Xi Zou

Xi Zou
Nanyang Technological University | ntu · Nanyang Business School (College of Business)

About

40
Publications
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1,714
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Introduction
Skills and Expertise

Publications

Publications (40)
Article
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Who builds effective networks remains a critical but elusive question in networks research. In this paper, we turn to an important piece of the puzzle that has been under-theorized: motivation to network. Borrowing from the literature on lay theories in motivational psychology, our theoretical model specifies three implicit beliefs people hold abou...
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We propose a motivational affordance account to explain both stability and variability in risk-taking propensity in major decision domains. We draw on regulatory focus theory to differentiate two types of motivation (prevention, promotion) that play a key role in predicting risk-taking. Study 1 demonstrated that prevention motivation is negatively...
Article
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We examine how cultural distance between sojourners’ country of origin and their host country influences their engagement in intercultural exchange upon return. One might expect intercultural exchange to be much harder between culturally-distant countries than culturally-close ones, given that the former vary more in norms or expected behaviors fro...
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Employee well‐being is a critical consideration for organizations. It may be particularly so in the post COVID‐19 era, where many still suffer from the pandemic's after‐effects. We propose a novel pathway to maintain and improve employee well‐being: organizational nostalgia, one's sentimental longing or wistful affection for past organizational eve...
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We propose that COVID-related stress undermines felt authenticity, but also triggers nostalgia. In turn, nostalgia conduces to felt authenticity, thereby counteracting the deleterious impact of COVID-related stress. We tested this regulatory model of nostalgia in two studies. Study 1 was an online cross-sectional study during the pandemic, in which...
Article
In this study, we examine the role of founders' need to belong and tertius iungens orientation (i.e., the tendency of bringing people together and coordinating among others) in the context of new ventures. We propose and document evidence that a founder's tendency to engage in tertius iungens oriented networking is positively associated with new ve...
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While touting the importance of building effective networks, scholars have paid far less attention to why so many people feel so ambivalent or conflicted about instrumental networking, and what can be done to change such attitudes. The present research provides the first empirical test of a novel theory, which argues that people are more likely to...
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A persistently pressing issue identified in the decision‐making literature is that people not only fail to recognize the risks entailed in a near‐loss event but also subsequently engage in further risk‐taking. We contend in this paper that prevention motivation critically regulates decision‐makers' responses to a near‐loss. Across three studies, we...
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When and why do people choose a more or a less risky option? To answer this question, we propose that it is essential to examine the dynamic interrelations among three factors-the decision maker's goal (e.g., promotion vs. prevention goal), the current value state (e.g., the domain of gains vs. losses), and the choice set (i.e., perceived available...
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We examined, in five studies, the relation between nostalgia and financial risk taking. We hypothesized that nostalgia increases risk taking by fostering perceptions of social support. In Study 1, we established the basic effect of nostalgia and increased risk taking. In Study 2, we used a measurement-of-mediation approach to specify the underlying...
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Extensive research has shown that when a social identity is made salient, people tend to embrace positive identities (e.g., being a voter) and shy away from negative identities (e.g., being a cheater). The present research proposes that this effect of identity salience could be reversed for identities that cannot be attained or rejected by engaging...
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Repatriation (returning home after having lived abroad) can be psychologically distressing. We theorized and found evidence that feeling nostalgic about a host culture contributes to repatriation success. We tested a sample of over 700 international teachers who worked in the United States (host culture) and then returned to their home countries. A...
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Who builds effective networks remains an elusive question, particularly given mounting evidence that many people actually feel conflicted or ambivalent about the idea of instrumental networking. Here, we turn to an important piece of the puzzle that has been under-theorized: lay beliefs and attitudes that inhibit networking. Borrowing from the lite...
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We compile in this article the target article authors’ thoughtful responses to the commentaries. Their responses identify some common threads across the rich contents of the commentary pieces, interlink the observation and theoretical propositions in the commentaries with broader streams of research, present new perspectives inspired by the comment...
