I won’t let you down… or will I? Core self-evaluations, other-orientation, anticipated guilt and gratitude, and job performance.

Although core self-evaluations have been linked to higher job performance, research has shown variability in the strength of this relationship. We propose that high core self-evaluations are more likely to increase job performance for other-oriented employees, who tend to anticipate feelings of guilt and gratitude. We tested these hypotheses across 3 field studies using different operationalizations of both performance and other-orientation (prosocial motivation, agreeableness, and duty). In Study 1, prosocial motivation strengthened the association between core self-evaluations and the performance of professional university fundraisers. In Study 2, agreeableness strengthened the association between core self-evaluations and supervisor ratings of initiative among public service employees. In Study 3, duty strengthened the association between core self-evaluations and the objective productivity of call center employees, and this moderating relationship was mediated by feelings of anticipated guilt and gratitude. We discuss implications for theory and research on personality and job performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and job satisfaction: The mediating role of job characteristics.

This study tested a model of the relationship between core self-evaluations, intrinsic job characteristics, and job satisfaction. Core self-evaluations was assumed to be a broad personality concept manifested in 4 specific traits: self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, locus of control, and low neuroticism. The model hypothesized that both subjective (perceived) job characteristics and job complexity mediate the relationship between core self-evaluations and job satisfaction. Two studies were conducted to test the model. Results from Study 1 supported the hypothesized model but also suggested that alternative models fit the data well. Results from Study 2 revealed that core self-evaluations measured in childhood and in early adulthood were linked to job satisfaction measured in middle adulthood. Furthermore, in Study 2 job complexity mediated part of the relationship between both assessments of core self-evaluations and job satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Need for cognition, task difficulty, and the formation of performance expectancies.

In the present article, the authors analyze how performance expectancies are generated and how they affect actual performance. The authors predicted that task difficulty would affect performance expectancies only when cognitive motivation (i.e., need for cognition [NFC]) and cognitive capacity are high. This should be the case because analyzing task difficulty is a process requiring cognitive capacity as well as cognitive motivation. The findings supported the expected NFC × Difficulty interaction for the formation of performance expectancies (Study 1, Study 2), but only when cognitive capacity was high (Study 2). The authors also predicted that expectancies would affect actual performance only if the task is difficult and if task difficulty is taken into account when the expectancy is generated. This hypothesis was supported: Significant relations between performance expectancies and actual performance were found only for difficult tasks and for participants higher in NFC. Studies 5 and 6 showed clear evidence that the NFC × Difficulty interaction could not be explained by differences in the use of task-specific self-concepts. The findings were robust across academic, social, and physical tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nature and structure of correlations among Big Five ratings: The halo-alpha-beta model.

In light of consistently observed correlations among Big Five ratings, the authors developed and tested a model that combined E. L. Thorndike’s (1920) general evaluative bias (halo) model and J. M. Digman’s (1997) higher order personality factors (alpha and beta) model. With 4 multitrait–multimethod analyses, Study 1 revealed moderate convergent validity for alpha and beta across raters, whereas halo was mainly a unique factor for each rater. In Study 2, the authors showed that the halo factor was highly correlated with a validated measure of evaluative biases in self-ratings. Study 3 showed that halo is more strongly correlated with self-ratings of self-esteem than self-ratings of the Big Five, which suggests that halo is not a mere rating bias but actually reflects overly positive self-evaluations. Finally, Study 4 demonstrated that the halo bias in Big Five ratings is stable over short retest intervals. Taken together, the results suggest that the halo-alpa-beta model integrates the main findings in structural analyses of Big Five correlations. Accordingly, halo bias in self-ratings is a reliable and stable bias in individuals’ perceptions of their own attributes. Implications of the present findings for the assessment of Big Five personality traits in monomethod studies are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The popularity contest at work: Who wins, why, and what do they receive?

