Psychological Entitlement and Its Relationship with Existential Threat among Employees Approaching Retirement
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52839/0111-000-087-022Abstract
Psychological entitlement refers to a persistent feeling that one deserves more than others, even if this is not proportional to one's actual abilities and efforts. Employees approaching retirement often lack a sense of meaning due to the absence of a work environment and emotional participation among groups that share the same ideas and responsibilities. Their loss thus becomes a loss that leads to the emergence of certain problems, which may result in existential threat. Therefore, having meaning and hope is of great importance, as it makes it possible to deal with, adapt to, or manage intense and exciting situations and changes. When an employee believes that they deserve more than others, this belief will make them focus only on their own needs and will negatively affect their relationships with others, which may result in conflicts and divisions at work.
The current research aimed to:
1-Identifiing psychological entitlement among employees approaching retirement.
2-Determining the significance of differences in psychological entitlement according to the variables of gender (male/female)
3-Identifng existential threat among employees approaching retirement.
4-Determining the significance of differences in existential threat according to the variables of gender (male/female).
5-Identifing the correlation between psychological entitlement and existential threat.
To achieve these objectives, the researcher developed a psychological -entitlement scale based on Campbell's theory of psychological entitlement (2004) and an existential threat scale based on Sullivan's adopted theory (2016), which consisted of 33 items with five response options distributed across two levels. The sample consisted of 400 employees approaching retirement in order to extract the psychometric properties using the SPSS program. The current research concluded the following results:
1-Employees approaching retirement have a statistically significant level of psychological entitlement.
2-There is no difference in psychological entitlement according to the gender variable (male – female).
3-Employees approaching retirement have a statistically significant level of existential threat.
4-There is no difference in existential threat according to the gender variable (male – female).
5-There is a positive correlation between psychological entitlement and existential threat. Afterwards, a set of recommendations and suggestions was presented.
Downloads
References
المراجع العربية
[1] التميمي، محمود كاظم محمود(2009)، كيف تكتب بحثا أو رسالة ماجستير ، دار الكتب والوثائق، بغداد.
[2] السيد، فؤاد. (1979). علم النفس الإحصائي وقياس العقل البشري ط.3 القاهرة: دار الفكر العربي.
[3] عسلية، محمد إبراهيم وأبو كويك، باسم علي. (2018). القلق الوجودي وعلاقته بفقدان الاستمتاع بالحياة لدى طلبة كلية التربية في جامعة الأزهر بغزة. المجلة الدولية التربوية المتخصصة، المجلد (7)، العدد (2).
[4] عودة، احمد سليمان والملكاوي، خليل يوسف (2000)، الإحصاء لمباحث في التربية والعموم الإنسانية، ط1، دار الفكر لمنشر والتوزيع عمان.
[5] فرج، صفوة (1988)، القياس النفسي، دار الفكر العربي، القاهرة.
المراجع الأجنبية
[1] Bulman, R. (1992). Shattered assumptions: Toward a new psychology of trauma. Free Press.
[2] Boucher, H. C. (2011). Self-knowledge defenses to self-threats. Journal of Research in Personality, 45(2), 165–174.
[3] Brandtstädter, J., & Greve, W. (1994). The Aging Self: Stabilizing and Protective Processes. Developmental Review, 14(1), 52-80.
[4] Campbell, W. K, & Buffardi, L. E. (2007). PSYCHOLOGICAL ENTITLEMENT. In R. F. Baumeister & D. Vohs (Eds.). Encyclopedia of Social Psychology (Vol. 1). (pp. 716-717), USA: SAGE.
[5] Campbell, W. K, & Joshua D. Foster, J. D. (2005). NARCISSISTIC ENTITLEMENT. In R. F. Baumeister & D. Vohs (Eds.). Encyclopedia of Social Psychology (Vol. 1). (pp. 706-707), USA: SAGE.
