Organizational Psychology

We present our journal’s new edition Issue #2, 2020.

Five articles with a variety of topics present section “Research in organizational psychology”. The methodological principles of psychological research are discussed in the article “Methodology of organizational social capital research: approaches of scientific studies” by L. Pochebut, V. Chiker and N. Volkova. Questions of organizational justice and its role in lecturers’ work engagement or in the perception of organizational vertical conflict are outlined in articles “Exploring organizational justice inVietnam universities: a study of effects on lecturers’ work engagement” by L. Le, N. Thu, N. Dung and “The contribution of social beliefs and situational factors in support of the one of the parts’ intention to protectown interests in the organizational vertical conflict” by Е. Ulybina and A. Filippova. Article “The levels and components of employee identity in the organization” by A. Sidorenkov, W. Stroh and D. Shtilnikov is devoted to the possibilities of multi-level analysis of organizational identity. The problem of the negative impact of the profession on the individual is raised in the article “Professional personality deformation of internal affairs employees of various departments” by Ya. Korneeva and N. Simonova.

In section “Organizational psychology in practice” you will learn about case of implementation of changes in organization culture in article “Model of professional culture of safety at work place development at Gazprom transgas Yekaterinburg, LLC” by our collegues from Yekaterinburg – K. Barannikov, V. Vedernikov and F. Ismagilova.

Section “Reviews” presents article “Psychological characteristics of the organizational behavior of Wikipedia online volunteers: a theoretical review” by E. Bryzgalin, A. Voiskounsky and S. Kozlovskiy.

Section “First Steps” presents three articles by our young colleagues. The topic of group resiliencein the organization is discussed in article “Development of theoretical model for collective resilience” by A. Chigrina, K. Bagrationi and T. Nestik. The topic of corruption is raised in the article “The perceptions about corruption and corrupt behavior among public servants” by O. Dubrovina, K. Volodina and A. Yershova. An attempt to identify age-related patterns in the infallibility of professional activity is made in article “Consciousness and error-free performance: The research of ratio of the formation of regulatory processes with the professional accuracy of rail crews” by V. Bogdanova and V. Serikov.

Please, enjoy the reading!

Purpose. The purpose of this article is to analyze key methodological research approaches to studying organizational social capital. The following principles of psychology have been analyzed: reflection, development, determinism, consistency, comprehensiveness, and holism. The special attention has focused on specific approaches of social psychology such as social nature of psyche and consciousness, development of consciousness in the process of activity and communication, changes of psychological processes under human beings’ interactions, comprehensive analysis of individual, group and public factors, the building of models for social-psychological phenomena and processes. Findings. The key findings of methodological research are that the logical system has been created that includes both methodological approaches of general and social psychology and explains the application of consistency and comprehensiveness principals for studying organizational social capital. The feature of contemporary research is to use a comprehensiveness approach studying an individual’s psyche. Therefore, examining human beings, there is a special tendency that combines different sciences, aspects and research methods in complex systems. According to the consistency approach, research objects are myriads of psychological processes, states, attributes, activity actions that must be classified, systematized and ordered. The main function of consistency research is to integrate information about the object. Analyzing the concept of social capital, we have followed the comprehensiveness and consistency approaches. Hence, the methodological research approach regarding comprehensivenessis that social capital is placed at the intersection of four disciplines, namely, social psychology, organizational psychology, economic psychology, and sociology. Based on the consistency approach,various social structural characteristics of social capital should be considered which are connected to particular external social environment, components and functions of social capital as well as types and nascent stages under external and internal conditions of consolidation and accumulation. Conclusions are that the organizational social capital is reasonable to study under consistency and comprehensiveness approaches. Orginality. Originality of this paper is that the scientific developmentof key methodological research approaches has been introduced to study organizational social capital.

