With the increase of real-time stream data, knowledge discovery from stream data becomes more and more important, which requires an efficient data structure to store transactions and scan sliding windows once to discover frequent itemsets. We present a new method named Linking Compact Tree (LCTree). We designed an algorithm by using an improved data structure to create objective tree, which can find frequent itemsets with linear complexity. Secondly, we can merge items in sliding windows by one scan with Head Linking List data structure. Third, by implementing data structure of Tail Linking List, we can locate the obsolete nodes and remove them easily. Finally, LCTree is able to find all exact frequent items in data stream with reduced time and space complexity by using such a linear data structure. Experiments on datasets with different sizes and types were conducted to compare the proposed LCTree technique with well-known frequent item mining methods including Cantree, FP-tree, DSTree, CPSTree, and Gtree. The results of experiments show presented algorithm has better performance than other methods, and also confirm that it is a promising solution for detecting frequent item sets in real time applications. With the development of information technology, such as smart mobile phone, sensor networks, fraud detection systems, and stock market systems, the amount of ubiquitous data is exploding. Different types of data can be classified into two main categories:ℕ={i1, i2, i3 ⋯ in} be a set of literals, called items. A transaction Twith m items is denoted by{x1, x2, ⋯, xm}, such that T⊆ℕ. The data-base 𝔻𝔹 is a set of all static transactions.T  consists of a sequence of m items drawn from a universe of items ℕ. These data items in dynamic transactions changes in time, and often with a high speed. Main properties of data stream are continuity and unboundedness.Dynamic data , a data Static data, for which is usually in the form of transactional database, doesn't change once being stored. Static data –3 can beBecause data streams continuously produce a large amount of data, it is theoretically impossible to store infinite data streams in available computer memory space. How to handle infinite data streams is a challenge, which is not emphasized in traditional static data mining techniques.Traditional mining methods for static data sets usually read the database several times, and mining results are obtained with non-linear complexity algorithms . These approaches aren't designed for streaming data where reading is enabled only once.Data streams are changing in real-time, and some infrequent items at a current time are becoming frequent later. These changes should be detected by streaming data mining techniques by generating dynamic models adjusted to the data stream changes.Data mining methods for determining frequent itemsets can be classified, based on the type of data they analyzed, as (i) static data mining –6 and .As a kind of incremental mining algorithm, Cantree grows very fast with the coming data stream. Cantree-Gtree  improvedTo reduce the time complexity and space complexity effectively, we eliminate iTable and lTable structure, which is useless in LCTree. Instead, we present two linear linking lists, one is head list and the other is tail list. The two lists replace a large number of lists that are generated by iTable and it is necessary for limited memory capacity.LCTree presented in this study needs to neither create a list nor delete the node from tree. Rather we reduce the frequent count of node by maintaining linking. Because some nodes are the same in transactions, we only amend the frequency count instead of deleting the node and shifting the frequency lists. Only sometimes we may need to add new one and delete the oldest when the coming nodes do not exist in the LCTree. Because our goal is to search for frequent itemsets, all items in the sliding window must exist within the same nodes which will save inserting and deleting time consumption. The worst case is each new batch needs to be added and each the old batch needs to be deleted(?). If this case is true, that all batches have no frequent itemsets which makes no sense.Our work is based on Cantree-Gtree approach, and comparing with linking cantree see  implemenEfficient head linking list In LCTree, a head linking list data structure is proposed. Unlike previous approaches , 47, 49,Minority transactions scan The former  algorithLow cost of construction Cantree and CPStree need to traverse the tree from bottom to top or vice versa, when they build projection-tree or conditional-tree with FP-growth algorithm. Whatever way is taken, it is inevitable for construction projection-tree to require high cost to visit each node. Even in Cantree-Gtree , 47, whed : n in d : k and adjust the value of node no de d : k to (k − 1), which is convenient. We don't need to adjust the whole sub-tree nodes, which shows that algorithm in this paper is efficient.Efficient removing old transactions in Cantree-Gtree, a data structure named ltable is maintained. When they remove an old transaction from Cantree, they need to look for nodes information in ltable. After removing the oldest transactions, the Cantree-Gtree will be adjusted from the last node to its root to keep in order. Removing old nodes in LCTree will become easier. In LCTree, we create a table named tail linking, which can help find old transactions easily. There is a need to sort and merge the path node after removing the oldest transactions. For example, if we remove node d : k and increase the value by 1. If the no de d : k is not in the head link list, we just insert node d : k into the tree in appropriate place. The whole process of searching for and inserting node d : k is linear.Linear linking data structure Cantree-Gtree  construcLCTree is different from previously used tree structures in frequent itemsets mining: FP-tree  Cantree In order to describe the LCTree, some formal definitions should be introduced at first.x1, x2, ⋯, xm} be a set of m items, and DB={t1, t2, ⋯tn}is a transaction database. Let ‖DB‖ be the number of transactions in database, while Txis a transaction including itemset x. User defines a threshold θ(0 ≤ θ ≤ 1) as a support for itemset (x), and it represents a quotient between the number of transactions contain itemset x defined as num (Tx) and the total number of transactions in the database, namelySup(x)=num(Tx)/ ‖DB‖. An itemset x is called frequent if Sup(x) ≥ θ. Based on these introductory concepts, we may introduce definition of LCTree.To cope with frequent items in data stream, it is necessary to introduce basic formalisms about frequent itemsets. Let T={x, and then we name it as headlinkedlistx.Headlinklist is defined as a linking list of nodes which are from the sliding window. All nodes in headlinklist are different from each other. They are linked by hlink pointer see . Nodes tTaillinklist is also defined as a linking list of nodes which are from last node of each transaction in the sliding window. All last nodes of transactions are linked by nlink pointer, and each last node is linked by tlink pointer.LCTreenodex is a tree node that has data x. in a tree, there will be the same item, and so its name is the same. But there is no effect on finding frequent itemsets, because all of the same nodes are linked by pointer.LCTree is a tree with headlinklist and taillinklist, where headlinklist has the same node of all transactions in sliding window and taillinklist has all the last nodes in each transaction. All items in headlinklist are linked by hlink pointer.The data structure of head list, tree node and tail list are defined as The five components included in LCTreenode are plink, data, support, clink, and nlink. Pointer plink is used to find the parent and data is the item(?). Support is a recorded number of the item used to find frequent itemsets. Poniter clink and nlink in the LCTree mode point to child and next nodes with the same item to headlinklist respectively. The meaning of nlink in LCTreenode is the same to nlink in headlinklist. LCTreenode data structure is shown in In this part, we will introduce the construction process of LCTree. In Cantree-Gtree algorithm, Gtree is a projection-tree, which is used to find frequent itemsets and remove the oldest transactions. Gtree is the basis of all other operations. Gtree is created from Cantree, which means that Cantree is constructed first and then Gtree is built. From the construction process of Gtree, we know the transactions in the window need to be scanned twice: the first is to build Cantree; the second is to build Gtree, which will consume extra time. Unlike the Cantree-Gtree, constructing LCTree do not need to scan transactions twice. LCTree doesn't need to build base tree nor projection tree, and so there is no need for extra steps to create LCTree, which is one of differences between LCTree and other main data stream algorithms such as , 47, 49.T8 is inserted into LCTree, because there are two branches including nodeo, namely {o, t} and {o, p, q}. Function searchmaxprenode finds branch {o, p, q} is the maximal one  are needed and all transactions are stored in them. A remarkable fact is that data stored in headlinklist are different, which can save memory capacity. Pointer nlinking in LCTree helps to search for tree