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We propose that an individual’s regulatory focus moderates the significant role social network density—the degree of interconnectedness among a person’s social contacts—plays in shaping life satisfaction. Evidence from Study 1 indicates that participants with high prevention effectiveness reported higher life satisfaction when they were embedded in...
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Organizational scholars have recently become interested in forgiveness as a way to resolve workplace conflicts and repair relationships. We question the assumption that forgiveness always has these relational benefits. In three studies we investigated participants’ responses to people who expressed forgiveness of them versus those who did not. We f...
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Repatriation often fails, as manifested by low job satisfaction among the repatriates. Cultural distance between home and host countries exacerbates the challenges of repatriation. We theorized and found evidence that feeling nostalgic about a host culture (i.e., hostalgia) contributes to repatriation success. Specifically, we studied a sample of o...
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Full-text available
Four studies demonstrate the importance of self-regulatory mechanisms for understanding risk-seeking behavior under loss. Findings suggest that risk seeking becomes a motivational necessity under 3 conditions: (a) when an individual is in a state of loss; (b) when the individual is in a prevention-focused regulatory state (E. T. Higgins, 1997); and...
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This article examines the role of promotion motivation in decision making in the domain of gains. Using a stock investment paradigm in which individuals believed that they were making decisions that were real and consequential, we found that promotion motivation, and not prevention motivation, predicted the likelihood of switching between risky and...
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This paper examines the overlap between competition and friendship in networks, an instance of multiplexity that we call the grand duality. We show that managers differ systematically in whether they perceive their friends as competitors. Structure matters, in that managers are more likely to see friends who are the same sex, in the same work unit,...
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Negotiators in regulatory fit report feeling right about an upcoming negotiation more than those in non-fit, and this intensifies their responses to negotiation preparation (Appelt et al. in Soc Cogn 27(3), 365–384, 2009). High assessors emphasize critical evaluation and being right (Higgins et al. in Advances in experimental social psychology, Vol...
Article
Full-text available
Four studies demonstrate the importance of self-regulatory mechanisms for understanding risk-seeking behavior under loss. Findings suggest that risk seeking becomes a motivational necessity under 3 conditions: (a) when an individual is in a state of loss; (b) when the individual is in a prevention-focused regulatory state (E. T. Higgins, 1997); and...
Article
ABSTRACT This article examines,the psychological underpinnings of social networks by drawing on regulatory focus theory—an overarching distinction between two basic motivational systems that underlie people’s self-regulations, motivated cognitions, and strategic preferences. We propose that regulatory focus influences people’s (a) networking strate...
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Although the concept of luxury has been widely discussed in social theories and marketing research, relatively little research has directly examined the psychological consequences of exposure to luxury goods. This paper demonstrates that mere exposure to luxury goods increases individuals’ propensity to prioritize self-interests over others’ intere...
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The authors propose that culture affects people through their perceptions of what is consensually believed. Whereas past research has examined whether cultural differences in social judgment are mediated by differences in individuals' personal values and beliefs, this article investigates whether they are mediated by differences in individuals' per...
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We propose that the psychological effects of performing the buyer versus the seller role in a negotiation depend on regulatory fit (Higgins, 2000) with the demands of the role. When the negotiation emphasizes price, buyers want to pay only what is necessary (minimize monetary loss), which fits prevention focus concerns, whereas sellers want to atta...
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Business friendships are increasingly common. Research in organizational behavior has identified a number of benefits to career and organizational performance of these relationships. These instrumental benefits derive from the affective qualities of these relationships, through the mechanisms of trust, empathy and sympathy. Yet the combination of i...
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The present article explores whether effects of cultural primes are influenced by identity motives as well as by construct accessibility. The authors hypothesized that assimilative responses (shifting one’s judgments toward the norm of the primed culture) are driven by identification motives, whereas contrastive responses (shifting away from this n...
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Theoretical Background We investigated the effect of decision making process on the decisions made. Thus far, two different lines of research have demonstrated that decision making procedures (strategies) are critical. 1) Procedural justice research has demonstrated the unique outcome values of procedural justice (e.g., enhancement of organization...

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