The Influence Of Individual Relative Deprivation On Taking Charge Behavior

In a changing market environment,companies expect employees to implement taking charge behavior to maintain and enhance the creativity of the organization.Previous studies have found that cognitive and emotional factors are important antecedents affecting employees’ work initiative,but they have not explored the influence of negative cognitive and emotional factors on taking charge behavior.Individual relative deprivation is the judgment that individual is worse off compared to their expectations and others accompanied by feelings of anger and resentment.Previous research has explored the effects of individual relative deprivation on mental health and retreating behavior.However,the impact of individual relative deprivation on taking charge behavior is not fully understood.Individual relative deprivation not only damage the health of employees,but also cause organizational damage.Employees who feel a sense of individual relative deprivation attribute their disadvantaged position to organizational injustice,believe that the organization has violated psychological contract and develop negative feelings such as anger and dissatisfaction towards the organization.When employees’ expect can’t be rewarded,individual job satisfaction and motivation will decline,which also weaken employees’ willingness to implement taking charge behavior.Psychological contract violation is critical to taking charge behavior,but has often been overlooked in previous research.Based on social exchange theory,this paper proposes that individual relative deprivation cause employees’ psychological contract violation and ultimately lead to a reduction in taking charge behavior.A review of previous research has revealed that the need to belong plays a key role in the impact of perceived discrimination on individuals.When employees develop a sense of individual relative deprivation,the need to belong may become an important moderating factor.Based on a review and summary of previous relevant studies,this paper proposes the hypothesis that individual relative deprivation is an important antecedent influencing the reduction of employees’ taking charge behavior,and based on social exchange theory,explores the mediating role of psychological contract violation,and the role of the need to belong in moderating the relationship between individual relative deprivation and psychological contract violation.This research takes working employees as the object,collects 280 valid samples through the questionnaire survey,and uses correlation analysis,hierarchical regression analysis and other methods to test the hypothesis.The results show that:(1)Individual relative deprivation significantly reduces taking charge behavior;(2)Psychological contract violation mediates the relationship between individual relative deprivation and employees’ taking charge behavior;(3)The need to belong can moderate the effect of individual relative deprivation on psychological contract violation;(4)The need to belong can significantly positively moderated the mediating effect of psychological contract violation on the relationship between individual relative deprivation and employees’ taking charge behavior.The findings help managers understand the impact of individual relative deprivation on employee’s behavior and explore boundary conditions for the impact of individual relative deprivation on psychological contract violation from the perspective of the need to belong.In the future,companies should focus on organizational justice and humanized management,while enriching their employees’ access to social status and achievement,guiding individuals to make reasonable longitudinal self-comparisons and inspiring their achievement motivation,thus reducing employees’ sense of relative deprivation and the negative effects it generates.Employees can reduce the negative impact of individual relative deprivation on taking change behavior by managing their emotions well and regulating their expectations of themselves.