Individual- and organizational-level consequences of organizational citizenship behaviors: A meta-analysis.

Although one of the main reasons for the interest in organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) is the potential consequences of these behaviors, no study has been reported that summarizes the research regarding the relationships between OCBs and their outcomes. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to provide a meta-analytic examination of the relationships between OCBs and a variety of individual- and organizational-level outcomes. Results, based on 168 independent samples (N = 51,235 individuals), indicated that OCBs are related to a number of individual-level outcomes, including managerial ratings of employee performance, reward allocation decisions, and a variety of withdrawal-related criteria (e.g., employee turnover intentions, actual turnover, and absenteeism). In addition, OCBs were found to be related (k = 38; N = 3,611 units) to a number of organizational-level outcomes (e.g., productivity, efficiency, reduced costs, customer satisfaction, and unit-level turnover). Of interest, somewhat stronger relationships were observed between OCBs and unit-level performance measures in longitudinal studies than in cross-sectional studies, providing some evidence that OCBs are causally related to these criteria. The implications of these findings for both researchers and practitioners are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validity of observer ratings of the five-factor model of personality traits: A meta-analysis.

Conclusions reached in previous research about the magnitude and nature of personality–performance linkages have been based almost exclusively on self-report measures of personality. The purpose of this study is to address this void in the literature by conducting a meta-analysis of the relationship between observer ratings of the five-factor model (FFM) personality traits and overall job performance. Our results show that the operational validities of FFM traits based on observer ratings are higher than those based on self-report ratings. In addition, the results show that when based on observer ratings, all FFM traits are significant predictors of overall performance. Further, observer ratings of FFM traits show meaningful incremental validity over self-reports of corresponding FFM traits in predicting overall performance, but the reverse is not true. We conclude that the validity of FFM traits in predicting overall performance is higher than previously believed, and our results underscore the importance of disentangling the validity of personality traits from the method of measurement of the traits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Linking “big” personality traits to anxiety, depressive, and substance use disorders: A meta-analysis.

We performed a quantitative review of associations between the higher order personality traits in the Big Three and Big Five models (i.e., neuroticism, extraversion, disinhibition, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness) and specific depressive, anxiety, and substance use disorders (SUD) in adults. This approach resulted in 66 meta-analyses. The review included 175 studies published from 1980 to 2007, which yielded 851 effect sizes. For a given analysis, the number of studies ranged from three to 63 (total sample size ranged from 1,076 to 75,229). All diagnostic groups were high on neuroticism (mean Cohen's d = 1.65) and low on conscientiousness (mean d = ?1.01). Many disorders also showed low extraversion, with the largest effect sizes for dysthymic disorder (d = ?1.47) and social phobia (d = ?1.31). Disinhibition was linked to only a few conditions, including SUD (d = 0.72). Finally, agreeableness and openness were largely unrelated to the analyzed diagnoses. Two conditions showed particularly distinct profiles: SUD, which was less related to neuroticism but more elevated on disinhibition and disagreeableness, and specific phobia, which displayed weaker links to all traits. Moderator analyses indicated that epidemiologic samples produced smaller effects than patient samples and that Eysenck's inventories showed weaker associations than NEO scales. In sum, we found that common mental disorders are strongly linked to personality and have similar trait profiles. Neuroticism was the strongest correlate across the board, but several other traits showed substantial effects independent of neuroticism. Greater attention to these constructs can significantly benefit psychopathology research and clinical practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Leader-member exchange and citizenship behaviors: A meta-analysis.

This article provides a meta-analytic review of the relationship between the quality of leader-member exchanges (LMX) and citizenship behaviors performed by employees. Results based on 50 independent samples (N = 9,324) indicate a moderately strong, positive relationship between LMX and citizenship behaviors (ρ=.37). The results also support the moderating role of the target of the citizenship behaviors on the magnitude of the LMX-citizenship behavior relationship. As expected, LMX predicted individual-targeted behaviors more strongly than it predicted organizational targeted behaviors (ρ = .38 vs. ρ = .31), and the difference was statistically significant. Whether the LMX and the citizenship behavior ratings were provided by the same source or not also influenced the magnitude of the correlation between the 2 constructs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Five-factor model of personality and job satisfaction: A meta-analysis.

