducted a survey-based empirical exploratory study among students in economics from two universities located in the western part of Romania. Our study proposes an alternative view of the motivational potential, including the feeling of belonging to an organization in work settings. The aim was to explore the potential for the feeling of belonging to play the role of mediator between four distinct career attitudes and the turnover intention in the specific case of Romanian Generation Z members. Additionally, we investigated which variables are significant predictors for the feeling of belonging to an organization. The results indicate that is efficient to invest in creating belongingness for those Generation Z members inclined towards making moves between jobs and organizations (OMPA), for those who present the mental capacity to be mobile (BMA) and for those who can be adaptive in terms of performance and learning demands (SDA). For those Romanian Generation Z members who use their internal values to provide guidance and measure for success, including the feeling of belonging to an organization in work settings seems to be inefficient.

Student retention in college is often expected to be handled by advisers, staff, and administrators. The university classroom—specifically, the pedagogies and practices that are utilized there—is a largely untapped resource in our quest to increase student success and retention. Instructional faculty are the only members of an academic institution that students are required to interact with regularly. For most courses offered in higher education, the contact time between faculty and students is typically three hours per week; faculty can have a significant impact on student outcomes in that time. This paper reviews and discusses scalable and practical teaching practices that span the domains of growth mindset, self-efficacy, metacognition, and belongingness. These teaching practices helped increase student retention by more than 30% in an entry-level core engineering course at our institution. The techniques described in this work can be deployed either simultaneously or in discrete sets to help students remain engaged in the educational process and successfully graduate. Because teaching is a universal practice, the teaching practices can be deployed in nearly every discipline and at every academic level. Most of the practices are independent of which instructional modes are being used, e.g., active learning vs lecturing, large vs small classes, or online vs in-person delivery. The specific implementation and effectiveness of the teaching practices may differ in each of those contexts, particularly with academic age of students, but improvements in student success and retention can be expected if the framework described here is used. We strongly recommend that a reflective process be deployed throughout implementation of the different teaching practices. This will allow for personal and professional growth in the instructor as they deploy the techniques while also improving the efficacy of the techniques themselves over time as they are refined for the local teaching environment.

OBJECTIVES In this study we examine the relationship between contextual factors, that is, perceived multicultural norms, and immigrant well-being. Specifically, we test a model whereby each of the three dimensions of normative multiculturalism, perceived Multicultural Ideology, Multicultural Policies and Practices, and Multicultural Contact, positively predicts immigrant well-being both directly and indirectly via belongingness. METHOD Korean immigrants in New Zealand (N = 306, 56% female) participated in the research. Their average age was 31.17 (SD = 10.46), and the average length of residence was 10.04 years (SD = 7.21). Participants completed a survey that included the Normative Multiculturalism Scale along with measures of belonging and well-being (flourishing, life satisfaction, and positive affect). RESULTS Structural equation modeling showed that perceived normative Multicultural Policies and Practices exerted a direct positive effect on well-being and an indirect positive effect via belongingness; Multicultural Ideology exerted only an indirect effect; and Multicultural Contact did not significantly relate to belongingness or subjective well-being. IMPLICATIONS The results are discussed in terms of everyday experiences of intercultural encounters, social norms and the contextual influences of diversity climates, as well as the importance of distinguishing the defining features of multiculturalism in diversity science research. We also propose that multicultural norm setting and norms marketing may lead to positive social and psychological outcomes for immigrants. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Purpose Frontline service providers are a key touchpoint in a customer’s overall experience with a brand. Though they are recognized as important contributors to brand experiences, service providers have received relatively little attention in both experienced marketing and branding research. This paper aims to illuminate the importance of understanding factors that contribute to the role services providers play within the environmental context of the customer’s brand journey. Design/methodology/approach This study uses two experimental studies to show that greater customer happiness and customer loyalty could be achieved through collective brand personification whereby the frontline service provider’s identity and core values align with those of the brand persona and store environment. Findings Specifically, findings reveal that customer happiness increases because of feelings of belongingness and greater brand authenticity when the service provider aligns with the retailer’s brand persona and store environment. Research limitations/implications While this study gets us closer to understanding how managers can leverage human capital in the retail service environment, there are opportunities to further explore issues such as the impact of collective brand personification on the employee. Practical implications Given the strong desire companies have to bolster customer happiness to increase brand loyalty, the findings bolster the importance of understanding the influential factors associated with frontline service providers. Their role in creating optimal customer experiences should not be underestimated. Social implications As an important cautionary note, firms should take care when creating the appearance and personality-based occupational qualifications by considering social norms and the impact on societal well-being (e.g. self-consciousness and exclusion can lead to serious illnesses and including depression). Study shows that people have an inherent need to feel accepted and belong to social groups that help to construct and affirm their self-concept, and appreciate opportunities that empower them to seize control against exclusion. Therefore, appearance and personality-based occupational qualifications should be strategically aligned with the image and goals of the firm, and not subject to management bias from an unconscious reaction to an applicant’s physical and interpersonal presentation. Originality/value The present study builds on both customer experience and branding literature by examining the relationship between customer happiness and collective brand personification – where the frontline service provider’s identity and core values align with those of the brand. Two experiments test the hypotheses that customer happiness increases because of feelings of belongingness with the brand and the consumer’s perception of the brand’s authenticity when the customer service provider aligns with the brand’s identity and core values.

