IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i4p2039-d502183.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Feeling Gratitude and Depletion: The Ambivalent Consequences of Receiving Help in the Workplace

Author

Listed:
  • Yuanfang Zhan

    (School of Management, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China)

  • Jinfan Zhou

    (Department of Human Resource Management, School of Business, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China)

  • Huan Cheng

    (School of Management, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China)

  • Renyan Mu

    (School of Management, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430074, China)

Abstract

Drawing from social exchange theory, we developed a dual-path model of employees’ reactions to episodic help received from colleagues. Through a diary study, using data collected from 127 full-time employees working in a large Chinese bank, we tested this model, revealing that receiving episodic help from colleagues is positively related to the help receivers’ gratitude and ego depletion. Through these two ambivalent psychological states, help receivers were found to simultaneously engage in more organizational citizenship behaviors and deviance behaviors on a daily basis. These empirical findings contribute to research that adopts a target-centric perspective in examining the consequences of helping behavior in the workplace.

Suggested Citation

  • Yuanfang Zhan & Jinfan Zhou & Huan Cheng & Renyan Mu, 2021. "Feeling Gratitude and Depletion: The Ambivalent Consequences of Receiving Help in the Workplace," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-13, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:4:p:2039-:d:502183
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/2039/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/2039/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fehr, Ryan & Yam, Kai Chi & He, Wei & Chiang, Jack Ting-Ju & Wei, Wu, 2017. "Polluted work: A self-control perspective on air pollution appraisals, organizational citizenship, and counterproductive work behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 98-110.
    2. Yam, Kai Chi & Chen, Xiao-Ping & Reynolds, Scott J., 2014. "Ego depletion and its paradoxical effects on ethical decision making," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 124(2), pages 204-214.
    3. Mead, N.L. & Baumeister, R.F. & Gino, F. & Schweitzer, M.E. & Ariely, D., 2009. "Too tired to tell the truth : Self-control resource depletion and dishonesty," Other publications TiSEM c60167a3-c3aa-4b83-9192-1, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    4. Gino, Francesca & Schweitzer, Maurice E. & Mead, Nicole L. & Ariely, Dan, 2011. "Unable to resist temptation: How self-control depletion promotes unethical behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 191-203, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wendrila Biswas & Debarun Chakraborty, 2023. "‘As You Sow So You Reap’: A Multi-case Study on Reshaping Workforce Well-being Through Positive Sustainability at Construction Firms," South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases, , vol. 12(3), pages 333-351, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Carolin Baur & Roman Soucek & Ulrich Kühnen & Roy F. Baumeister, 2020. "Unable to Resist the Temptation to Tell the Truth or to Lie for the Organization? Identification Makes the Difference," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(4), pages 643-662, December.
    2. Yajun Zhang & Kai Chi Yam & Maryam Kouchaki & Junwei Zhang, 2019. "Cut You Some Slack? An Investigation of the Perceptions of a Depleted Employee’s Unethicality," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(3), pages 673-683, July.
    3. Gill, David & Prowse, Victoria & Vlassopoulos, Michael, 2013. "Cheating in the workplace: An experimental study of the impact of bonuses and productivity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 120-134.
    4. Marie Claire Villeval, 2019. "Comportements (non) éthiques et stratégies morales," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 70(6), pages 1021-1046.
    5. Lohse, Tim & Simon, Sven A. & Konrad, Kai A., 2018. "Deception under time pressure: Conscious decision or a problem of awareness?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 31-42.
    6. Roland Benabou & Armin Falk & Jean Tirole, 2018. "Narratives, Imperatives, and Moral Reasoning," Working Papers id:12918, eSocialSciences.
    7. Gneezy, Uri & Rockenbach, Bettina & Serra-Garcia, Marta, 2013. "Measuring lying aversion," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 293-300.
    8. Gino, Francesca & Ayal, Shahar & Ariely, Dan, 2013. "Self-serving altruism? The lure of unethical actions that benefit others," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 285-292.
    9. Siniver, Erez & Yaniv, Gideon, 2018. "Losing a real-life lottery and dishonest behavior," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 26-30.
    10. Tobol, Yossef & Siniver, Erez & Yaniv, Gideon, 2020. "Do tightwads cheat more? Evidence from three field experiments," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 148-158.
    11. Anne Joosten & Marius Dijke & Alain Hiel & David Cremer, 2014. "Being “in Control” May Make You Lose Control: The Role of Self-Regulation in Unethical Leadership Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 121(1), pages 1-14, April.
    12. Thomas Tang & Toto Sutarso, 2013. "Falling or Not Falling into Temptation? Multiple Faces of Temptation, Monetary Intelligence, and Unethical Intentions Across Gender," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(3), pages 529-552, September.
    13. Zhi Xu & Hing Ma, 2015. "Does Honesty Result from Moral Will or Moral Grace? Why Moral Identity Matters," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 371-384, March.
    14. Yuval Feldman & Eliran Halali, 2019. "Regulating “Good” People in Subtle Conflicts of Interest Situations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(1), pages 65-83, January.
    15. Dickinson, David L. & Masclet, David, 2023. "Unethical decision making and sleep restriction: Experimental evidence," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 484-502.
    16. Anne Joosten & Marius Dijke & Alain Hiel & David Cremer, 2014. "Feel Good, Do-Good!? On Consistency and Compensation in Moral Self-Regulation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 123(1), pages 71-84, August.
    17. Bellemare, Charles & Deversi, Marvin & Englmaier, Florian, 2019. "Complexity and Distributive Fairness Interact in Affecting Compliance Behavior," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 190, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    18. Pitesa, Marko & Thau, Stefan & Pillutla, Madan M., 2013. "Cognitive control and socially desirable behavior: The role of interpersonal impact," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 232-243.
    19. Siniver, Erez & Yaniv, Gideon, 2019. "Optimism, pessimism, mood swings and dishonest behavior," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 54-63.
    20. Douthit, Jeremy & Millar, Melanie & White, Roger M., 2021. "Horseshoes, hand grenades, and regulatory enforcement: Close experience with potential sanctions and fraud deterrence," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 137-148.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:4:p:2039-:d:502183. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.