Purpose. The purpose of this study is to shed light on description the current situation of organizational justice, lecturers’ work engagement and research of the effect of organizational justiceon lecturers’ work engagement and the role of gender in this relationship. Study design. The datawere collected using questionnaire form among a convenience sample of 230 lecturers workingin two universities in Hanoi, Vietnam. This study used Schaufeli’s measure of work engagement and Colquitt’s measure of organizational justice. Findings. The results indicated that organizational justicewas acknowledged as quite high and lecturers’ work engagement was fairly strong. The correlations were significant and positive among organizational justice, distributive justice, interpersonal justice andlecturers’ work engagement. Distributive justice has a stronger impact on lecturers’ work engagement than interpersonal justice. Gender is not a moderating variable in the relations among distributive justice, interpersonal justice and work engagement. Implications for research and practice are discussed in order to enhance lecturers’ work engagement through offering some solutions to enforce justice towards lectures from organization.

The purpose of the study is to study the severity and correlation of identity at various levelsof identification (personal, interpersonal, microgroup, group, suborganizational and organizational) by cognitive and affective components, as well as these two components by six levels of employeeidentity in organizations from different segments the activities of society. Method. The sample consisted of 506 employees of various organizations employed in the socio-economic field (241 people) and in law enforcement (265 people). Four author’s questionnaires were used to measure the corresponding levels and components of employee identity.  Findings. It was found that among employees of both spheres of professional activity, personal identityis weakest expressed, and microgroup and suborganizational identities are most strongly expressed. Interpersonal identity is characterized by a stronger manifestation of the cognitive component of identity compared with the affective component. The inverse relationship — a greater manifestation of the affective component than the cognitive one — is characteristic of personal, microgroup, suborganizational, and organizational identities. In addition to these general features, differences are established between workers employed in the socio-economic and law enforcement spheres of organizational activity. The first difference concerns the degree of manifestation of the cognitive component at four levels of identification. So, among the employees of the socio-economic sphere, in comparison with the employees of a law enforcement institution, personal identity is more pronounced and weaker — interpersonal, microgroup and group identities. The second difference concerns the connection between demographic characteristics and the length of service of employees with certain levels and components of identity. In particular, the gender of workers in the socio-economic sphere is astronger predictor of the vast majority of identity variables (levels and components) compared to their age and length of service. The value of the results. The results significance obtained for science lies in the fact that they expand the idea of the multidimensionality of the identity of workers in the organization, including the features of the severity of its different faces. This will allow a more differentiated studyof the antecedents and consequences of identity, taking into account its levels and components. This study also provides empirical evidence in support of certain points of the social identity perspective that relate to the plurality of social identities.

The work is devoted to the analysis of factors related to the support of the subordinate’s intention to fight for the unfair punishment cancellation. The purpose of the study was to analyzethe relative contribution of belief in a just world, belief in a competitive world, the assessment of the punishment fairness, the attribution of guilt to the chief and the subordinate, the likelihood of successin trying to cancel the punishment and the impact of success on the department work in support of the intention to fight for the punishment cancellation. Method. The sample consisted of 1471 people (813 of them were women) in the age range of 18 to 70 years, the average age being 35.5, who completed the questionnaire online. The questionnaire included the “Scale of belief in a just world”, the “Scale of belief in a competitive world, a brief version”, a vignette with the description of the situation and questions about the situation described in the vignette. Findings. The results of the regression analysis showed that the probability of success contributes more to the support of intentions to fight for the punishment cancellation than the subjective assessment of the punishment fairness, guilt and responsibility of the parties to the conflict, social beliefs and the expected impact of success on the department work effectiveness. Gender differences in the structure of contributions of the considered predictors are revealed. Conclusion. The belief in a competitive world alone makes a significant direct contribution in support of the intention to fight for the punishment cancellation among men; the contribution of belief in a just world is not significant; the contribution of the assessment of punishment as a fair one is not significant. The direct contribution of belief in a competitive world is lower among women than the reverse contribution of belief in a fair world for all; the contribution of assessing the fairness of punishment is significant.

