The moderating influence of core self-evaluation, emotional intelligence and extraversion on career success

TLDR: In this article, the authors examined the moderating influences of core self-evaluation, emotional intelligence, and extraversion on the career success of master's level business graduates and concluded that personality does matter when it comes to career success.

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating influences of core self-evaluation, emotional intelligence, and extraversion on the career success of master’s level business graduates. Much was known about the relationship between this study’s three dispositional variables and career success, but far less was known about how these items interact with one another to influence extrinsic and intrinsic career success. Our research involved the collection of data from master’s level business alumni from a large Southeastern university who graduated between 2000 and 2012. Established measures were used as gathering instruments for the three dispositional variables, the CSES for core self-evaluation, the WEIP-S for emotional intelligence, and the IPIP proxy of the NEO-PI-R for extraversion. In total, 4,790 alumni were surveyed and 534 alumni successfully completed the survey. The survey results found partial support for 2 of the 4 hypotheses. We found a moderating effect of emotional intelligence on the relationship between core self-evaluation and extrinsic career success. We also found that extraversion moderated the relationship between core self-evaluation and participant’s response to the question ‘time spent happy at work’. The data also produced a strong, positive relationship between core self-evaluation and intrinsic career success, and a modest relationship between intrinsic career success and both emotional intelligence and extraversion. This study concluded that personality does matter when it comes to career success of master’s level business graduates. These results have implications for business schools administrators that aim to improve the career success of their master’s level business graduates. By understanding the core selfevaluation traits and emotional intelligence abilities of applicants and students, business school leaders can seek to understand how these items are associated with higher performance in terms of job placement and career success. This knowledge could be incorporated into a more

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Pepperdine University Pepperdine University
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Theses and Dissertations
2014
The moderating in3uence of core self-evaluation, emotional The moderating in3uence of core self-evaluation, emotional
intelligence and extraversion on career success intelligence and extraversion on career success
Alexander David Sevilla
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Pepperdine University
Graduate School of Education and Psychology
THE MODERATING INFLUENCE OF CORE SELF-EVALUATION, EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCE AND EXTRAVERSION ON CAREER SUCCESS
A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership
by
Alexander David Sevilla
June, 2014
Ronald Stephens, Ed.D. – Dissertation Chairperson

This dissertation, written by
Alexander David Sevilla
under the guidance of a Faculty Committee and approved by its members, has been submitted to
and accepted by the Graduate Faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
Doctoral Committee:
Ronald Stephens, Ed.D., Chairperson
Linda Livingstone, Ph.D.
June Schmeider-Ramirez, Ph.D.

© Copyright by Alexander David Sevilla (2014)
All rights reserved.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ vii
LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... viii
DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................... ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................x
VITA ............................................................................................................................................ xiii
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................ xvi
Chapter One: Introduction ...............................................................................................................1
Background ......................................................................................................................... 1
Statement of the Problem .................................................................................................... 4
Statement of the Purpose .................................................................................................... 7
Research Questions ............................................................................................................. 8
Hypotheses ........................................................................................................................ 10
Significance of the Study .................................................................................................. 11
Key Definitions ................................................................................................................. 13
Key Assumptions .............................................................................................................. 15
Limitations of the Study.................................................................................................... 16
Summary ........................................................................................................................... 17
Chapter Two: Literature Review ...................................................................................................19
Section One - Career Success & Why it Matters .............................................................. 20
Career success – the organizational perspective ................................................... 20
Career success – the individual’s perspective ....................................................... 23
Section Two – Five-Factor Model, Core Self-Evaluation, Emotional Intelligence .......... 23
The five-factor model of personality .................................................................... 23
Core self-evaluation .............................................................................................. 25
Hyper core self-evaluation .................................................................................... 29
Emotional intelligence .......................................................................................... 32
Section Three – Individual Predictors of Career Success ................................................. 39
Demographics ....................................................................................................... 39
Family structure .................................................................................................... 41
Human capital ....................................................................................................... 42
Motivation ............................................................................................................. 42
Personality............................................................................................................. 44
Five-factor model of personality ........................................................................... 44
Core self-evaluation .............................................................................................. 46
Intelligence ............................................................................................................ 52