node and frequent itemset (which will be illustrate in the next part), which is the main improvement of LCTree over Cantree-Gtree.4and T7, which is against finding frequent itemsets.Secondly, LCTree is used to find frequent itemsets in real-time data stream while FP-tree is wide used in static database. The main difference is in construction algorithm. Because there is no pattern match process during the process of construction, FP-growth method makes FP-tree grow fast, which will run out of memory capacity if there is a big database. While with the help of headlinklist, LCTree uses a sub-procedure to find the maximal branches, which can control the tree growth effectively. Many of the same nodes share the same branches, which is also easier to form frequent itemsets. For example, m have different prefix branches, and the prefix branch of node o is branch {b, c, g, k} while prefix branch of node m is branch {g, k} or branch {c, g, k}.Thirdly, some LCTree's children share the same partial branch, not whole branch as in the case of trie tree. Trie tree has a requirement that all children of one node must have the same prefixed nodes. Unlike tire tree, node in transaction matching with other node in LCTree is from the beginning of any LCTree node, not from the root. For example, in Our work is a true oriented to dynamic data, while FP-tree is efficient algorithm for static data. Our work is also different from other algorithms. We don't need to keep a list of counts for each node to insert and remove tree nodes; nevertheless, we just use two linking tables to implement this requirement, which is different from DSTree. We also don't maintain a lot of list to construct Gtree to mine frequent itemsets after constructing projection tree. In our algorithm, only one tree is needed to complete inserting and removing nodes and mining frequent itemsets, which is different from Cantree-Gtree.1 ~ T8 in 1 ~ T4 and T5 ~ T8 belong to window SD1. We are searching for frequent itemsets from SD1 now.According to the definitions of frequent itemset, support is greater than or equal to the given threshold. We set the threshold to 3. a from headlinklist. According to nlink in headlikedlist, we find node a in LCTree. All support of nodes a in LCTree should be summed by using nlink. In this place, nlink of node a is empty, that means there is no node a in LCTree. All supports of node a are less than threshold, and in this case node a and all his children will not be taken into account. Node b and c is similar with node a. Support of node f is greater than the threshold. Node f has one branch, and so we find all his children whose supports are greater than the threshold  algorithm needs to find the node from headlinklist; (2) the related node is searched in LCTree by using pointer nlink in headlinklist; (3) all frequent sub_LCTree is found. In this step, the support of related node has to be summed and then compared with the threshold. All nodes and their branches will be put into frequent itemsets, if their support is equal or greater than the threshold. For example, we get the first head node hold see . Node g de k see . The rest. According to pointer tlink, no det can be searched in LCTree.In the window model see , when tht is reduced by 1. Because support of no detis zero, no det should be removed from LCTree. Relative pointers need to be adjusted. At the same time, length in taillinklist also reduces by 1. Length is not zero, each node from no det to no deb will be coped with at the same operation along plink. By this way, the oldest transaction is removed. Figure 6 shows results after removing transaction, Support of no deTime and space complexity for LCTree include two phases, namely construction LCTree and mining frequent itemsets. We analyze time complexity by proofing Theorem 1 and Theorem 2.n be the number of items, and time complexity of construction LCTree is O(n) (proof will be shown in part of time complexity)Let λ, namely λ ≪ n. Searching for maximal pre-no dex is to find the same node in LCTree. The maximal times of comparison is no more than the number of items in one transaction, which means searching scope is small. So we can set the time of comparison as a constant δ. In Algortihm 2, no deyis from some transaction. The number of node access is no more than the number of items in one transaction. Therefore, access rate is set as constant θ. The whole time complexity can be expressed by formula , the time complexity is regarded as O(n).In formula , becausen be the number of items, and time complexity of finding frequent itemsets is O(n) (proof will be shown in part of time complexity)Let x and the next loop is to scan all the same no dex in LCTree. When the first loop is completed, the data stream is scanned only once. So the two loops are linear. Assume the number of node in headlinklist is a, and the number of the same node is b. According a+b), and so the cost of scan is proportional to O(a+b). To summarize, time complexity of finding partial frequent itemset is O(n). In n). Time complexity of finding frequent timesheets is shown by formula (In  formula .(2)OFreqFrom formula , we knowWith the help of headlinklist, many nodes that are the same can be merged. Each branch has maximal nodes that are the same. LCTree is growing much slower than Gtree and otherTo evaluate the proposed LCTree method, we have conducted experiments on synthetic dataset T10I4D100K and T40I10D100K , and reaT,”“I” and “D” in the name of two datasets represent the average transaction size, average maximal potentially frequent patterns, and the number of transactions, respectively.Information about the five dataset is listed in m∗n” in window size means the number of batches (m) multiples the number of transactions (n) per windows. We set the different sizes according to the character of dataset. The column of average distinct items means that each transaction includes the number of distinct items. The larger the value is, the more distinct items are per transaction, and the lower the value of “n.” On the contrary, if the value of average distinct items is low, the “n” value should be high. The value of “m” is proportion to the number of transactions. For example, if value of average distinct items in dataset mushrooms and chess are high, then the size of each transaction is low. Additionally, because the number of transaction in two datasets are small, the number of windows is also low. When we look at the other three datasets, the size of transaction should be high because of low value of average distinct items. If the value of “n”is set as low, perhaps it does not include distinct items in transactions(?). It is insignificance for data mining and cannot test the performance of all algorithms(?). We also implemented methods in current papers [The last column in t papers , 46, 49 The proposed algorithm LCTree is compared with Cantree, DSTree, CPSTree, Cantree-Gtree, and FP-tree. These algorithms are relevant and have good performance for data mining including streaming data mining. The criteria for performance evaluation are as follows: runtime, memory usage on changing support settings, and scalability. Such criteria are the standards widely used in sliding window-based approaches for streaming data mining.We tested all algorithm using two synthetic datasets, and The previous results on synthetic dataset show that LCTree has the lowest runtime. Someone may wonder what performance on real datasets for all algorithms. So we also need to compare all algorithms on real datasets.Y-axis of Figures We tested all algorithms on two small datasets mushrooms and chess. The data size of two datasets is similar, and therefore the comparison of results is reasonable. The runtime in all figures includes time for a tree construction and frequent itemsets mining. X-axis and y-axis in Memory usage is one of the most important measures for algorithms dealing with data stream with large data volume. We evaluated algorithms according to the number of nodes generated by each algorithm, assuming that the size of nodes reflects the memory requirement of the algorithm. As analyzed above, we can conclude that LCTree has a good design which makes the mining process more efficient than other algorithms on different types of datasets. Both theoretical analysis and experimental results support our conclusion.LCTree is for mining frequent itemsets over data streams and is based on the sliding window model. LCTree effectively finds the appropriate branches and removes the items and also correctly searches for frequent itemsets with help of linked structure. The extensive experiments presented in this study showed that the proposed algorithm outperforms recently developed algorithms Cantree, CPSTree, FP-tree, DSTree, and Gtree in runtime, usage of memory, on both synthetic and real datasets. Compared with the five algorithms on different dataset, the runtime and capacity of LCTree is improved to some extent, which depended on supported value. These improvements may help in LCTree implementations for streaming data environment, which includes network traffic analysis, weblogs analysis, market basket analysis, and so on.We prove the efficiency of LCTree on synthetic and real datasets. In future studies, we hope to apply them to some fields and improve performance in various fields.