In 2 studies, the authors investigated the popularity of employees at work. They tested a model that positioned personality in the form of core self-evaluations and situational position in the form of communication network centrality as antecedents of popularity and interpersonal citizenship and counterproductive work behaviors received from coworkers as outcomes of popularity. Data from 116 employees and 383 coworkers in Study 1 and 139 employees, their significant others, and 808 coworkers in Study 2 generally supported the model. Core self-evaluations and communication network centrality were positively related to popularity, and popular employees reported receiving more citizenship behaviors and fewer counterproductive work behaviors from their coworkers than less popular employees, even controlling for interpersonal liking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Core Self-Evaluations and Job and Life Satisfaction: The Role of Self-Concordance and Goal Attainment.

The present study tested a model explaining how the core self-evaluations (i.e., positive self-regard) concept is linked to job and life satisfaction. The self-concordance model, which focuses on motives underlying goal pursuit, was used as an explanatory framework. Data were collected from 2 samples: (a) 183 university students (longitudinal measures of goal attainment and life satisfaction were used) and (b) 251 employees (longitudinal measures of goal attainment and job satisfaction were utilized). In both studies, the core self-evaluations concept was positively related to goal self-concordance, meaning that individuals with positive self-regard were more likely to pursue goals for intrinsic and identified (value-congruent) reasons. Furthermore, in both studies, goal self-concordance was related to satisfaction (job satisfaction in Study 1 and life satisfaction in Study 2). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The bright-side and the dark-side of CEO personality: Examining core self-evaluations, narcissism, transformational leadership, and strategic influence.

This article reports on an examination of the relationships between chief executive officer (CEO) personality, transformational and transactional leadership, and multiple strategic outcomes in a sample of 75 CEOs of Major League Baseball organizations over a 100-year period. CEO bright-side personality characteristics (core self-evaluations) were positively related to transformational leadership, whereas dark-side personality characteristics (narcissism) of CEOs were negatively related to contingent reward leadership. In turn, CEO transformational and contingent reward leadership were related to 4 different strategic outcomes, including manager turnover, team winning percentage, fan attendance, and an independent rating of influence. CEO transformational leadership was positively related to ratings of influence, team winning percentage, and fan attendance, whereas contingent reward leadership was negatively related to manager turnover and ratings of influence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social Tuning of the Self: Consequences for the Self-Evaluations of Stereotype Targets.

These experiments examined how social interactions with individuals who ostensibly have stereotype-relevant views affect the self-evaluations of stereotype targets. Participants believed they were going to interact, or actually interacted, with a person who ostensibly had stereotype-consistent or stereotype-inconsistent views about their social group. Consistent with shared reality theory, participants' self-evaluations (Experiments 1, 2, and 3) and behavior (Experiment 2) corresponded with the ostensible views of the other person when affiliative motivation was high. This occurred even when it was likely to be detrimental to participants' nonaffiliative outcomes (Experiment 3). Experiment 4 showed that self-evaluative shift away from the ostensible views of another person was a function of social distance motives, also consistent with shared reality theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and free association.

Expectations of how personality differences relate to response to the free associative task of the patient in psychoanalysis were identified in the theory of psychoanalysis and on the basis of a few direct and many more indirect empirical studies, using an experimental analogue of the psychoanalytic interview. Study I used 40 college student Ss; Study II, using 60 similar Ss, was a replication and extension (20 Ss had multiple rather than single interviews). All Ss were administered a series of clinical personality and laboratory tasks. The tasks most clearly related to 3 attributes of free associative response were perception of Reversible Figures and certain Rorschach variables. These relationships were only partially confirmed when the criterion was 5 free associative interviews instead of 1. Contrary to expectations, little or no difference was found in associative performance among college students, schizophrenic, and nonschizophrenic patients (Study III). (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spontaneous trait inferences and organisational actions: The formation of organisation personality perceptions.

