IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rnd/arimbr/v4y2012i7p417-427.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Antecedents and Consequences of Learned Helplessness in Work Life

Author

Listed:
  • Ozge Tayfur

Abstract

Technologies, processes and products are easily imitated in today’s business world, so organizations can differentiate themselves from others only with their human capital. Helplessness, which may reflect itself as alienation, withdrawal, turnover intention is a serious problem that could prevent the adequate utilization of human capital. The overarching purpose of this study was to review “learned helplessness literature†with specific focus on helplessness in work context. This study, hopefully provided insights about why employees exhibit passive behaviors and apathy; in other words fall into helplessness even though they could initiate a change. In the first part, development of learned helplessness concept was explained together with initial models and experiments. After providing this background information, the individual and work-related antecedents of helplessness were listed. As part of antecedents, the impact of locus of control, gender, role stressors (i.e., workload, ambiguity) and organization structure was discussed briefly. In the third part, both organizational and individual consequences of helplessness were mentioned. Finally, suggestions were made to both practitioners and researchers in order to contribute advancement of theory and improvement of quality of work life.

Suggested Citation

  • Ozge Tayfur, 2012. "The Antecedents and Consequences of Learned Helplessness in Work Life," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 4(7), pages 417-427.
    • Handle: RePEc:rnd:arimbr:v:4:y:2012:i:7:p:417-427
    DOI: 10.22610/imbr.v4i7.996
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ojs.amhinternational.com/index.php/imbr/article/view/996/996
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ojs.amhinternational.com/index.php/imbr/article/view/996
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22610/imbr.v4i7.996?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ashforth, Blake E., 1989. "The experience of powerlessness in organizations," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 207-242, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Hall, Matthew, 2008. "The effect of comprehensive performance measurement systems on role clarity, psychological empowerment and managerial performance," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(2-3), pages 141-163.
    2. K. Dewettinck & J. Singh & D. Buyens, 2003. "Psychological Empowerment in the Workplace: Reviewing the Empowerment Effects on Critical Work Outcomes," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 03/210, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    3. Abu Elnasr E. Sobaih & Ahmed E. Abu Elnasr, 2024. "Challenges to Cracking the Glass Ceiling among Saudi Women in the Tourism Industry," Tourism and Hospitality, MDPI, vol. 5(1), pages 1-22, March.
    4. Loan Pham Thi Phuong & Young-joo Ahn, 2021. "Service Climate and Empowerment for Customer Service Quality among Vietnamese Employees at Restaurants," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-14, January.
    5. Alisher Tohirovich Dedahanov & Faridun Bozorov & Sanghyun Sung, 2019. "Paternalistic Leadership and Innovative Behavior: Psychological Empowerment as a Mediator," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-14, March.
    6. Soyeon Kim & Neena Gopalan & Nicholas Beutell, 2023. "Sustainability through Humility: The Impact of Humble Leadership on Work–Family Facilitation in the U.S. and Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-16, September.
    7. Young-joo Ahn & Jeanne Bessiere, 2022. "The Role of Participative Leadership in Empowerment and Resident Participation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-16, September.
    8. Zhongwei Zhu & Tingyu Qian & Lei Liu, 2023. "Evolutionary Simulation of Carbon-Neutral Behavior of Urban Citizens in a “Follow–Drive” Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-28, July.
    9. James Wangombe & Tecle H. Yohannes, 2018. "Relationship between Organizational Climate, Employee Psychological Empowerment, and Innovation in Market Research Firms in Kenya," Applied Finance and Accounting, Redfame publishing, vol. 4(1), pages 11-30, February.
    10. Mariano L. M. Heyden & Sebastian P. L. Fourné & Bastiaan A. S. Koene & Renate Werkman & Shahzad (Shaz) Ansari, 2017. "Rethinking ‘Top‐Down’ and ‘Bottom‐Up’ Roles of Top and Middle Managers in Organizational Change: Implications for Employee Support," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(7), pages 961-985, November.
    11. Banai, Moshe & Reisel, William D., 2007. "The influence of supportive leadership and job characteristics on work alienation: A six-country investigation," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 463-476, December.
    12. Pengfei Cheng & Zhuangzi Liu & Linfei Zhou, 2023. "Transformational Leadership and Emotional Labor: The Mediation Effects of Psychological Empowerment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-15, January.
    13. Hurtak, Stefan & Kashyap, Vishal & Ehret, Michael, 2022. "Lightening the dark side of customer participation – The mitigating role of relationship performance in business-to-business project contexts," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 220-231.
    14. Yunduk Jeong & Euisoo Kim & Minhong Kim & James J. Zhang, 2019. "Exploring Relationships among Organizational Culture, Empowerment, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior in the South Korean Professional Sport Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-16, September.
    15. S. Akhtar & K. Shaukat, 2016. "Impact of Petty Tyranny on Alienation from Work: Role of Self-Esteem and Power-Distance," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 17(3), pages 275-285, September.
    16. Dischner, Simon, 2015. "Organizational structure, organizational form, and counterproductive work behavior: A competitive test of the bureaucratic and post-bureaucratic views," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 501-514.
    17. Pryor, Christopher & Koopmann, Jaclyn & Alterman, Valeria & Wang, Mo, 2024. "Innovation centralization and top managers’ psychological well-being: The moderating effects of entrepreneurial passion and organizational identification," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    18. Cristiana Bessa & Peter Hastie & António Rosado & Isabel Mesquita, 2021. "Sport Education and Traditional Teaching: Influence on Students’ Empowerment and Self-Confidence in High School Physical Education Classes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-14, January.
    19. Suk-Kyu Kim & Yunduk Jeong, 2021. "Developing the Healthy and Competitive Organization in the Sports Environment: Focused on the Relationships between Organizational Justice, Empowerment and Job Performance," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-15, August.
    20. Maha Dajani & Mohamad Saad Mohamad, 2017. "Perceived Organisational Injustice and Counterproductive Behaviour: The Mediating Role of Work Alienation Evidence from the Egyptian Public Sector," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(5), pages 192-192, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:rnd:arimbr:v:4:y:2012:i:7:p:417-427. 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: Muhammad Tayyab (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://ojs.amhinternational.com/index.php/imbr .

    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.