Social axioms in Iran and Canada: Intercultural contact, coping and adjustment

Abstract

A comparison was made between Iranian participants living in Iran, Iranian immigrants to Canada, and Canadian‐born participants on the Social Axioms Scale (SAS), including a sixth dimension, Harmony. The Iranian immigrants to Canada endorsed views that were intermediate between the other two groups. In the data from Iran, the relationships between social axioms on the one hand and measures of active coping and adjustment on the other were examined. Belief in Reward for Application predicted Active Coping; acknowledgment of Social Complexity predicted Life‐Satisfaction; and endorsement of belief in Harmony predicted Mastery. Those whose beliefs on Harmony and Social Complexity were closer to their country mean were higher on Mastery and Self‐Esteem, but those whose beliefs on Fate Control were closer to the country mean showed lower Life‐Satisfaction.

Do people’s world views matter? The why and how.

“…It reflects confidence in human agency that is empowered by knowledge, effort, and careful planning. The expectancy of reinforcement motivates individuals to face challenges and overcome difficulties, adopt active coping strategies (Bond, Leung, Au, Tong, & Chemonges-Nielson, 2004a), and adjust better in intercultural contexts (Safdar, Lewis, & Daneshpour, 2006). Thus, we hypothesize that reward for application will be related to positive self-views and better psychological well-being.…”

“…& Daneshpour, 2006). Thus, we hypothesize that reward for application will be related to positive self-views and better psychological well-being.…”

“…Prior studies have documented that social cynicism and reward for application are especially related to well-being indicators and mental health outcomes (e.g., Chen, Wu, & Bond, 2009;Hui & Hui, 2009;Lam, Bond, Chen, & Wu, 2010). For instance, social cynicism was found to predict life satisfaction concurrently and prospectively (Lai, Bond, & Hui, 2007); reward for application was positively related to life satisfaction and coping (Safdar et al, 2006). To unpack the mechanisms underlying the relations between social axioms and well-being, we test the mediation effects of self-views across different age groups and over time.…”

Antecedents of organizational citizenship behavior among Turkish white-collar employees in The Netherlands and Turkey

“…In contrast, for Turkish employees in The Netherlands, a less positive relation is expected. Although, religiosity has been shown to be related to positively valued constructs such as agreeableness (McCrae, 2002) and positive affect (Diener & Suh, 1999), it has also been shown to be related to rejection of culturally distant groups (Safdar et al, 2006). For instance, Safdar et al (2006) showed that religiosity was associated with refusing intercultural contacts, the denial of customs and traditions of different cultural groups.…”

“…The reward for application belief has further been shown to positively relate to one's job dedication (i.e., the number of working hours per week), and working hard to solve work-related problems (e.g., by working extra hours to complete a work task) as an active style of coping with difficulties on the job and life more in general (Safdar, Lewis, & Daneshpour, 2006). Since, OCB also involves helping colleagues when they cannot solve a work-related problem (e.g., by putting extra effort), working hard to solve work-related problems (e.g., by working extra hours to complete a work task) and staying at the organization despite economic hardships, one can expect a positive relation between white-collar workers' reward for application belief and both other and self-oriented dimensions of OCB.…”