Purpose As celebrity endorsements have extended from traditional media to social media, the role of celebrities has been amplified and celebrities have been able to establish unprecedentedly close relationships through interacting with consumers. This study, grounded in the theory of parasocial interactions and celebrity endorsement, aims to propose a framework of antecedents and outcomes of parasocial interactions with celebrities on social media. Design/methodology/approach Using an experimental survey-based approach, this study collected 270 usable responses, and data were analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling. Findings The study found that parasocial interactions fully mediate the relationship between social media interaction and celebrity attachment, celebrity attachment influences purchase intention directly and indirectly through both cognitive (brand credibility) and affective (brand attractiveness) elements, the need to belong moderates the relationship between social media interaction and parasocial interactions and the need to belong moderates the relationship between celebrity attachment and brand attractiveness. An exploratory analysis uncovers whether different types of social platforms may be more conducive to establishing parasocial interactions. Originality/value This study explores the mechanisms by which celebrity interactions on social media can impact the brands they endorse and the role that parasocial interactions and the need to belong play in these interactions and outcomes.

Less punitive alternatives to exclusionary discipline such as restorative justice are gaining in popularity in schools. These approaches take a more positive, relationship-based, problem-solving approach to discipline, focused on improving behavior by building community and belongingness, and eschewing exclusionary discipline for most infractions. However, if we fail to address implicit bias, we can expect the racial discipline gap to remain, regardless of the behavioral interventions put in place. We review a few promising studies that may help us to understand how to alleviate implicit bias in school decision-making.

PurposeResponsive educational approaches focus on a set of well-designed practices intended to create engaging, social cohesion, better knowledge outcomes and excellent students’ experience. Therefore, this paper aims to engage in the discourse of the intersection of psych-sociology of learning and student’s engagement, connected to the sense of belonging and theory of planned behaviour (TPB).Design/methodology/approachBy applying an ethnographic approach and interviews of 45 international students from three UK business schools, it proposes that a sense of “belongingness” is a prerequisite for learning, personal and professional development. Owing to the exploratory nature of the subject, the use of qualitative methodology turned out to be particularly useful. Indeed, the conduct of in-depth semi-structured interviews, participative observation enabled us to access perceptions of students and compare different points of view.FindingsThe findings indicate that international students measure their experience by “sense of belonging”, integration and engagement on many interrelated and influential factors. English proficiency and employability skills are the major concerns. The kinds of support they received from their faculties and the quality of feedback from tutors are important for international studies integration and sense of belonging.Originality/valueThe findings of the critical elements of the engagement and experience of international students have both policy and practical implications given the high demand for UK universities by foreign students. Although, this paper is based on findings from UK higher education institutions, the insights are of relevance to many countries such as Australia, Canada, Germany, France and the USA, who have a significant proportion of overseas students.

While the association of social media to neighborhood community connection (belongingness, cooperation, and trust with neighbors) has been explored, the influence of neighborhoods in this associati...

Thwarted belongingness is an established predictor of suicide ideation. Emerging theory suggests belongingness may be a crucial pathway through which risk factors such as dysfunctional emotion regulation influence suicide ideation. This study examined whether belongingness mediated the relationship between emotion regulation and suicide ideation in young people (16-25 years). Participants (n = 1699; 63.6% females, M = 20.24 years, SD = 2.45 years) completed measures of these constructs, including the emotion regulation domains of internal-functional, internal-dysfunctional, external-functional, and external-dysfunctional. Belongingness mediated over half of the association between three emotion regulation domains and suicide ideation (internal-functional: 55.6%, internal-dysfunctional: 54.1%, and external-functional: 64.8%). Consistent with current etiological suicidality models, results suggest low belongingness is an important precursor to suicide ideation in young people, and that there is an inter-relationship between emotional regulation styles and belongingness.

