An Ego Depletion Perspective Linking Political Behavior to Interpersonal Deviance

Jing Xiu; Junwei Zheng; Zhigang Li; Zhenduo Zhang

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.802636

An Ego Depletion Perspective Linking Political Behavior to Interpersonal Deviance

Front Psychol. 2022 Mar 30:13:802636. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.802636. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Jing Xiu¹, Junwei Zheng², Zhigang Li³, Zhenduo Zhang⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Applied Economics, University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China.
² Faculty of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China.
³ School of Economics and Management, Beijing Polytechnic, Beijing, China.
⁴ School of Economics and Management, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China.

Abstract

A political act is a typical self-serving behavior that works to promote or protect self-interest. However, limited research explores its relationship with daily downstream behavior. Based on the ego depletion theory, the present study attempts to clarify when and how daily political acts will be transformed into interpersonal deviance. We collected 760 cases nested in 152 full time workers in mainland China through the experience sampling method. Via a multilevel structural equation model and hierarchical linear model, we tested the mediated moderation model. The results showed that political acts correlated with interpersonal deviance on a daily basis. Moral self-efficacy buffers the relationship between political acts and interpersonal deviance, whereas chronic job strain amplifies the relationship. Furthermore, moral self-efficacy can mediate the moderating role of chronic job strain.

Keywords: chronic job strain; experience sampling method; interpersonal deviance; moral self-efficacy; political acts.