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Understanding contemporary forms of exploitation: Attributions of passion serve to legitimize the poor treatment of workers.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Kim, JY; Campbell, TH; Shepherd, S; Kay, AC
Published in: Journal of personality and social psychology
January 2020

The pursuit of passion in one's work is touted in contemporary discourse. Although passion may indeed be beneficial in many ways, we suggest that the modern cultural emphasis may also serve to facilitate the legitimization of unfair and demeaning management practices-a phenomenon we term the legitimization of passion exploitation. Across 7 studies and a meta-analysis, we show that people do in fact deem poor worker treatment (e.g., asking employees to do demeaning tasks that are irrelevant to their job description, asking employees to work extra hours without pay) as more legitimate when workers are presumed to be "passionate" about their work. Of importance, we demonstrate 2 mediating mechanisms by which this process of legitimization occurs: (a) assumptions that passionate workers would have volunteered for this work if given the chance (Studies 1, 3, 5, 6, and 8), and (b) beliefs that, for passionate workers, work itself is its own reward (Studies 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8). We also find support for the reverse direction of the legitimization process, in which people attribute passion to an exploited (vs. nonexploited) worker (Study 7). Finally, and consistent with the notion that this process is connected to justice motives, a test of moderated mediation shows this is most pronounced for participants high in belief in a just world (Study 8). Taken together, these studies suggest that although passion may seem like a positive attribute to assume in others, it can also license poor and exploitative worker treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

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Published In

Journal of personality and social psychology

DOI

EISSN

1939-1315

ISSN

0022-3514

Publication Date

January 2020

Volume

118

Issue

1

Start / End Page

121 / 148

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Workplace
  • Workload
  • Social Psychology
  • Reward
  • Male
  • Job Satisfaction
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Emotions
 

Citation

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MLA
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Kim, J. Y., Campbell, T. H., Shepherd, S., & Kay, A. C. (2020). Understanding contemporary forms of exploitation: Attributions of passion serve to legitimize the poor treatment of workers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 118(1), 121–148. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000190
Kim, Jae Yun, Troy H. Campbell, Steven Shepherd, and Aaron C. Kay. “Understanding contemporary forms of exploitation: Attributions of passion serve to legitimize the poor treatment of workers.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 118, no. 1 (January 2020): 121–48. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000190.
Kim JY, Campbell TH, Shepherd S, Kay AC. Understanding contemporary forms of exploitation: Attributions of passion serve to legitimize the poor treatment of workers. Journal of personality and social psychology. 2020 Jan;118(1):121–48.
Kim, Jae Yun, et al. “Understanding contemporary forms of exploitation: Attributions of passion serve to legitimize the poor treatment of workers.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 118, no. 1, Jan. 2020, pp. 121–48. Epmc, doi:10.1037/pspi0000190.
Kim JY, Campbell TH, Shepherd S, Kay AC. Understanding contemporary forms of exploitation: Attributions of passion serve to legitimize the poor treatment of workers. Journal of personality and social psychology. 2020 Jan;118(1):121–148.

Published In

Journal of personality and social psychology

DOI

EISSN

1939-1315

ISSN

0022-3514

Publication Date

January 2020

Volume

118

Issue

1

Start / End Page

121 / 148

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Workplace
  • Workload
  • Social Psychology
  • Reward
  • Male
  • Job Satisfaction
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Emotions