Vol. 13 No. 4 (2025): Business & Management Studies: An International Journal
Articles

The effect of crab-in-the-barrel syndrome on career satisfaction: The mediating role of competitive attitude and the moderating role of psychological safety

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  • Duygu Uludağ
Duygu Uludağ
Assist. Prof. Dr., Istanbul Nişantaşı University, Istanbul, Türkiye
Bio

Published 2025-12-25

Keywords

  • Crab in Barrel Syndrome, Career Satisfaction, Competitive Attitude, Psychological Safety
  • Yengeç Sepeti Sendromu, Kariyer Tatmini, Rekabetçi Tutum, Psikolojik Güvenlik

How to Cite

The effect of crab-in-the-barrel syndrome on career satisfaction: The mediating role of competitive attitude and the moderating role of psychological safety. (2025). Business & Management Studies: An International Journal, 13(4), 1885-1907. https://doi.org/10.15295/bmij.v13i4.2653

Copyright (c) 2025 Duygu Uludağ

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

The effect of crab-in-the-barrel syndrome on career satisfaction: The mediating role of competitive attitude and the moderating role of psychological safety. (2025). Business & Management Studies: An International Journal, 13(4), 1885-1907. https://doi.org/10.15295/bmij.v13i4.2653

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of crab-in-the-barrel syndrome, a negative social dynamic within organisations, on employees' career satisfaction. Furthermore, the study analysed the mediating role of competitive attitude and the moderating role of psychological safety within this relationship. The research population consists of academics working at foundation universities in Istanbul, as a significant number of Turkey's foundation universities are located there. Data were collected from 350 academics and analysed using the SPSS software and the PROCESS Macro extension. The findings indicate that crab-in-the-barrel syndrome negatively affects career satisfaction; a competitive attitude partially mediates this relationship, and psychological safety plays a significant moderating role in this mediation. As a result, hypotheses H1, H2, H3, H4, and H5 were supported. These findings provide significant insights into how negative social dynamics among individuals are shaped by the interaction between organisational climate and individual factors, thereby offering meaningful contributions to the literature.

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