Differential leadership does not necessarily bring only negative effects, as it may also become an incentive management strategy. This study explores whether outsiders can actively become insiders through proactive personality traits, or whether they can actively approach resource controllers to remove obstacles at work and enhance their performance in a Chinese cultural setting.A stratified random sampling method was used. The sample objects were medical staff from hospitals in the six urban districts of Beijing. In 2021, a total of 900 online questionnaires were distributed. 524 valid questionnaires were recovered.The results show that differential leadership, defined as favoritism towards insiders and prejudice against outsiders, can cause changes in employees’ sense of organizational justice and in-role performance. Meanwhile, by introducing ‘proactive personality’ as an independent variable that also acts as a moderator, our study confirms that, under differential leadership, employees with a proactive personality can actively improve situational barriers and have better work performance.Our research offers managers the following advice: First, it is better to look not only at relationships, but also to understand an employee’s personality characteristics, whether it has a superficial or deep role at work, in order to reduce the turnover rate and to raise productivity. Second, it is important to teach employees to serve customers with a sincere appreciation of their point of view, rather than focusing on presenting an outward appearance of friendliness.This paper contributes to the theory of proactive personality, emotional labor, and differential leadership. Contrary to previous studies, our research has used ‘proactive personality’ as both a distractor and a predictor at the same time. Also, insiders favored by leaders are not found to perform better at work. Book of Rites · Moderation, the interaction between people should follow the norms of respect and inferiority, closeness and distance, etc. In other words, respect accorded to wise men varies according to different levels and regions, and there is an order of differences even among relatives. To the present day in Chinese social culture, the valuation of these two norms of respect-and-inferiority and of closeness-and-distance, have formed behavior patterns and communication rules  and “insiders” and “outsiders” (IO) has become a crucial task for organizations, because high-level talent has become enterprises’ core competitiveness. Good employee performance and attitudes not only help an organization improve efficiency, but also promote the organization’s innovational development and endogenous motivation . Howeveron rules .The importance of DL and IO in an organization has been previously verified, but few studies on these issues have adopted a “proactive personality” perspective. “Proactive personality” in employee performance is particularly important because the leader has the power to promote employees and allocate resources, and because employees must rely on the leader’s instructions to perform their work. Employees in a positive atmosphere have generally good expectations of their leaders. Employees can be frustrated, however, if the leadership style of their superior is inconsistent with the inner expectations of the employees . Especially, when such emotions are not addressed, employees will show a bad work attitude, in part as a way to release their feelings of unbalanced effort and reward. When this situation persists, it becomes a burden to the organization; the overall atmosphere becomes discordant, management instructions cannot be implemented, and grassroots advice cannot reach the top, which can result in the company’s poor operation and failure. In such a situation, how can this management drawback be solved, or how can leaders adopt a more positive incentive strategy?Data-driven artificial intelligence tools are becoming increasingly more powerful. With stronger capabilities, the utilization of AI technology is expected to boost the world economy . It willIn traditional Chinese culture, leaders have wide-ranging decision-making and discourse power, due to the cultural acceptance of a higher power differential . LeadersOwing to its being a highly professional and specialized service, medical care contains a large degree of emotional exposure, especially in nursing work between patients and practitioners, so it requires workers to make particular efforts to control their emotions. Therefore, this service sector can be viewed as an emotion-intensive industry . In partThe goal of this study is to explore whether a differential leadership style is beneficial to employees’ self-motivation and whether organizational differential motivation will affect performance within roles. Some scholars believe that a differential leadership style does not necessarily only bring negative effects, as it is likely to become an incentive management strategy . This paThis work contributes to the literature on differential leadership and employee in-role performance in several ways. First, concerning its contribution to theoretical development, previous research work on employee behavior, such as “abusive” and “destructive” leadership, examined the negative aspect of employee job performance. However, similar research on how the proactive personality trait affects the behavior of “outsiders” has not been conducted for a Chinese working environment operating under the theory of differential leadership. Thus, this research offers a theoretical extension to a blank area in the current literature.Second, concerning its contribution to finding practical application in the context of Chinese localization, we have explored the impact of differential leadership on employees. Since role performance depends on the individual’s self-construction , adding Third, previous studies have shown that differential leadership does affect employees’ negative behavior. However, our research finds that, as long as differential patterns and partiality are rationally utilized, both “insiders” and “outsiders” can be encouraged to search for their own psychological balance when workers feel fairness is upheld , by changing their workplace behavior and thus promoting the healthy development of the enterprise.Fourth, in addition to introducing fairness perception as a mediator, this paper also adds “emotional labor” and “proactive personality” as moderator variables. From the perspective of employees’ own feelings and proactive changes, we explore how, under the influence of differential leadership, emotional labor and proactive personality restrain negative effects and generate a kind of motivational effect. This finding may provide some new insights for managers.Research gaps: Previous research work on differential leadership has mainly focused on whether loyalty and talent are good criteria for classifying leaders : (1) Anthropology: Exchange and reciprocity are often the basis of social integration, in primitive tribes, kinship and marriage are an alliance system, and therefore, marriage exchange guarantees alliances and social integration;; (2) Economics: concepts such as compensation or punishment, cost and profit originate from economics; (3) Psychology: Psychological principles can not only explain individual behaviors, but also understand social structures and social changes. People are society, and people’s lives are mostly in the process of interaction with others. All in all, the theory of social exchange is a combination of anthropology, economics, and behavioral psychology, and the interaction between people and the world is regarded as a rational behavior of calculating gains and losses. This idea is the same as that which our research has discussed – the inner and outer circles formed by differential leadership in Chinese culture may shape the differences in employee performance.From the perspective of social exchange theory (SET), proactive personality is described as “a person who is not restricted by the environment, even if he is treated differently, he can make the environment change” . Such a Social exchange theory argues that, when individuals conduct social exchanges, they will first judge their relationship with each other according to the “level of distance,” as the basis and principle of communication or resource allocation . PreviouFrom the perspective of behavior and personal characteristics, employees with proactive personalities will hope to gain status in the organization, and will tend to be valued by leaders. In order to achieve their goals or obtain target resources, they will devote themselves to their work, match themselves to the organizational goals, and be responsible for the results of their labor. Therefore, individuals with proactive personality will change their behavior according to their environment and leadership relationships, will actively seek feedback, and will conduct self-management. They will also formulate plans and implement and anticipate future results. Propelled by high desire, their initiative will become stronger, and they will try to achieve their goals, thereby improving their personal effectiveness and promoting their in-role performance . In addiH1: Proactive personality has a positive effect on in-role performance.In service positions in the medical sector, emotional labor is one of the most important work requirements . Morris Regarding the influence of emotional labor, many scholars believe that it is bidirectional. H2a: Superficial acting has a negative moderating effect on proactive personality and employees’ in-role performance.H2b: Deep acting has a positive moderating effect on proactive personality and employees’ in-role performance.In Chinese culture, subordinates admire the power of their superiors, which is considered reasonable and an invisible norm . SuperioWhen superiors treat employees favorably, employees will have a sense