Organisation personality perceptions, or the attribution of human personality characteristics to an organisation, have been found to affect organisational attraction, job pursuit intentions, and organisational reputation. Although the presence and potency of these attributions have been established, little is known about the manner in which these attributions come about, particularly whether the process is consistent with personality attributions made about human targets. In the current paper, we extend previous work by investigating the underlying social–cognitive mechanism by which organisation personality perceptions are formed. Specifically, we tested the proposition that organisation personality perceptions are spontaneously inferred in a manner that is functionally isomorphic with individual personality perceptions. Study 1 used a cued-recall paradigm, with results indicating that implied trait words improved recall for both individual and organisational actors. Study 2 extended these findings using a lexical decision paradigm; results showed improved performance when making a lexical decision about trait words regardless of whether the actor in a behaviour presented just prior was an individual or an organisation. The results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of organizational insiders' developmental feedback and proactive personality on newcomers' performance: An interactionist perspective.

Drawing from an interactionist approach and feedback research, we examine the role of developmental feedback and proactive personality on newcomer task performance and helping behavior. Data were collected from 2 high-tech joint-ventures within the information technology and manufacturing industries located in Shanghai, China. Results based on 151 newcomer–manager dyads showed that supervisor developmental feedback (SDF) positively related to newcomer helping behavior and that SDF and coworker developmental feedback interactively predicted newcomer task performance. We also found differential moderating effects of proactive personality: SDF more strongly related to helping behavior when proactive personality was lower; conversely, coworker developmental feedback more strongly related to helping behavior when proactive personality was higher. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

From Seeing to Being: Subliminal Social Comparisons Affect Implicit and Explicit Self-Evaluations.

The authors hypothesize that social comparisons can have automatic influences on self-perceptions. This was tested by determining whether subliminal exposure to comparison information influences implicit and explicit self-evaluation. Study 1 showed that subliminal exposure to social comparison information increased the accessibility of the self. Study 2 revealed that subliminal exposure to social comparison information resulted in a contrast effect on explicit self-evaluation. Study 3 showed that subliminal exposure to social comparison information affects self-evaluations more easily than it affects mood or evaluations of other people. Studies 4 and 5 replicated these self-evaluation effects and extended them to implicit measures. Study 6 showed that automatic comparisons are responsive to a person's perceptual needs, such that they only occur when people are uncertain about themselves. Implications for theories of social cognition, judgment, and comparison are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Manager personality, manager service quality orientation, and service climate: Test of a model.

This article conceptually and empirically explores the relationships among manager personality, manager service quality orientation, and climate for customer service. Data were collected from 1,486 employees and 145 managers in grocery store departments (N = 145) to test the authors' theoretical model. Largely consistent with hypotheses, results revealed that core self-evaluations were positively related to managers' service quality orientation, even after dimensions of the Big Five model of personality were controlled, and that service quality orientation fully mediated the relationship between personality and global service climate. Implications for personality and organizational climate research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

No pain, no gain: The conditions under which upward comparisons lead to better performance.

In 3 studies, the authors explored the relation between threatening upward social comparisons and performance. In an initial study, participants were exposed to comparison targets who either threatened or boosted self-evaluations and then completed a performance task. Participants exposed to the threatening target performed better than those in a control group, whereas those exposed to the nonthreatening target performed worse. In Study 2, self-affirmation prior to comparison with threatening targets eliminated performance improvements. In Study 3, performance improvements were found only when the performance domain was different from the domain of success of the comparison target. These boundary conditions suggest that increases in performance following social comparison arise from individuals' motivations to maintain and repair self-evaluations. Implications for the study of the behavioral consequences of social comparison are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Further consideration of the use of narrow trait scales.