Purpose. The purpose of the study is to identify the characteristics of professional personality deformation of employees of the internal affairs bodies of units performing the administrative and preventive function and units carrying out investigation and disclosure of crimes. The study developed the following classification of professional personality deformation of employees of internal affairs bodies: authoritarianism, professional aggression, overcontrol, behavioral transfer (manifestation of role transfer syndrome), irresponsibility or learned helplessness, conservatism and anxiety. Methodology. Research methods: questionnaires, psychological diagnostic, as well as statistical methods: descriptive statistics, cluster analysis and multivariate analysis of variance. To identify professional personality deformation, an author’s questionnaire was developed, and psychological testing methods were used, which are included in the base of the main battery of methods used in testing law enforcement officers. The study involved 70 employees of the Arkhangelsk police. Findings. As a result of the study,the severity of types of professional personality deformation among police officers was revealed; the features of professional deformation of employees of the internal affairs bodies of the departments carrying out the administrative and preventive function and of the units carrying out the investigation and disclosure of crimes with different efficiency have been identified; the relationship between the severity of professional deformations and the effectiveness of professional activities among employees is studied. Conclusions. The following types of professional personality deformation are characteristic ofpolice officers: authoritarianism, professional aggression, behavioral transfer, anxiety, irresponsibility, over-control and conservatism. The employees of the unit investigating and solving crimes have a higher level of professional aggression and behavioral transfer than employees performing a preventive function. Employees with reduced performance characteristics have higher rates on the scales of professional aggression, behavioral transfer, conservatism, and anxiety. Implications for practice. The results of this study have been introduced into the practical activities of the psychological service of the URLS of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Arkhangelsk Region and are used in organizing the work on the moral and psychological support of the staff’s official activities.

The article contains a case study of solving the problem of reducing the accident rate at the production site of Gazprom Transgaz Yekaterinburg. The Model for the development of a professional culture of safe work, developed on the basis of benchmarking, has proved its effectiveness and canbe useful to companies that solve the problem of creating safe behavior of workers in the workplace. Problem. Often, an organizational culture formed decades ago does not contribute to the safe behavior of workers. In contrast, workers value intuition and risky behavior more than following instructions. Involved in this are emotional leaders who act as role model behaviors. The main question posed by the authors of the article: What tools for the development of a professional culture will help change the attitude of workers towards compliance with labor safety regulations and rules and increase the value of safe behavior skills? Method. The case study method was used, which reflects the three stages of solving the problem by Gazprom Transgaz Yekaterinburg. At the first stage, benchmarking (a review of best organizational practices) of solving this problem was carried out, which showed the effectiveness of involving leaders of a rational type and the greater effectiveness of professional culture, in comparison with organizational culture. At the second stage, a Model for the development of a professional culture of safe work was developed, which included: involving leaders, creating initiative groups, using intervention sheets. In the third stage, the Model is tested in the company. Results and theirpractical value. The answers of focus groups after the introduction of the Model show: a) employees began to consider intuitive behavior as in effective and provoking excessive risks; b) most of the entriesin the intervention sheets are aimed at identifying, eliminating and reducing production risks; c) there is a tendency towards a decrease in the number of recurring industrial accidents. The model has shownits effectiveness and revealed new directions for the development of a professional safety culture, for example, the formation of new workers’ willingness to choose the actions of the participants in the initiative group as a role-based behavior model.

The analysis of the most important academic sources revealing the specifics of the distant production of the Internet encyclopedia “Wikipedia” by the virtual practical community of online volunteers (Wikipedians). The details of the organizational structure, distributed interaction and regulatory ethical principles that characterize the Wikipedia community are considered. A high degree of openness of cooperation is noted during the preparation and constant updating of the database of articles, which currently exceeds all previous encyclopedic publications in its volume. Current trends in the development of Wikipedia, such as the electronic archiving of the World Cultural Heritage and the development of an accessible information basis for educating all the people in their national languages, i.e. on a global scale, are highlighted and disclosed in detail. It is concluded that the study of the group characteristics and personality traits of Wikipedia authors, as well as the mechanisms and procedures they developed to coordinate and handle the structural components of classical and modern knowledge, is helpful in understanding the particular resources and the ways of functioning of the network prosocial activity of individuals. This line of research is not sufficiently developed in the works of Russian scholars, and yet it should be recognized as promising in terms of expanding the scope of humanitarian disciplines. At the applied level, the presented detailed data referring to the altruistic aspects of creative self-realization of the Wikipedia volunteers can contribute to the intensification of the processes of stimulation and consolidation of the activists of the information society to achieve maximum results in the growth and structuring of knowledge as the highest value of humanity. The scientific novelty of the presented theoretical review is its orientation toward the generalization and systematization of disparate factual material regarding the psychological specificity of the coordination behavior of Wikipedists, in contrast to the available literature reviews that statemainly quantitative indicators of Wikipedia exploitation.