of belonging such as being valued, recognized, and understood. They will have a greater right to speak in the organization. They may also participate in leadership decision-making and give more resource allocation to information and material rewards (leadership investment). At the same time, due to the close relationship, they will take the initiative to view themselves as the leader’s “insiders,” and the return to the leader is loyalty, dedication, and better performance . If an “H3a: Differential leadership’s preference (DLP) to insiders has a positive impact on employees’ in-role performance.H3b: Differential leadership’s bias (DLB) against outsiders has a negative impact on employees’ in-role performance.Differential leadership usually treats subordinates differently based on characteristics such as their efficiency and similarities to the leaders. This differential management style both is motivated by the purpose of getting the job done and is influenced by purely personal preference. Most of the people inside their “relationship circle” are entrusted with important responsibilities, as well as being fostered and cultivated as cronies who enjoy resources and respect. On the other hand, people outside the circle are treated normally, act according to the rules, and experience a management method that is strict and rigid, or even unreasonable . TherefoH4a: Differential leadership’s preference (DLP) to insiders will positively affect employees’ sense of organizational justice.H4b: Differential leadership’s bias (DLB) against outsiders will negatively affect employees’ sense of organizational justice.A fair relationship is one of the most satisfying social relationships in interpersonal communication. A sense of justice is seen as a motivation that can effectively predict one’s organizational behavior. H5: Organizational justice positively affects in-role performance.According to social exchange theory and fairness theory, individuals will return the value they have acquired in order to maintain the distribution of benefits of a social interaction. To sum up, from the perspective of social exchange, the determination of fairness depends on whether each person receives equal benefits and distribution during exchange processes. The distribution of benefits is based on contributions, but both parties are restricted by social rules. It also depends on the ownership of the resource and the relationship with the dominant player during the exchange. When employees feel that the interpersonal relationship is unbalanced, their sense of justice will be lacking and their work engagement will decrease, resulting in lower in-role performance. Therefore, this paper proposes the following hypotheses:H6a: Organizational justice has a mediating effect on the relationship between differential leadership’s preference (DLP) for insiders and employees’ in-role performance.H6b: Organizational justice has a mediating effect on the relationship between differential leadership’s bias (DLB) against outsiders and employees’ in-role performance.Employees with proactive personalities have inherent positive tendencies and the characteristic of creating a favorable environment, so their ability to adjust to the environment is also high. The differential treatment of “insiders” and “outsiders” by differential leadership has also become a means of differential incentive management. Because of the existence of favorable treatment toward “insiders,” when faced with differential treatment by differential leaders, employees with high proactive personality are more likely to take the initiative . TherefoH7a: Proactive personality positively moderates the relationship between differential leadership’s preference (DLP) to insiders and organizational justice.H7b: Proactive personality positively moderates the relationship between differential leadership’s bias (DLB) against outsiders and organizational justice.In this study, we used PROCESS SPSS MACRO for analysis. All dimensions were averaged by the method of ITEM PARCELING, and we turned this into an observation variable for analysis. Therefore, the graphics are rendered in squares that are for path analysis.The data used in this study were collected from supervisors and subordinates of well-known hospitals (one of the research assistants was previously a nurse) and of health institutions in Beijing in China. A total of 900 questionnaires for supervisors and subordinates were distributed (250 for supervisors and 900 for subordinates). After deducting invalid questionnaires, a total of 524 valid samples (192 questionnaires for supervisors and 524 questionnaires for subordinates) were obtained; the recovery rate of valid samples was 58.2%. The subjects of this research questionnaire were the paired questionnaires of direct supervisors and subordinates. A set of valid questionnaires was obtained when a supervisor matched 3–5 subordinates . In addition to collecting data from different sources, this study also collected data at different time points , so as to avoid the problem of common method variation. The procedure for distributing the questionnaires for this study was as follows:This study first contacted the liaisons of hospitals and health institutions in Beijing, and screened the eligible subjects for the questionnaire. The subject must be one supervisor with at least 3 subordinates. After asking for the number of supervisors and subordinates who were interested in participating in this study, the questionnaires were sent to the liaisons of each institution, for assistance in forwarding the questionnaires to the study participants.Each questionnaire included the purpose of the research and the method for answering the questionnaire. In the first stage, after all subjects had filled in their basic information, the supervisors conducted a self-assessment on differential leadership, while the subordinates answered an assessment on their sense of organizational justice. After filling out all the questions, each participant put the questionnaire in an envelope and returned it to the contact person. In the second stage, 1 month after completion of the questionnaire, the subordinates would evaluate their in-role performance, proactive personality, and emotional service, then return the questionnaire to the contact person in an envelope.Stratified random sampling was used for this study. The samples came from six main urban areas in Beijing , and the hospitals in the 6 urban areas were classified according to their grade levels . According to the Information Center of the Beijing Municipal Health Commission, there were about 297,000 registered health technicians in Beijing in 2020. Among them, there were 189,000 people in the six major urban areas, with the grade levels of first-level-and-below, second-level, and third-level-and-above accounting for about 10, 35, and 55%, respectively. The total number of participants in this study was 524. There were 167 males and 357 females, and their majors varied. The 524 participants were distributed thusly by age: . Most respondents were undergraduates . In seniority, 401 had served 2 to 10 years (76.6%). Regarding position, “without any title” were 325 (62%); 134 were at a basic level (25.6%). In terms of hospital scale, most of the participants were from Grade 2 and above .The measurement method of the research constructs was developed based on previous reports in the literature. All items were assessed based on a five-point Likert scale ranging from “strongly disagree” (1) to “strongly agree” (5). To assure the consistency of the measure used, translation and back-translation procedures between the Chinese and the English language  were appProactive personality was measured with the use of 17 items adopted from Differential leadership was measured with the use both of 11 items that are biased towards outsiders which have been adopted from Preference to insiders: 1. Greeting employees and having frequent contact and interaction. 2. Spending more time on personal experience sharing and guidance. 3. Helping and supporting in emergencies. 4. Assigning a subordinate to convey work information frequently. 5. Giving more opportunities to get rewards and promotions. 6. Assigning more important and easy-to-achieve tasks. 7. Giving large rewards. 8. Lessening penalties for work mistakes. 9. Rarely getting blamed for mistakes at work, and 10. Rarely pursuing subordinates for mistakes. Bias against outsiders: 11. Having an indifferent attitude and keeping a certain distance*. 12. Being less likely to mentor or share work experience and knowledge skills*. 13. Being less likely to help solve problems at work*. 14. More often withholding key information at work*. 15. In the performance appraisal of subordinates, being less merciful, and handling everything in accordance with the rules and regulations*. 16. When subordinates review their own mistakes, strictly accusing without mercy*. 17. Being less likely to be perceived as needing assistance when things go wrong*. 18. More often ignoring work problems reported by subordinates*. 19. Making frequent public criticism and censure*. 20. Often being sarcastic at work*; and 21. More often arranging complex and difficult tasks that are not easy to complete*. Note: * indicates a reverse question.Emotional labor was measured with the use of 8 items adopted from Shallow play: 1. “Even if I am in a bad mood, I will show a happy appearance.” 2. “At work, no matter how complicated my inner feelings are, I will play appropriate attitudes and emotions to meet the emotional expression requirements of the organization.” 3. “In order to express the emotions required for work, I wear a ‘mask’.” 4. “Emotions expressed at work do not match my inner feelings.” Deep play:5. “When facing colleagues and work, the emotions I express are from the heart.” 6. “When there is a problem at work, I will try my best to overcome the bad emotions and actively solve the problem.” 