Although procedural fairness has been studied frequently during the past decades, little work has focused explicitly on how procedural fairness affects members of ethnic minorities in the context of multicultural decision-making processes. The aim of the present study was to investigate how perceptions of procedurally fair treatment of fellow minority members by societal actors impact the individual's sense of societal belongingness, which we define as the feeling that he/she is a valued member of society at large, and how this in turn is related to social trust and social well-being. Three samples of African American and Hispanic American respondents from the United States were collected (totalN = 570). Two experimental studies and one questionnaire study were conducted. Experimental manipulation of procedural fairness climate was shown to impact sense of societal belongingness among minority members (Study 1), whereas manipulating sense of societal belongingness itself led to an increase in social trust and social acceptance (Study 2). Study 3 (A self-report survey), finally, affirmed the entire hypothesized mediation model. The present research provides further evidence for the importance of procedural fairness for ethnic minorities. Our research showed that when societal actors enact procedural fairness they may strengthen minority members' societal belongingness, which in turn may influence their social trust and feelings of being socially accepted.

Organizations are increasingly adopting non-territorial organizational models with unassigned desks. However, previous research has: (1) shown mixed results regarding the impact of non-territorial working on employees, (2) largely examined non-territorial working in its purest sense without considering the nuanced differences in non-territorial working, and (3) not understood the mechanisms underlying the relation between non-territorial working and employee outcomes. To address these research gaps, we apply self-determination theory, which argues that meeting basic psychological needs of autonomy and belonging allows optimal human development, to the physical environment of office spaces. Specifically, we investigated whether the relationship of two types of non-territorial working with employee work engagement, emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction, and affective commitment is mediated via autonomy over office spaces and belongingness. Data were collected from 127 working New Zealanders who have adopted two types of non-territorial working (i.e., work arrangement 1 and work arrangement 2) in an organization. We found that although workers with work arrangement 2 did not report higher belongingness than those with work arrangement 1, workers with work arrangement 1 reported higher autonomy over office spaces than those with work arrangement 2. Moreover, belongingness was related to higher work engagement, job satisfaction, and affective commitment but lower emotional exhaustion, while autonomy over office spaces was related to increased job satisfaction and affective commitment but decreased emotional exhaustion. We also found that autonomy over office spaces, but not belongingness, mediated the relationship of non-territorial working with emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how workplace ostracism influences employee work engagement. It further examines the mediating role of workplace belongingness and moderating role of intrinsic work motivation. Design/methodology/approach Data was collected from 402 hotel employees from Thailand. A second stage moderated-mediation is used to test the relationship between workplace ostracism and employee work engagement. Findings Workplace ostracism negatively impacts employee work engagement and workplace belongingness mediates this relationship. The negative effect of workplace ostracism on employee work engagement through workplace belongingness is stronger for employees high on intrinsic motivation. Practical implications Hotel firms should make social connection an organization-wide strategic priority. They can include workplace ostracism as workplace harassment in their policy. Originality/value Besides contributing to the nascent literature on workplace ostracism in the hospitality industry, the present study extends research on workplace ostracism by empirically testing the relationship between workplace ostracism and employee work engagement. By using workplace belongingness as a mediator, a better understanding is provided regarding “why” workplace ostracism relates to employee work engagement. By introducing intrinsic work motivation as a moderator, scholars can gain a better understanding in regard to “whom” workplace ostracism negatively relates to employee work engagement.

Civic engagement is thought to enhance personal well-being, yet little research has examined links between civic engagement, burdensomeness, and belongingness during periods of heightened civic act...

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to explore the well-being of school principals and the job-embedded demands responsible for challenging their adoption of healthy self-care practices.Design/methodology/approachDrawing upon a multidisciplinary theoretical framework that included contributions from the fields of neurobiology and psychology, three tiers of self-care needs were established to inform the study: basic physiological needs such as sleep, hydration, and nutrition; active self-care practices such as exercise, relaxation, and stress relief; and higher order needs such as belongingness and love addressed through work-life balance, volunteerism, and relational belonging. A 45-question survey containing Likert scale items and open-ended questions was returned from 473 practicing building administrators (a 24.4% response rate).FindingsFindings from this study, compared to estimates from the literature, indicate that school leaders work longer hours, are more sleep deprived, more dehydrated, have poorer diet practices, exercise less regularly, and spend less time with their friends and family than the general population. Administrators struggled to find ways within their control to improve their self-care behavior and offered suggestions regarding how the structure of the job itself might be changed to facilitate improving the health of school leaders.Originality/valueThis work offers insight into the current well-being of school principals, and by better understanding administrators’ self-care practices, this study can inform the field in developing supports, practices, and expectations, which promote the health and well-being of building-level leaders. Unhealthy self-care practices may influence their effectiveness, happiness, and possibly their longevity within the profession. Data collected through this study informed ideas about policies and procedures that could promote greater opportunities for healthier, more effective leaders within schools.