Purpose. The paper provides an integrative conceptual model of collective resilience in the organizational context. The chosen topic becomes an increasingly relevant issue owing to the increased interest on the part of the business in testing innovative solutions to maximize the productivity of project teams and, as a result, the effectiveness of project delivery. Approach. Literature analysis of existing foreign and Russian papers was conducted to find the aggregated elements of the collective resilience structure. Findings. Authors suggest a new 7-element model of group resilience in the organizational context. Implications for practice. The research findings provide a guideline for the future quantitative studies aimed to develop a new psychometric tool and confirm the proposed structure of group resilience on practice. Value of the results. 7-element structure of the phenomenon is proposed within the study: “alignment” — presence of a trusting, friendly relationships, positive team identity, shared vision and a positive psychological climate; “anticipation” — ability to analyze future risks and opportunities and implement timely planning to respond to them; “adaptation” — ability to adapt effectively to changes in the environment; “self-organization” — ability to independently organize their work and make decisions, relative autonomy from the leadership; “bounce back” — ability to learn from mistakes and to return to the pre-crisis state after failures; “accumulation of the communication resources” — ability to establish contacts and maintain relationships with other employees of the organization, project stakeholders and (in relation to the organization) external agents and “interchangeability” — cross-functionality of a team, the universality of knowledge, skills and abilities.

Purpose. The article is devoted to a theoretical and empirical study of the psychologicalaspects of corrupt behavior of public servants. The study aims to identify differences in corruption and corrupt behavior among public servants with different income levels, explaining the meaning of appeal to such behavior. Methodology. The interview method and the semantic differential method were used for data collection. Cluster and factor analysis were used for statistical data processing. The sample consisted of 50 people aged 23 to 70 years who have or had experience working in government agencies (in the areas of: administrative civil servants, health workers, traffic police inspectors, etc.). Respondents were divided into two groups: the first group — with wages above the average level, the second group — below the average. Findings. The perceptions of government officials about the phenomenon of “corruption” are mixed. High-level civil servants believe that there are situations when giving a bribe is a “matter of honor”, it is not condemned, but rather encouraged in certain circles, and is perceived as one of the acceptable formats for business interaction. Corruption behavior acts as ameans of saving time, acts as one of the usual ways to resolve business issues and is part of business relationships. For low-wage civil servants, perceptions of corruption are allowed if it is encouraged (from the state structure itself), or not openly prohibited, or forced into it. Thus, the most important factors of corrupt behavior, such as the presence of an assessment by others and the admissibility of encouragement by management, can be identified. The study found that the perceptions of thephenomenon of “corruption” and “corrupt behavior” are different among public servants with lowand high wages. Consequently, approaches to work on the prevention of corruption by public servants should be specific depending on the income level of employees — taking into account the peculiaritiesof their ideas about corruption. Value of the results. Studies of the phenomenon of “corruption” and “corrupt behavior” in the field of psychology are few, most often they investigate the legal aspect. The study revealed a general idea of corruption and corrupt behavior among public servants, thus highlighting the psychological aspect of this phenomenon.

Purpose. The article is devoted to the study of the ratio between the development of regulatory processes (allowing for the regulation of activity at a conscious level) and error-free activity as one of the manifestations of reliability and safety of workers of locomotive crews of different age groups. The purpose of the research is to get ideas about the relationship between the level of reflexivity and self-regulation, the structure of self-regulation with the error-free professional activity of locomotive crews of different age groups. Design. The study sample consisted of 342 locomotive crew drivers of different age categories-men aged 23 to 56 years. Total work experience from one year to 19 years. Methods aimed at studying the components of self-regulation, the level of reflexivity, analyzed data on errors in train activity. Findings. The results of a cross-group comparison of different-level features of self-regulation, reflection and error-free activity of locomotive crews are described. It is established that the properties of self-regulation, the level of reflection, and their manifestations in connection with the age characteristics of specialists (with a large and small number of violations of activity) have a pronounced specificity. Value of results. The obtained results indicate a significant influence of individual components of self-regulation, and their probably joint, mutually reinforcing, impact on the activity error variable.