7. “For the sake of work, even if I am in a bad mood, I will try to adjust my mood.” 8. “When you are in a bad mood, by communicating with colleagues and actively engaging in work, the negative emotions will be reduced.”Organizational justice was measured with the use of 10 items adopted from In order to avoid the validity problems caused by questionnaires coming from the same source or the same test environment, this research uses a reverse questionnaire design and a post-event statistical control to reduce or even avoid the influence of CMV. This step uses the The survey instrument contained 48 items  adapted from previous studies see . The surThis study uses structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the measurement model’s reliability and validity.  in terms of individual item factor loadings, reliability of measures, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. MLE allows computation of assorted indices of goodness-of-fit and the testing of the significance of loadings and correlations between factors, but it requires an assumption of multivariate normality. For the discriminant validity, the square root of the AVE for a given construct was compared with the correlations between the construct and other constructs . If the Before we tested mediation and moderation, the path coefficients of independent variables to dependent variable were computed. The full model is comprised of two sub-models. Model 1 entails the regressing of the OJ onto PP, PP × DLP, PP × DLB, DLP and DLB. Model 2 involves the regressing of Y onto PP, OJ, DLP, and DLB. The obtained results are presented in The coefficient for all independent variables were significant to OJ, including the interaction between PP and DLB, PP and DLP were significant. In the second part regression, IRP was regressed on PP, OJ, DLP and DLB. The coefficients were significant here also, but with DLP➔IRP.β = 0.199, SE = 0.036, t = 5.572, p < 0.001, [0.129 0.270]) and PP × DLB ➔OJ .Two interactions to OJ are significant: PP × DLP ➔OJ  and PP × ELDP➔IRP , p < 0.05 and the bias-correction results do not include 0, which indicates that the moderating effect exists.In order to better display the moderation effect, we followed p < 0.001, which means that H1 is verified. We also see from the path analysis results in × ELSP➔IRP  between themselves and the insiders, they will feel unfairly treated. This feeling directly affects the actions and attitudes of outsiders. We can also see from β = 0.180, SE = 0.050, t = 3.593, p < 0.001, [0.082 0.79], indicating that the sense of organizational justice has a significant positive impact on the employees’ in-role performance, so hypothesis H5 is also established.There is a significant negative relationship between differential leadership’s biases against outsiders and employees’ in-role performance. From ehaviors . From Ta× differential leader’s preference for oneself and organizational justice sense are β = 0.199, SE = 0.036, t = 5.572, p < 0.001, [0.129 0.270], which shows that Hypothesis H7a is valid. We can also see from × differential leadership to outsiders’ bias towards organizational justice are β = 0.187, SE = 0.031, t = 5.980, p < 0.001, [0.125 0.248], verifying that hypothesis H7b is also valid.From In terms of the adjustment effect, The findings reveal that, when faced with difficulties or unfair treatment, employees with proactive personality traits may take the initiative to change situational obstacles, to improve current difficulties and to positively impact their in-role performance. This is consistent with the research proposed by In addition, in Chinese culture, there is a leader-centered power relationship network, so the leader’s partiality to insiders will make the employees feel that they are being treated fairly and being given corresponding powers with clear obligations in the invisible norms of the organizers in the circle. This could have a positive effect on their performance . ScholarFrom a theoretical point of view, this study has the following contributions. First, it can be used as the basis for deepening differential leadership. This study finds that leaders’ differential treatment of different subordinates has group-level implications, and the results derived from differential treatment can reflect leaders’ differential treatment behavior. It is a response to Jiang and Zhang’s call (2010) to examine the relevance of differential leadership at different levels. Furthermore, this study agrees with both Second, this research contributes to the research literature on the fairness of resource allocation, in regards to how fairness affects not only the individual rights of employees, but also the overall organizational performance. Differential leadership will therefore affect differential performance . The resWhether the trusted subordinates can establish a harmonious and mutually beneficial relationship with other subordinates in the group is worthy of attention. If leaders can treat their subordinates fairly, regardless of whether they are inside or outside of their circles, and if they can promote mutual cooperation and assistance among all subordinates, then it may foster friendly relationships, both with subordinates and also between insiders and outsiders. Furthermore, through the two-way communication of insiders, the gap between a leader and the subordinates outside the circle (outsiders) can be reduced, and the subordinates outside the circle can also better understand the ideas and expectations of their leader, which may improve their chances of “upgrading” to insiders. In contrast, if a leader gives privileges to and tolerates mistakes from cronies based on personal relationships rather than their work performance, then these cronies may become arrogant and start bullying outsiders. Adding to anger and disapproval of cronies, outsiders will also have a negative impression on their leaders. Therefore, as In addition, this study confirms that outsiders with proactive personality traits also have an overall impact on both their own performance and also the performance of others on the inside, in the process of transformation. For employees outside the circle, getting help and support from insiders can reduce obstacles in the transition process, so as to optimize the allocation of high-quality resources by the controller. For insiders, new outsiders can be used as partners . Not onlWhile this research provides theoretical and managerial implications, there are some limitations to be acknowledged. First, due to time constraints and the pandemic, we were not able to conduct an actual interview with the survey respondents. All the questionnaires were distributed and collected through the contacts at the hospital and health institutions. Second, this study only investigated hospital staff, so the results may be consequently biased. It is not known what situation the respondents were in when they filled out the questionnaire, and there were difficulties in determining whether they were affected by constraints of the external environment. Third, this study selected medical staff from hospitals in the six major urban areas of Beijing, from Grade 1 to Grade 3-and-above. Thus, whether these survey results can also be inferred to employees in different regions and in different industries needs further verification. Fourth, there is a limitation of research dimensions. All variables in this study contain multiple dimensional structures and we did not explore the other variable dimensions or explore the mutual influence relationships among them, in a one-by-one manner.There are several avenues for future studies. First, the research object can be expanded in scope or targeted to the service sector or to other related sectors. It is possible to further explore the impact of employees’ own feelings and interactions on personal effectiveness. Alternatively, new research on the relationship caused by the differential atmosphere from different perspectives can be analyzed by paired samples. Second, in a differential leadership style, it is possible to further explore topics such as authoritarian and paternalistic leaders’ differential treatment of employees based on tasks and emotions, which affects employee classification and self-perceived classification, as well as their active insider-and-outsider transfer process. Third, we can further explore the positive role of proactive personality and differential leadership styles in differential management areas, its impact on the effectiveness of the overall team, and the relationship conflicts between teams. Fourth, in a relational atmosphere supported by emotional commitment, the mediating relationship between emotional labor and differential management behavior in the team should be explored, and the relationship between its internal influence and the matching environment in the individual-organization should also be discussed. Fifth, in order to explore the overall impact, future scholars can discuss these variables in detail, so as to enhance the understanding of the influence of these factors. Follow-up researchers can consider the research issues and environmental constraints, and select objects and methods that are suitable for their own research and development conclusions.The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Ethical review and approval was not required for the study on human participants in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. Written informed consent from the participants was not required to participate in this study in accordance with the national legislation and the institutional requirements.S-TC was mainly responsible for writing the manuscript and analyzing the data. KH was in charge of revising and improving the manuscript.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.978495/full#supplementary-materialThe Supplementary material for this article can be found online at: Click here for additional data file.