This study reports results of a meta-analysis linking traits from the 5-factor model of personality to overall job satisfaction. Using the model as an organizing framework, 334 correlations from 163 independent samples were classified according to the model. The estimated true score correlations with job satisfaction were -.29 for Neuroticism, .25 for Extraversion, .02 for Openness to Experience, .17 for Agreeableness, and .26 for Conscientiousness. Results further indicated that only the relations of Neuroticism and Extraversion with job satisfaction generalized across studies. As a set, the Big Five traits had a multiple correlation of .41 with job satisfaction, indicating support for the validity of the dispositional source of job satisfaction when traits are organized according to the 5-factor model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relations between personality and coping: A meta-analysis.

Personality may directly facilitate or constrain coping, but relations of personality to coping have been inconsistent across studies, suggesting a need for greater attention to methods and samples. This meta-analysis tested moderators of relations between Big Five personality traits and coping using 2,653 effect sizes drawn from 165 samples and 33,094 participants. Personality was weakly related to broad coping (e.g., Engagement or Disengagement), but all 5 traits predicted specific strategies. Extraversion and Conscientiousness predicted more problem-solving and cognitive restructuring, Neuroticism less. Neuroticism predicted problematic strategies like wishful thinking, withdrawal, and emotion-focused coping but, like Extraversion, also predicted support seeking. Personality more strongly predicted coping in young samples, stressed samples, and samples reporting dispositional rather than situation-specific coping. Daily versus retrospective coping reports and self-selected versus researcher-selected stressors also moderated relations between personality and coping. Cross-cultural differences were present, and ethnically diverse samples showed more protective effects of personality. Richer understanding of the role of personality in the coping process requires assessment of personality facets and specific coping strategies, use of laboratory and daily report studies, and multivariate analyses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nature and dimensionality of organizational citizenship behavior: A critical review and meta-analysis.

This article reviews the literature on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and its dimensions as proposed by D. W. Organ (1988) and other scholars. Although it is assumed that the behavioral dimensions of OCB are distinct from one another, past research has not assessed this assumption beyond factor analysis. Using meta-analysis, the authors demonstrate that there are strong relationships among most of the dimensions and that the dimensions have equivalent relationships with the predictors (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, fairness, trait conscientiousness, and leader support) most often considered by OCB scholars. Implications of these results are discussed with respect to how the OCB construct should be conceptualized and measured in the future. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of proactive personality in job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior: A relational perspective.

Drawing from a relational approach, the authors conceptualize the quality of leader–member exchange as a mediator and procedural justice climate as a contextual moderator for understanding the role of proactive personality in job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior. Data from a sample of 200 Chinese employees within 54 work groups were used to examine the hypothesized models. Results show that having a proactive personality was associated with employees establishing a high-quality exchange relationship with their supervisors; in turn, the quality of leader–member exchange was associated with greater job satisfaction and more organizational citizenship behaviors. Additionally, the relationship between proactive personality and organizational citizenship behavior was positively moderated by procedural justice climate within the group. Implications for management theory and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The joint effects of personality and workplace social exchange relationships in predicting task performance and citizenship performance.

This field study examines the joint effects of social exchange relationships at work (leader-member exchange and team-member exchange) and employee personality (conscientiousness and agreeableness) in predicting task performance and citizenship performance. Consistent with trait activation theory, matched data on 230 employees, their coworkers, and their supervisors demonstrated interactions in which high quality social exchange relationships weakened the positive relationships between personality and performance. Results demonstrate the benefits of consonant predictions in which predictors and outcomes are matched on the basis of specific targets. We discuss theoretical and practical implications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The five-factor model of personality and managerial performance: Validity gains through the use of 360 degree performance ratings.