[6] Campbell, W. K., Bonacci, A. M., Shelton, J., Exline, J. J., & Bushman, B. J. (2004). Psychological entitlement: Interpersonal consequences and validation of a self-report measure. Journal of Personality Assessment, 83(1), 29-45.
[7] Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2009). The narcissism epidemic: Living in the age of entitlement. Free Press.
[8] Campbell, W. K., & Buffardi, L. E. (2007). Psychological entitlement and its behavioral correlates: Proposing a nomological network. Journal of Personality Assessment, 89(1), 715–728. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223890701659937.
[9] Candel, I., & Turliuc, M. N. (2017). The impact of psychological entitlement on family relationships. Psychology journal. (pp. 256–270).
[10] Harris, J., Smith, L., & Johnson, P. (2005). Understanding existential anxiety: A future-oriented perspective. Psychology Press.
[11] Hirschberger G, Pyszczynski T, Ein-Dor T. (2015).Why does Existential Threat Promote Intergroup Violence? Examining the Role of Retributive Justice and Cost-Benefit Utility Motivations. Front Psychol. 20; 6:1761.
[12] Harvey, P., & Harris, K. J. (2010). Frustration-based outcomes of entitlement and the influence of supervisor communication. Human Relations, 63(11), 1639–1660. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726710362923.
[13] Harvey, P., Harris, K. J., Gillis, W. E., & Martinko, M. J. (2014). Abusive supervision and the entitled employee. The Leadership Quarterly, 25(2), 204–217.
[14] Feather, N. T. (2006). Judgments of deservingness: Studies in the psychology of justice and achievement. Psychology
[15] Lessard, S., Green, T. R., & Brunet, R. (2011). Exploring psychological entitlement: Associations with narcissism, self-esteem, and depression. Journal of Personality Assessment, 93(5), 523–532. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2011.59741.
[16] Lerner, M. J. (1987). The justice motive: Some hypotheses as to its origins and forms. Journal of Personality, 55(1), 23–50.
[17] Moeller, S., Crocker, J., & Bushman, B. J. (2009). The ego’s curse: Narcissism and relationships. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 26(1), 1–2.
[18] Naumann, S. E., Minsky, B. D., and Sturman, M. C. (2002). The use of the concept “entitlement” in management literature: a historical review, synthesis, and discussion of compensation policy implications. Hum. Resour. Manage. R. 12, 145–166. doi: 10.1016/ s1053-4822(01)00055-9.
[19] Neville, L., & Fisk, G. M. (2018). Getting to excess: Psychological entitlement and negotiation attitudes. Journal of Business and Psychology, 34(4), 555-574.
[20] Nkomo, E. (2017). Exploring The determinants of Entitlement Mentality Among Generation Y in Two Tertiary Institutions in Johannesburg. unpublished Doctor dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.
[21] Quirin, M., Malekzad, F., Kazén, M., Luckey, U., Kehr, H. (2021). Existential Threat: Uncovering Implicit Affect in Response to Terror Reminders in Soldiers. Front Psychol. 4;12:585854.
[22] Rapp, C. A., Salehi, S., & Carlson, L. (2022). The role of meaning and hope in coping with stress and adversity: A review. Journal of Mental Health, 31(2), 123-134
[23] Rawidowicz S. (1967). The ever-dying people. Judaism, 16(4), 43–47.
[24] Silva, I. G. P., Marquete, V. F., Lino, I. G. T., Batista, V. C., Magnabosco, G., Haddad, M. D. C. F. L. (2023). Marcon SS. Factors associated with quality of life in retirement: a systematic review. Rev Bras Med Trab. 13;20(4):676-684.
[25] Sullivan D., Landau M. J., Branscombe N. R., Rothschild Z. K. (2012). Competitive victimhood as a response to accusations of ingroup harm doing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102(4), 778–795.
[26] Sullivan, D. (2016). Cultural-existential psychology: The role of culture in suffering and threat. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal Of Educational and Psychological Researches
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