Materials and methods, section “Phenotypic characterization,” paragraph one. The paragraph should be corrected as follows:In the published article Figures 4A–C were not cited in the article. The citations have now been inserted in T and NYNU 161120T using standard methods . Cells were ovoid to elongate, proliferated by multilateral budding , and formed pseudohyphae but not hyphae . They were fermentative and could not assimilate nitrate as a nitrogen source. Their growth in vitamin-free medium was inconsistent with previous descriptions of the Clavispora clade .”“Results, section “Taxonomy,” paragraph 10. The sentence should be corrected as follows:A correction has been made to Type. China, Henan Province, Funiu Mountain Nature Reserve, rotting wood, 2 August, 2016, NYNU 161120 .”“The authors apologize for these errors and state that these do not change the scientific conclusions of the article in any way. The original article has been updated.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.


Data were thematically analysed, identifying three themes relating to community-based suicide prevention: (i) Community led initiatives; (ii) Meeting community needs; and (iii) Programs to improve health and suicidality. Implementing community-based suicide prevention needs community-level engagement and partnerships, including with community leaders; gatekeepers; community members; people with lived experience; services; and professionals, to “get stuff done”. Available resources and social capital are utilised, with co-created interventions reflecting diverse lifestyles, beliefs, norms, and cultures. The definition of “community”, community needs, issues, and solutions need to be identified by communities themselves. Primarily non-clinical programs address determinants of health and suicidality and increase community awareness of suicide and its prevention, and the capacity to recognise and support people at risk. This study shows how community-based suicide prevention presents as a social innovation approach, seeing suicide as a social phenomenon, with community-based programs as the potential driver of social change, equipping communities with the “know how” to implement, monitor, and adjust community-based programs to fit community needs.Suicide rates in rural communities are higher than in urban areas, and communities play a crucial role in suicide prevention. This study explores community-based suicide prevention using a qualitative research design. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups asked participants to explore community-based suicide prevention in the context of rural Australia. Participants recruited (( Suicide is a major public health concern across communities worldwide. Additional risk in rural communities centres on social and geographic isolation, socioeconomic disadvantage and exposure to environmental disasters, such as climate change, floods, and bushfires, as well as lack of access to mental health services and poorer utilisation of existing services ,2. Such In Australia, as in other countries, age-standardised rates of suicide increase with remoteness, with rural men up to twice as likely to die by suicide compared to their urban counterparts ,6. In ruAcross rural communities, broader social, environmental, and economic factors impact suicide, with social variables playing a prominent role in suicide, interacting with person-level factors to increase suicide risk. Stigma remains a key barrier to seeking help for all population groups, but particularly for men, compounding mental health problems and poorer quality of life ,12,13. ICommunity-based programs are recognised as cost-effective approaches to suicide prevention, which can strengthen the motivation of participating regional partners within communities to take action, necessary for community ownerships and sustainability of efforts ,18. A reTo date, suicide prevention programs specific to rural communities that have been independently evaluated and published have explored different methods of community engagement, building upon the diversity and cultural norms of rural communities, including incorporating community-led and participatory action research approaches ,22,23,24Suicide Prevention Australia released the Community Matter suicide prevention toolkit in 2014 . Since tThe current research question, ‘In context of rural areas, what are the key considerations when implementing community-based suicide prevention to meet community needs?’, proposes to explore how people define the term and account for variations in this definition when implementing programs. This research, therefore, seeks to explore developments over time in shifts in language, culture, or changes in the agents working in the field, from the perspectives of people with different experiences with implementing programs, research, and policies around Australia. Exploration of such perspectives reflects the role of the agents, and those factors impacting agents at the community-level, for example, how community consultation and the co-design process needs to differ, and how to enhance engagement with, and social capital of, those involved with programs. In addition, the role of agents at the policy level needs to be explored, for example, to increase the relevance of any guidelines published  and to b‘Best Practice Guidelines for Youth Suicide Prevention in Rural Australian Communities’. The present study focuses on the views from people with experience implementing programs in rural areas, which include community members, as well as people with a lived experience of suicide. The broader study will seek to explicitly include community members and people with lived experience of suicide living in rural areas.This study, specifically exploring community-based suicide prevention in rural areas, is the first phase of a larger study, exploring the role of rural communities in implementing youth suicide prevention, including the development of For this study, a qualitative research design was utilised, with semi-structured interviews and focus groups with experts working in the field. Informed by a positivistic research approach, this qualitative design allowed for the perceptions of people in different roles of community-based suicide prevention to be examined with the aim to generate generalisations, focusing on the pure data without being influenced by human bias ,37. InteEthics approval was granted by the Human Research Ethics Committee (Project ID. 23582). The consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ), 32-item checklist for interviews and focus groups  was follTo ensure the recruitment of people with relevant expertise working in community-based suicide prevention, participants needed to have experience in paid positions working in this field, including being a community-level service provider, for example, health or community services; community-level or national-level suicide prevention program provider; or in a research or policy development role, for example, in academia working with rural communities, or with local, state, or federal government departments. Participants were purposively  recruiten = 2, n = 3) . Focus groups were contacts working in the same organisation or job role (in different locations), requesting the same session due to this connection/familiarity. The response options in the question relating to lived experience of suicide reflected Roses in the Ocean’s  work in action with the working group. To me, that’s mobilising community, that know the community…I’m getting goosebumps thinking about our working group.Participant 9—Tasmania, Service ProviderA community working group… they’re usually made up of key, service, a delivery partners in the community… Health/Mental Health Services… the police emergency services… the best, most coordinated, responses… they operate both in and out of response. They’re meeting on a regular basis to share concerns that they might have around groups of people, and to collaborate to ensure that they’re working in a way that’s not, I guess doubling up…value-adding to one another in the work that they’re doing… when sadly there might be a death in that community, they’ve already got those relationships and those processes in place to enact really quickly in a way that’s already very considered.Participant 1—Western Australia, Service and Suicide Prevention Program ProviderCommunity-based suicide prevention was described by the following service and suicide prevention program provider in Tasmania working at the community-level as efforts that engage natural leaders in the community, who “get stuff done”, the individuals and services implementing practical interventions at a grassroots level. It’s about engagement and finding there’s always people in the community who get stuff done… if you look at community groups, there’s always a couple of people who are the key drivers…a core group of people who are there all the time, and they’re the ones who get a lot done… individuals, also with services…not to deliver a whole program… what are some practical interventions that they might utilise?Participant 14—Tasmania, Service and Suicide Prevention Program ProviderCommunity-based suicide prevention was discussed across participant groups as equipping the whole community to be informants on the lookout, people at the frontline recognising and linking those at risk with gatekeepers in the community, as well as professional supports. This recognised that people in the community do not always reach out to formal services and may rather turn to other members of the community for guidance or support. It also clarifies the need for increased community awareness and skills training, as well as community engagement, with professionals and community members needing to work together to help those at risk. The focus on gatekeeper training and making sure that the community is as suicide aware as possible, so I guess that’s our best frontline defence…Participant 27—New South Wales, Research…equipping the general community is so important…they’re much more likely to have that risk in community allocated to them… up to 70 to 90% of people who are at risk of suicide or who died by suicide communicate to family, only 20 to 30% reach out to a professional.Participant 18—Victoria, Service ProviderFrom a service and suicide prevention program perspective, gatekeepers were seen as essential in recognising people at risk of suicide, having conversations safely, and providing support to people at risk before reaching crisis point. Community members implementing programs in these gatekeeper roles were seen as the frontline, much like a paramedic during a medical crisis—there