The “Crabs in a Bucket” Mentality in Healthcare Personnel: A Phenomenological Study

Abstract

The crab mentality is expressed as a kind of selfish and narrow-minded way of thinking. The study aimed to determine whether crab mentality affects dissatisfaction, absenteeism, and motivation. The study was carried out with emergency service personnel of a public hospital in Samsun, Turkey between 21.01.2019 and 16.03.2019. It is the essence of the method that individuals tell their experiences about a phenomenon or concept. This method was preferred since an experienced event was investigated. Data were collected through detailed interviews with people who had experienced the relevant phenomenon. According to participants, egocentrism, jealousy, and inequity were determined to be the antecedents of this behavior. The existence of thought in organizations can affect a peaceful working environment, teamwork, and productivity. It can also significantly increase the stress of the employees at work.

Measuring “Crabs in a Bucket” phenomenon at schools: A scale development study

“…"Crabs in a bucket" phenomenon, which was first described in educational organizations by Duke (1994), was seen as one of the most important obstacles to the professional development of teachers as educational leaders, and was conceptualized and introduced into the literature (Duke, 1994;Hard & O'Gorman, 2007). However, together with the fact that the number of scientific studies in the literature on "crabs in a bucket" phenomenon was quite few (Aydın & Oğuzhan, 2019;Duke, 2014;Kumar & Soubhari, 2014;Marques, 2019;Miller, 2019;Sampath, 1997;Spacey, 2015), no measurement tool could be found to evaluate this phenomenon from the perspectives of teachers working in educational organizations. From this point of view, in this study, it was aimed to develop "Crabs in a Bucket Scale at Schools".…”

“…In the scale development process, inductive approach was followed and the common points of scale development approaches put forth by various researchers (Benson et al, 2020;Carpenter, 2018;Clark & Watson, 1995;DeVellis, 2014;Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994;Tay & Jebb, 2017) were utilized. In this regard, first of all, a scale item pool was formed in the light of the relevant literature (Aydın & Oğuzhan, 2019;Duke, 2014;Kumar & Soubhari, 2014;Marques, 2019;Miller, 2019;Sampath, 1997;Spacey, 2015).…”

“…While doing the search, scientific journals and articles, accessible theses and books as well as internet news websites and other available online resources were also utilized. As a result of the literature review, together with the fact that the number of scientific studies accessed was very limited (Aydın & Oğuzhan, 2019 Spacey, 2015), it was determined that most of these studies dealt with the subject only from a theoretical perspective. Based on the information presented in the resources obtained as a result of the literature review, an item pool which was composed of 45 items was formed.…”

“…In a qualitative study conducted by Marques (2009), it was emphasized that "crabs in a bucket" phenomenon was one of the most important factors in the progress and promotion of women, and it was argued that this "glass ceiling" in the workplace originated from other women. In a phenomenological study conducted by Aydın and Oğuzhan (2019) so as to determine whether crab mentality affected dissatisfaction, absenteeism and motivation in the workplace, it was found that such a mentality negatively affected the employees' motivation and job satisfaction, and increased absenteeism. Besides, it was also revealed that the individuals who exhibited such behavior did this mostly due to egocentrism and jealousy, which was followed by such reasons as career advancement efforts, ambition and academic inadequacy.…”

Kamu Çalışanlarının Yengeç Sepeti Sendromu Hakkındaki Görüşleri: Nitel Bir Araştırma

“…Bireysel faktörler genel olarak; kıskançlık, korku, kaygı, düşük özgüven, değersizlik ve yetersizlik hissi, narsizm, stres, benlik saygısı eksikliği, bencillik, hakkaniyetten yoksun olma, adaletsizlik vb. şeklinde sıralanabilir (Özdemir ve Üzüm, 2019;Aydın ve Oğuzhan, 2019). Yengeç sepeti sendromunun oluşmasına neden olan bireyler faktörler değerlendirildiğinde, bu davranışların genel olarak zayıf kişilik özelliklerine sahip bireyler tarafından sergilendiği ifade edilebilir (Ünalan, 2023).…”