This study examined whether inclusion of narrow personality trait scales improved prediction of job performance enough to overcome increased capitalization on chance characteristics of the sample. Data were obtained from 262 midlevel managers who had completed a personality inventory and had been assessed using multisource performance ratings. Three methods of combining trait scores organized under the 5-factor model were compared in order to better understand the contribution of variance specific to the narrow traits in the prediction of performance: common factor scores, unit-weighted composite scores, and regression-weighted composites. Results showed that on average the sets of facet scores explained an additional 9% of the variance in performance beyond summated composites and 10% beyond the factor scores (4% and 5% after correction for shrinkage). Contrary to the idea that broadband predictors would fare better with broad criterion constructs, the increment was similar whether the criterion was a single dimension of performance or overall job performance. Recommendations include reporting results from multiple levels of the personality hierarchy, and suggestions are made for situations where sample size limits the number of predictors advisably entered into a regression equation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Loving yourself abundantly: Relationship of the narcissistic personality to self- and other perceptions of workplace deviance, leadership, and task and contextual performance.

The authors report results from 2 studies assessing the extent to which narcissism is related to self- and other ratings of leadership, workplace deviance, and task and contextual performance. Study 1 results revealed that narcissism was related to enhanced self-ratings of leadership, even when controlling for the Big Five traits. Study 2 results also revealed that narcissism was related to enhanced leadership self-perceptions; indeed, whereas narcissism was significantly positively correlated with self-ratings of leadership, it was significantly negatively related to other ratings of leadership. Study 2 also revealed that narcissism was related to more favorable self-ratings of workplace deviance and contextual performance compared to other (supervisor) ratings. Finally, as hypothesized, narcissism was more strongly negatively related to contextual performance than to task performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The stereotyped task engagement process: The role of interest and achievement motivation.

Competence-based stereotypes can negatively affect women's performance in math and science (referred to as stereotype threat), presumably leading to lower motivation. The authors examined the effects of stereotype threat on interest, a motivational path not necessarily mediated by performance. They predicted that working on a computer science task in the context of math-gender stereotypes would negatively affect undergraduate women's task interest, particularly for those higher in achievement motivation who were hypothesized to hold performance-avoidance goals in response to the threat. Compared with when the stereotype was nullified, while under stereotype threat an assigned performance-avoidance (vs. -approach) goal was associated with lower interest for women higher in achievement motivation (Study 1), and women higher (vs. lower) in achievement motivation were more likely to spontaneously adopt performance-avoidance goals (Study 2). The motivational influence of performance-avoidance goals under stereotype threat was primarily mediated by task absorption (Study 3). Implications for the stereotyped task engagement process (Smith, 2004) are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Incorporating If...Then...Personality Signatures in Person Perception: Beyond the Person-Situation Dichotomy.

Three studies investigated conditions in which perceivers view dispositions and situations as interactive, rather than independent, causal forces when making judgments about another's personality. Study 1 showed that perceivers associated 5 common trait terms (e.g., friendly and shy) with characteristic if...then... (if situation a, then the person does x, but if situation b, then the person does y) personality signatures. Study 2 demonstrated that perceivers used information about a target's stable if...then... signature to infer the target's motives and traits; dispositional judgments were mediated by inferences about the target's motivations. Study 3 tested whether perceivers draw on if...then... signatures when making judgments about Big Five trait dimensions. Together, the findings indicate that perceivers take account of person-situation interactions (reflected in if...then... signatures) in everyday explanations of social behavior and personality dispositions. Boundary conditions are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Mini-IPIP Scales: Tiny-yet-effective measures of the Big Five Factors of Personality.

The Mini-IPIP, a 20-item short form of the 50-item International Personality Item Pool-Five-Factor Model measure (Goldberg, 1999), was developed and validated across five studies. The Mini-IPIP scales, with four items per Big Five trait, had consistent and acceptable internal consistencies across five studies (= at or well above .60), similar coverage of facets as other broad Big Five measures (Study 2), and test-retest correlations that were quite similar to the parent measure across intervals of a few weeks (Study 4) and several months (Study 5). Moreover, the Mini-IPIP scales showed a comparable pattern of convergent, discriminant, and criterion-related validity (Studies 2-5) with other Big Five measures. Collectively, these results indicate that the Mini-IPIP is a psychometrically acceptable and practically useful short measure of the Big Five factors of personality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)