at the right time, with the right tools and basic first aid. …there needs to be community gatekeepers…people should have a better understanding of the risks to suicide, and how to support somebody, who to refer them to…Participant 19—Tasmanian, Service ProviderGetting someone into the service before they’re a crisis point…So that’s the community’s role and part of the puzzle…if you talk to a lot of the paramedics… they’ve got all the great tools, they can do a lot of amazing stuff. But if the person isn’t there, right at the point of the accident happening, doing some simple basic stuff, that it doesn’t matter…Participant 7—Queensland, Suicide Prevention Program ProviderCommunity-based suicide prevention relies on natural leaders and gatekeepers in the community to be involved and “get stuff done”. Through partnering with existing services and professional support, community members delivered primarily non-clinical interventions and raised awareness, implementing programs based on local needs. In addition to discussing the role of the agent in implementing programs, community-based suicide prevention was also seen as determining, and being ideally responsive to, the needs identified by the communities themselves, addressing local issues and empowering communities to generate solutions to these issues. Understanding who “community” is was a key consideration for implementing community-based suicide prevention. In one form, from the perspective of someone working in policy development, community refers to a group of people as regionally confined within a geographical area or as multiple communities within an area. I think in terms of the regional or the geographical definition, it’s suicide prevention that is developed from and implemented in local communities or a specific geographical region.Participant 21—New South Wales, PolicyIn contrast, from the perspective from someone working at service/suicide prevention provider level, community was also considered as a social construct, as diverse groups of people coming together for a common purpose or interest, across settings. Flexible membership arrangements encourage community engagement and allow a range of people to join a community group or network, meaning perspectives of group members can be shared and interconnections across settings established and maintained.It’s a group of people with a similar interest; workplace, men sheds, footy clubs, netball clubs…it’s about people who come together for some purpose…particularly sporting clubs, and community groups, where you get lots of divergent people coming together. golf clubs are a good example of that, where you have people from all ages, all walks of life. Their interest is golf, but in terms of what they do for their day job and stuff outside, it’s so diverse. So, when you engage with them, what it means is that you’re not just sort of getting a particular cohort, you’re getting on a really diverse group of people…Participant 14—Tasmania, Service and Suicide Prevention Program ProviderSeeing it from a broader perspective, the following researcher described community as a fusion of rurality, that is, the shared values, lifestyles, and norms that are experienced by people in the community on a daily basis, along with the intersection of culture.… it’s a mix of rural life and rurality if you like, and rural culture…It’s a coming together and fusion of those things.Participant 13—South Australia, ResearchCommunity-based suicide prevention requires a shared understanding within the community involved in terms of perceptions and beliefs of what community needs are and how to address suicide in the community, and potential solutions to identified issues, utilising both formal and informal engagement strategies to work with local communities. This was understood by the following researcher to be particularly important within cultural contexts, such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, recognising the general community as an informant of knowledge, a resource to build on, and an important setting to implement programs―all of which were described as being demonstrated through the National Suicide Prevention Trial.There are some gaps. There’s this idea of the community level type response that, I think has always been there when it comes to suicide prevention, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities… the general population that’s increasingly becoming recognised as an important resource or site, for intervention…the community needs to have this kind of shared understanding, awareness, buy in, engagement, formal or informal, into whatever’s going on, in terms of the suicide prevention activities… certainly felt like I saw that pop up more in really tangible ways in the National Suicide Prevention Trials.Participant 17—Northern Territory, ResearchWorking with communities at the ground level, the following service/suicide prevention provider described how communities themselves, whether a group defined by geography or social connection, need to define who they are, recognising the importance of shared beliefs, local knowledge, lifestyles, and cultures.[Community is] however they define themselves, really.Participant 14—Tasmania, Service and Suicide Prevention Program ProviderThe following participant working in research/policy development found through their work that “success” was found when communities were involved in the co-creation of community-based suicide prevention programs to address local issues as self-identified by the community, including healing components for the whole of the community.It’s really about the community self-identifying what the issues are, and what would the best possible solutions be. That’s where I see the most success… when they have the opportunity to have those healing components included in their journey, is really important…Participant 16—Queensland, Policy/ResearchFrom the perspective of a service provider working in the Northern Territory who worked from a community development framework, community needs should be understood through a community development lens, having regular conversations and ensuring current needs are addressed.I work from a framework of community development. So, you can’t really do anything in this area of work unless you tap into the community… community-based suicide prevention is about having key people on board that are constantly, regularly having conversations about need.Participant 29—Northern Territory, Service ProviderAt a community-level service-provision level, the following participant in New South Wales saw flexibility as being needed when working with community to determine what their cultural needs are and what community-based suicide prevention programs should be offered. It needs to be very inclusive…every community will have its own culture; therefore it needs to be varied enough to be flexible to meet the needs of that community.Participant 20—New South Wales, Service ProviderThe following participant involved with research/policy development found that through community informing and leading interventions, community-based suicide prevention can enhance community protective factors, community-wide healing, and restoration within Indigenous communities. By communities running interventions, impacts of these efforts were, therefore, seen as potentially amplified. You get the good advice about what programs are suitable, but you get that additional protective factor…it’s restoration of things that have been taken away from indigenous people. And that in itself is empowering, that in itself is protective. I think that it’s a hard thing to get your head around sometimes. But it does mean that if you’ve got a successful program in place, then the effectiveness of it is amplified, because it’s not just the intervention, it’s the fact that the community is running the intervention.Participant 4—Queensland, Policy/ResearchCommunity-based suicide prevention addresses the needs of communities, as identified by the communities themselves, empowering diverse groups within the local population to come together and take action. Understanding who the community is includes taking into account community characteristics and nuances, history and trauma, and the diverse and cultural needs within a community. To meet the needs of communities, researchers in the field further described how community-based suicide prevention is commonly delivered at a community-level, often in non-clinical settings, aiming to improve health and suicidality through addressing impacting factors. From the perspective of this participant involved in research in South Australia, the drivers of suicide and suicidal behaviour were seen as often being addressed through community-based suicide prevention in non-medical settings.Community-based suicide prevention is fundamentally about a thoughtfulness for the drivers and conditions that may lead to the onset and worsening of suicidal ideation or suicidal behaviour more broadly, and community-based suicide prevention is about the everyday understanding and wanting to do something in that context, which is unlike what would typically happen in a medical or other type of setting.Participant 13—South Australia, ResearchThe same researcher described how community-based suicide prevention also considers the broader social environment and living circumstances impacting on suicide risk, including the wider community setting and the role of stigma.Community-based suicide prevention is dependent upon understanding how stigma plays a part in the lives of people who seek help for suicide… understanding living circumstances, what exists in a community setting…Participant 13—South Australia, ResearchAs described by this researcher in Victoria, universal community-based suicide prevention programs build on the ongoing, intergenerational nature of communities, as well as community needs and characteristics. Through addressing whole populations at risk, programs, therefore, need to account for local culture, history, and the availability of resources. Universal programs implemented in rural communities can improve mental health and wellbeing, and awareness of suicide and its prevention, building resilience and protective factors across generations.Universal prevention approaches… resilience type programs or mental health awareness type programs that get rolled out across communities with the view that they would reduce suicide risk further down the track, if people are made to be terribly resilient when they’re kind of four or five years old.Participant 9—Victoria, ResearcherParticipants in policy development and research roles in Victoria and Tasmania saw community-based suicide prevention as those varied efforts that support the goals of community wellbeing and health, including those focusing on the social determinants of health.Support across the continuum for wellbeing and suicide prevention can be regarded as kin to community-based suicide prevention.Participant 9—Victoria, ResearchAnything to do with addressing social determinants of health is guide is, you know, supports improvement of health and wellbeing.Participant 15—Tasmania, PolicyThe same participant working in a policy development role described how community-based suicide prevention needs community engagement and coordinated efforts delivered by specific services and local professionals, wrapping around and supporting community members to improve mental health and wellbeing.