Investigating the Moderating Role of Gender in the Association between Self-Construal and Regulatory Focus: A Cross Sectional Study.

Abstract

According to earlier studies, independent self-construal is generally associated with a promotion focus, whereas interdependent self-construal is associated with a prevention focus, Conversely, it has often been overlooked how vice versa situations are interrelated in multicultural contexts. Moreover, there has been a disregard for the moderating impact of gender in these processes. Our research aims to investigate these overlooked connections, advancing a more thorough understanding of relationships among gender roles, regulatory foci, and self-construal orientations in the context of Pakistan's tourist and hospitality sector using a sample of 605 employees. The study employed a questionnaire for data collection and structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Results showed that people, regardless of their self-construal type, tend to employ promotion and prevention emphasis tactics. This shows that they can adjust their strategies to fit the needs of the particular situation or objective by switching between different tactics. Gender moderated the relationship b/w self-construal and regulatory foci of employees, with only men exhibiting a link between independent and interdependent self-construal with promotion focus. However, no significant relationship between gender and prevention focus was found for both genders. The study concluded that a person's self-construal is important in determining their regulatory focus and that gender (male) moderates this relationship. These findings have implications for human resource management practices in Pakistan's tourist and hospitality industry. However, the study recommends the inclusion of additional variables and methods in future research.

Keywords: Independent Self-Construal, Interdependent Self-Construal,  Promotion Focus, Prevention Focus, Gender