The Effect of Regulatory Focus on Employees’ Job Performance: Taking Teachers in Chinese Higher Education Institutions as an Example
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Abstract
This paper aimed to study the relationship between regulatory focus and job performance based on the mediating role of psychological empowerment. A quantitative research method was employed to design the questionnaire, and non-probability sampling was adopted to select 320 faculty members from Chinese higher education institutions as the study sample. Data analysis conducted using SPSS and Amos yielded results showing that promotion focus had a positive relationship with job performance, while psychological empowerment also had a positive relationship with job performance. Psychological empowerment acts as a mediator between promotion focus and job performance as well as prevention focus and job performance. The promotion focus was positively associated with psychological empowerment, while the prevention focus was negatively associated with psychological empowerment. Meanwhile, the results of the data analysis showed that there was no significant negative impact of the prevention focus on job performance. In conclusion, employers should allocate work to employees by the variety of assignments and the type of regulatory focus. To enhance the level of psychological empowerment of employees, the working environment should be as comfortable and humane as possible.
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