… when it gets down to community-based suicide prevention, I would probably start to drill right down into the specific services…community based mental health service, but it’s probably more likely to be your primary care and psychologists and then those that also deliver training, education and training and interventions in workforces… it’s a whole range of things. But to me anything that wraps around someone to improve mental health and wellbeing and suicide prevention broadly.Participant 15—Tasmania, PolicyThrough community-based suicide prevention, community members come together as networks, supporting and improving the quality of life of fellow community members.There’s a genuine need to fully understand and lean in as a community person, or lean in as a community network, into the lives of somebody in that community so that life can be better, or circumstances can be better.Participant 13—South Australia, ResearchA participant with experience as a service provider involved with a working group, outlined how community-based suicide prevention mobilises community to implement suicide prevention programs. Through their perspective, working groups were, therefore, essential for community members and service providers to come together and build on, and share, resources and social capital.I’m getting goosebumps thinking about our working group….it’s that community and service providers coming and working together, to resources to make sure there’s conversations.Participant 9—Tasmania, Service ProviderIn contrast, this suicide prevention program provider saw the variability in the approaches that could be provided under the umbrella term, which was dependent on accessible services and supports, costs, and the needs of the target group at risk.…it would be a mixture of free, subsidized and at cost, because it would depend on who was aimed towards. It would be also offering a variety of methods. A mixture of free, subsidised and at cost, because it would depend on who was aimed towards…everything from face to face to telehealth to text and phone…Participant 20, New South Wales, Suicide Prevention Program ProviderThe following participant working in a policy development role in Tasmania described community-based suicide prevention as those informal events or activities undertaken as community action, rather than just action plans.Your community might be, I don’t know, the CWA [Country Women’s Association], and you decide you’re going to say, have a sausage sizzle, cook some scones. Do this, do that, discuss that, do a bit of training and develop community action rather than a community action plan. That’s community-based suicide prevention to me.Participant 15—Tasmania, PolicyService providers in Victoria and Tasmania described how community-based suicide prevention facilitates “getting the message out there”, through communities sharing information and increasing awareness around how to talk about suicide and its prevention safely.…it’s about getting the message out there.Participant 31—Victoria, Service ProviderCommunity based suicide prevention is about everyone in the community, understanding what to say, and understanding how to have those conversations safely.Participant 10—Tasmania, Suicide Prevention Program ProviderThe following suicide prevention program provider recognised that in addition to awareness raising, community-based suicide prevention are those programs implemented by community to provide coordinated, postvention responses.They run kind of community awareness stuff, but they also have a group that’s supports those that are bereaved by suicide.Participant 34—Victoria, Suicide Prevention Program ProviderCommunity-based suicide prevention is, therefore, referred to as the varied programs implemented by communities to address determinants of health and suicidality, often social in nature and impacting quality of life. Communities often implement these programs utilising available resources, implemented to the whole of communities, including to increase awareness and the capacity of communities to recognise and support those most at risk.This study explored community-based suicide prevention in the context of rural Australian communities, from the perspectives of experts currently working in the field. The findings provide direction for policy and national guidelines and potential areas to be further explored, including the effectiveness of approaches used under the umbrella term “community-based suicide prevention”, as described throughout, as well as its role as a driver for social innovation and change. Throughout each theme, the various roles of community in community-based suicide prevention were described, ranging from implementing, co-design, collaborating and informing program planning and delivery. Participants from policy and researcher groups suggested community as being groups of people within the same geographical region, as well as those groups of people with shared values, lifestyles, and norms, who, at the ground level, can provide a more nuanced perspective of community-based suicide prevention. They further described community from a social perspective, the informal and formal groups that form with a common purpose. Across participant groups, community were described as being ideally placed to lead the implementation of initiatives; however, where this is not possible, community still have a role in co-designing and collaborating, and informing the development and delivery of programs. The importance in allowing the community to define who they are and what their role is, rather than this being imposed, is supported by the literature ,26,28,51Building on the literature, this study reinforces that community-based suicide prevention efforts in rural areas are those primarily non-clinical efforts undertaken in community settings ,20. WithThe study findings purport that community wellbeing, and other secondary program outcomes, such as the building of protective factors, are important components of community-based suicide prevention, previously found to improve relevant social determinants of health, as well as reduce rates of suicidality ,53. The Where existing research and models stress the importance of frontline workers, such as first responders, to identify and support people at risk in community in rural areas ,56, the The study findings build on the recommendations made by the Australian Government  in 2005,This study highlights the ever-evolving and variable nature of both community and community-based suicide prevention. The roles of government tiers in supporting community-based efforts at regional and a national level, therefore, needs to be continually explored, along with ongoing assessment of how best to determine and meet community needs. This is particularly relevant in regional and rural areas of Australia, where, for example, the National Suicide Prevention Trial and place-based trials in Australia, have recently been implemented, highlighting the need to explore community-level factors, and community-based suicide prevention within the transition of suicide prevention efforts from a national to a regional level ,22,30,32The study limitations centre on variability regarding the number of participants from each state and demographic groups. Additional information on the participants providing quotes, for example, state/territory of residence and role, are provided as confidentiality allows and the person cannot be recognised. The participant groups, as representations of the wider social context of the people within them, may also reflect the differences in experiences working in the field. While these comparisons have been noted in the results and in the discussion, for example, from the perspective or research/policy versus service/program provider, there may be areas where these differing levels of power relations/experience may have influenced the information provided. Those in research and policy roles also reflected on past experiences working in service or program provider roles. Although participants reflected on their experiences from living and working across Australia, the study sample provides these participant’s views only, which may not be representative of, or generalisable to, the whole population of people working in the field or across all communities or rural areas. Transitioning suicide prevention efforts from a national to a regional focus requires empowering rural communities to draw on existing resources and social capital in order to implement suicide prevention programs supporting their own populations. This study explores community-based suicide prevention as published in existing guidelines ,26, and The agents implementing suicide prevention in rural areas, whether professionals, gatekeepers and people at the frontline of community, other relevant non-professionals, researchers, policy makers, and program funders, therefore, need to remain aware of how prevention across geographical regions should be relevant to the population of the region, whether based on geography or social factors including the shared cultures, lifestyles, beliefs, and norms of groups of people in the community. Implemented with this in mind, community-based suicide prevention provides options to reach those most at risk in rural areas who are not, or cannot, access formal support services, addressing social drivers of suicide, including isolation and stigma, and building the community engagement needed to mobilise people to take action. To plan and implement community-based suicide prevention, guidance and guidelines are needed for both community-level agents and those working at a policy level, on how best to understand community needs, engage the community, and reach people most at risk, across all settings and sectors. This information can be used to inform what programs should be implemented and how these can be modified to meet local community needs.