The Double-Edged Sword of Underdog Expectations in Organizations in Shanghai, China: The Mediating Role of Feedback-Avoiding Behaviors and Proving Others Wrong and the Moderating Role of Regulatory Focus

Figures & data

Figure 1 The theoretical model of this study.

Table 1 Results of Confirmatory Factor Analyses

Model	^χ2	df	^χ2/df	CFI	TLI	RMSEA	SRMR
1-Factor model (UE+FAB+POW+PE+PF+WE)	3675.167	434	8.468	0.473	0.435	0.147	0.153
2-Factor model (UE+FAB+POW+PE+PF, WE)	2835.374	433	6.548	0.609	0.580	0.127	0.139
3-Factor model (UE, FAB+POW+PE+PF, WE)	2404.871	431	5.580	0.679	0.654	0.115	0.143
4-Factor model (UE, FAB+POW, PE+PF, WE)	2211.295	428	5.167	0.710	0.685	0.110	0.139
5-Factor model (UE, FAB, POW, PE+PF, WE)	1242.702	424	2.931	0.867	0.854	0.075	0.090
6-Factor model (UE, FAB, POW, PE, PF, WE)	793.032	419	1.893	0.939	0.932	0.051	0.053
7-Factor model (6-factor model +CMB)	652.533	388	1.682	0.957	0.948	0.044	0.040

Notes: N=346. Underdog Expectations=UE, Feedback-Avoiding Behaviors=FAB, The Desire to Prove Others Wrong=POW; Work Engagement=WE, Prevention Focus=PE, Promotion Focus=PF, Common Method Bias=CMB.

Table 2 Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlation Matrix for Key Measures

Variable	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
1.Gender
2.Age	0.083
3.Education	−0.034	0.119*
4.Seniority	0.204***	0.671***	0.132**
5.Underdog expectations	−0.084	0.039	−0.144*	0.015
6.Feedback-avoiding behaviors	−0.009	−0.170**	0.001	−0.140**	0.195***
7.The desire to prove others wrong	−0.099	0.115*	0.064	−0.050	0.297***	−0.217***
8.Work engagement	0.031	0.273***	−0.002	0.211***	0.172**	−0.580***	0.332***
9.Prevention focus	−0.023	−0.226***	−0.116*	−0.230***	0.180**	0.557***	0.004	−0.412***
10.Promotion focus	0.032	0.169**	−0.061	0.023	0.206***	−0.327***	0.264***	0.573***	−0.214***
Mean	0.420	2.030	3.020	3.160	2.718	2.097	3.983	3.854	2.235	4.090
SD	0.494	0.701	0.579	1.239	1.288	0.903	0.813	0.719	0.958	0.751

Notes: N=346. SD=Standard Deviation. *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001.

Table 3 Hierarchical Regression Analysis

Variabe	Feedback-Avoiding Behaviors						The Desire to Prove Others Wrong
	Model1		Model2		Model3		Model4		Model5		Model6
	β	s.e.	β	s.e.	β	s.e.	β	s.e.	β	s.e.	β	s.e.
Intercept	2.319***	0.278	1.834***	0.241	1.891***	0.239	3.449***	0.241	3.480***	0.237	3.415***	0.231
Gender	0.064	0.098	0.034	0.084	0.012	0.083	−0.074	0.085	−0.093	0.084	−0.072	0.082
Age	−0.192*	0.091	−0.100	0.078	−0.108	0.077	0.282***	0.079	0.221**	0.079	0.225**	0.077
Education	0.091	0.083	0.136	0.071	0.126	0.070	0.150*	0.072	0.161*	0.071	0.166*	0.069
Seniority	−0.043	0.053	0.013	0.045	0.006	0.045	−0.146**	0.046	−0.124*	0.045	−0.126**	0.044
Underdog expectations	0.149***	0.037	0.081*	0.032	0.086**	0.032	0.191***	0.032	0.167***	0.032	0.144***	0.032
Prevention focus			0.503***	0.044	0.455***	0.047					0.276***	0.056
Promotion focus									0.207***	0.056
Underdog expectations × prevention focus					0.090**	0.033
Underdog expectations × promotion focus											0.189***	0.041
R^2	0.061		0.318		0.331		0.127		0.159		0.206
ΔR^2	0.061***		0.257***		0.015***		0.127***		0.032***		0.047***
F	5.488***		27.872***		25.402***		11.080***		11.844***		13.792***

Notes: N=346. *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001.

Table 4 Moderated Mediating Effect Test Results

Path	Group	Estimated Indirect Effects	S.E.	95% CI
Underdog expectations → feedback-avoiding behaviors → work engagement	High prevention focus	−0.406*	0.173	[−0.760,-0.069]
	Low prevention focus	−0.015*	0.019	[−0.047,-0.026]
	Difference	−0.391*	0.181	[−0.759,-0.043]
Underdog expectations → the desire to prove others wrong → work engagement	High promotion focus	0.747*	0.289	[0.230, 1.357]
	Low promotion focus	0.099**	0.032	[0.048, 0.180]
	Difference	0.648*	0.262	[0.179, 1.207]

Notes: *p<0.05; **p<0.01. The moderated mediating effect is tested by percentile bootstrap CI method, and the number of bootstrap samples is 5000.

Abbreviations: S.E, Standard Error; 95% CI, 95% Confidence Interval.

Figure 2 The simple slope of interaction between underdog expectations and prevention focus.

Figure 3 The simple slope of interaction between underdog expectations and promotion focus.