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It's better to give than to receive: Psychological need satisfaction mediating links between wasta (favouritism) and individuals' psychological distress
Author(s) -
Alwerthan Tarik Abdulkreem,
Swanson Dena Phillips,
Rogge Ronald David
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
international journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1464-066X
pISSN - 0020-7594
DOI - 10.1002/ijop.12419
Subject(s) - generosity , psychology , loyalty , psychological distress , nepotism , self determination theory , autonomy , social psychology , facet (psychology) , structural equation modeling , language change , tribalism , distress , clinical psychology , personality , big five personality traits , political science , mental health , psychotherapist , art , literature , statistics , mathematics , politics , law
W asta (i.e. the distribution of favours among family, friends and tribe; favouritism; nepotism) permeates numerous Middle Eastern cultures, representing a method of strengthening social ties and showing loyalty/generosity, but also representing one of the largest sources of corruption in Middle East. The current study investigated links between wasta and psychological distress in a survey of 1088 educators from Saudi Arabia. Drawing from the self‐determination theory ( SDT ) conceptual framework, Structural Equation Modeling analyses suggested that benefitting from wasta was linked to higher levels of psychological distress and those links were explained in part (i.e. mediated) by lower levels of autonomy, competency and relatedness. In contrast, providing wasta was associated with higher levels of need satisfaction and correspondingly lower levels of distress. Implications are discussed in terms of the SDT , discrimination and helping behaviour literatures.