Untying the Text: Organizational Prosociality and Kindness
The scholarly field of organizational prosociality is experiencing a renewed interest, yet despite its long track record, researchers still disagree on the definitions of primary concepts. Two umbrella terms, prosocial behaviors and kindness, are particularly baffling, as they are defined similarly,...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Behavioral Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/13/2/186 |
| _version_ | 1827758536046673920 |
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| author | Rona Hart Dan Hart |
| author_facet | Rona Hart Dan Hart |
| author_sort | Rona Hart |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The scholarly field of organizational prosociality is experiencing a renewed interest, yet despite its long track record, researchers still disagree on the definitions of primary concepts. Two umbrella terms, prosocial behaviors and kindness, are particularly baffling, as they are defined similarly, at times used synonymously, yet the differences between them are unclear. Consequently, the field suffers from conceptual ambiguity, which hampers its development. In this brief critical paper, we provide a review of the definitions of prosocial behavior and kindness, in an attempt to semantically untie the text, unpack the context, and discuss the subtext that underlies these concepts. Our analysis suggests that the two concepts overlap in their emphasis on dispositions and actions that aim to promote the welfare of others. However, acts of kindness and prosocial behaviors differ in actors, their target recipients and scale. Acts of kindness are performed by an individual and directed at a person or a small group, while prosocial behaviors can be performed by a person or an organization, and can be directed at a person or a group, but may also be directed at a much larger entity: an organization, community, nation, or society at large. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T09:08:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-338ad9bd23ed409d859050816c991b9b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-328X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T09:08:44Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Behavioral Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-338ad9bd23ed409d859050816c991b9b2023-11-16T19:09:46ZengMDPI AGBehavioral Sciences2076-328X2023-02-0113218610.3390/bs13020186Untying the Text: Organizational Prosociality and KindnessRona Hart0Dan Hart1School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9RH, UKBirmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, 116 Edgbaston Park Road, Birmingham B15 2TY, UKThe scholarly field of organizational prosociality is experiencing a renewed interest, yet despite its long track record, researchers still disagree on the definitions of primary concepts. Two umbrella terms, prosocial behaviors and kindness, are particularly baffling, as they are defined similarly, at times used synonymously, yet the differences between them are unclear. Consequently, the field suffers from conceptual ambiguity, which hampers its development. In this brief critical paper, we provide a review of the definitions of prosocial behavior and kindness, in an attempt to semantically untie the text, unpack the context, and discuss the subtext that underlies these concepts. Our analysis suggests that the two concepts overlap in their emphasis on dispositions and actions that aim to promote the welfare of others. However, acts of kindness and prosocial behaviors differ in actors, their target recipients and scale. Acts of kindness are performed by an individual and directed at a person or a small group, while prosocial behaviors can be performed by a person or an organization, and can be directed at a person or a group, but may also be directed at a much larger entity: an organization, community, nation, or society at large.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/13/2/186prosocial organizational behaviorkindness |
| spellingShingle | Rona Hart Dan Hart Untying the Text: Organizational Prosociality and Kindness Behavioral Sciences prosocial organizational behavior kindness |
| title | Untying the Text: Organizational Prosociality and Kindness |
| title_full | Untying the Text: Organizational Prosociality and Kindness |
| title_fullStr | Untying the Text: Organizational Prosociality and Kindness |
| title_full_unstemmed | Untying the Text: Organizational Prosociality and Kindness |
| title_short | Untying the Text: Organizational Prosociality and Kindness |
| title_sort | untying the text organizational prosociality and kindness |
| topic | prosocial organizational behavior kindness |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/13/2/186 |
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