This study investigated the usefulness of the five-factor model (FFM) of personality in predicting two aspects of managerial performance (task vs. contextual) assessed by utilizing the 360 degree performance rating system. The authors speculated that one reason for the low validity of the FFM might be the failure of single-source (e.g., supervisor) ratings to comprehensively capture the construct of managerial performance. The operational validity of personality was found to increase substantially (50%–74%) across all of the FFM personality traits when both peer and subordinate ratings were added to supervisor ratings according to the multitrait–multimethod approach. Furthermore, the authors responded to the recent calls to validate tests via a multivariate (e.g., multitrait–multimethod) approach by decomposing overall managerial performance into task and contextual performance criteria and by using multiple rating perspectives (sources). Overall, this study contributes to the evidence that personality may be even more useful in predicting managerial performance if the performance criteria are less deficient. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A moderated mediation model of the relationship between organizational citizenship behaviors and job performance.

Addressing numerous calls for future research on understanding the theoretical mechanisms that explain the relationship between organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and job performance, this study focused on how an employee's relationships with coworkers mediate the relationship between his or her OCBs and his or her job performance. It also looked at how task autonomy might moderate this mediated relationship. The results of an empirical study involving 364 jewelry designers, 310 coworkers, and 284 supervisors indicated that coworker relations mediated the relationship between OCBs and job performance. In addition, task autonomy positively moderated both paths of this mediated relationship. Finally, these results hold for OCBs that are targeted at individuals but not for OCBs that are targeted toward organizations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rigid and extreme: A geometric representation of personality disorders in five-factor model space.

Personality disorder rigidity and extremity can be geometrically defined and operationalized within the 5-factor model (FFM) of personality. A series of geometric and substantive assumptions were derived and then tested in samples of college students (N?=?1,323) and psychiatric patients (N?=?86). Normal and disordered personalities were found to coexist in a variety of regions of the FFM multivariate space. Within regions, the profiles of normal and disordered personalities were very similar in characteristic configuration but notably different in profile variability. Personality-disordered individuals tended to be located in the perimeters or outer regions of the FFM space, as indicated by their longer vector lengths. These findings generalized across 2 measures of personality disorders and across 2 measures of normal personality traits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mechanisms by which childhood personality traits influence adult health status: Educational attainment and healthy behaviors.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to test a life span health behavior model in which educational attainment and health behaviors (eating habits, smoking, and physical activity) were hypothesized as mechanisms to account for relations between teacher ratings of childhood personality traits and self-reported health status at midlife. Design: The model was tested on 1,054 members of the Hawaii Personality and Health cohort, which is a population-based cohort participating in a longitudinal study of personality and health spanning 40 years from childhood to midlife. Outcome: Childhood Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Intellect-Imagination influenced adult health status indirectly through educational attainment, healthy eating habits, and smoking. Several direct effects of childhood traits on health behaviors and health status were also observed. Conclusion: The model extends past associations found between personality traits and health behaviors or health status by identifying a life-course pathway based on the health behavior model through which early childhood traits influence adult health status. The additional direct effects of personality traits indicate that health behavior mechanisms may not provide a complete account of relations between personality and health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Five-factor model personality traits and the retirement transition: Longitudinal and cross-sectional associations.

The authors examined associations between 5-factor personality traits and retirement in a diverse community sample. Longitudinal analyses (n = 367) compared personality trajectories of participants who remained employed and participants who retired. Personality at baseline did not predict future retirement, but compared to participants who remained employed, retirees increased in Agreeableness and decreased in Activity, a facet of Extraversion. In cross-sectional analyses among retirees (n = 144), those low in Neuroticism and high in Extraversion reported higher retirement satisfaction, and those high in Extraversion reported higher postretirement activity levels. Findings suggest that the trait perspective contributes to the understanding of the retirement process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Good citizens to the end? It depends: Empathy and concern with future consequences moderate the impact of a short-term time horizon on organizational citizenship behaviors.

Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) can be viewed as a social dilemma in which short-term employee sacrifice leads to long-term organizational benefits. With 3 studies, the authors evaluated a set of interrelated hypotheses based on a social dilemma analysis of OCBs. In Study 1, participants rated OCBs as costly to an employee in the short run and beneficial to an organization in the long run, indicating that OCBs were viewed as social dilemmas. In Studies 2 and 3, self-reported (Study 2) and supervisor-rated (Study 3) likelihood of engaging in OCBs was higher among those who adopted a long-term horizon within an organization and those high in empathy (M. H. Davis, 1983). Most important, a short-term time horizon led to a steeper decline in OCBs among employees low in empathy and those concerned with the future consequences of their actions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age differences in personality traits from 10 to 65: Big Five domains and facets in a large cross-sectional sample.

Hypotheses about mean-level age differences in the Big Five personality domains, as well as 10 more specific facet traits within those domains, were tested in a very large cross-sectional sample (N = 1,267,218) of children, adolescents, and adults (ages 10–65) assessed over the World Wide Web. The results supported several conclusions. First, late childhood and adolescence were key periods. Across these years, age trends for some traits (a) were especially pronounced, (b) were in a direction different from the corresponding adult trends, or (c) first indicated the presence of gender differences. Second, there were some negative trends in psychosocial maturity from late childhood into adolescence, whereas adult trends were overwhelmingly in the direction of greater maturity and adjustment. Third, the related but distinguishable facet traits within each broad Big Five domain often showed distinct age trends, highlighting the importance of facet-level research for understanding life span age differences in personality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The stability of personality traits in individuals with borderline personality disorder.

Although stability and pervasive inflexibility are general criteria for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) personality disorders (PDs), borderline PD (BPD) is characterized by instability in several domains, including interpersonal behavior, affect, and identity. The authors hypothesized that such inconsistencies notable in BPD may relate to instability at the level of the basic personality traits that are associated with this disorder. Five types of personality trait stability across 4 assessments over 6 years were compared for BPD patients (N = 130 at first interval) and patients with other PDs (N = 302). Structural stability did not differ across groups. Differential stability tended to be lower for 5-factor model (FFM) traits in the BPD group, with the strongest and most consistent effects observed for Neuroticism and Conscientiousness. Growth curve models suggested that these 2 traits also showed greater mean-level change, with Neuroticism declining faster and Conscientiousness increasing faster, in the BPD group. The BPD group was further characterized by greater individual-level instability for Neuroticism and Conscientiousness in these models. Finally, the BPD group was less stable in terms of the ipsative configuration of FFM facet-level profiles than was the other PD group over time. Results point to the importance of personality trait instability in characterizing BPD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The causes of organizational citizenship behavior: A motivational analysis.

This study addressed the role of motives in organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Three motives were identified through factor analyses: prosocial values, organizational concern, and impression management. Scales that measured these motives and other variables known to covary with OCB were administered to 141 municipal employees and were correlated with self-, peer, and supervisor ratings of 5 aspects of OCB. Relative to the other motives, prosocial values motives were most strongly associated with OCB directed at individuals, and organizational concern motives were most strongly associated with OCB directed toward the organization. Each of the motives accounted for unique amounts of variance in OCB. The results suggest that motives may play an important role in OCB. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships of role stressors with organizational citizenship behavior: A meta-analysis.

Several quantitative reviews have documented the negative relationships that role stressors have with task performance. Surprisingly, much less attention has been directed at the impact of role stressors on other aspects of job performance, such as organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). The goal of this study was to therefore estimate the overall relationships of role stressors (i.e., role ambiguity, conflict, and overload) with OCB. A meta-analysis of 42 existing studies indicated that role ambiguity and role conflict were negatively related to OCB and that these relationships were moderated by the target of OCB, type of organization, OCB rating source, and publication status. As expected, role conflict had a stronger negative relationship with OCB than it did with task performance. Finally, we found support for a path model in which job satisfaction mediated relationships of role stressors with OCB and for a positive direct relationship between role overload and OCB. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)