Showing papers on "Core self-evaluations published in 2009"

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

Abstract: 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.

The implications of Big Five standing for the distribution of trait manifestation in behavior: fifteen experience-sampling studies and a meta-analysis.

Abstract: One of the fundamental questions in personality psychology is whether and how strongly trait standing relates to the traits that people actually manifest in their behavior when faced with real pressures and real consequences of their actions. One reason this question is fundamental is the common belief that traits do not predict how individuals behave, which leads to the reasonable conclusion that traits are not important to study. However, this conclusion is surprising given that there is almost no data on the ability of traits to predict distributions of naturally occurring, representative behaviors of individuals (and that there are many studies showing that traits do indeed predict specific behaviors). The authors describe a meta-analysis of 15 experience-sampling studies, conducted over the course of 8 years, amassing over 20,000 reports of trait manifestation in behavior. Participants reported traits on typical self-report questionnaires, then described their current behavior multiple times per day for several days as the behavior was occurring. Results show that traits, contrary to expectations, were strongly predictive of individual differences in trait manifestation in behavior, predicting average levels with correlations between .42 and .56 (approaching .60 for stringently restricted studies). Several other ways of summarizing trait manifestation in behavior were also predicted from traits. These studies provide evidence that traits are powerful predictors of actual manifestation of traits in behavior.

How broadly does education contribute to job performance

Abstract: This study looks at the effects of education level on job performance in 2 ways. First, it provides a meta-analysis on the relationships between education level and 9 dimensions of job behaviors representing task, citizenship, and counterproductive performance. Results here show that, in addition to positively influencing core task performance, education level is also positively related to creativity and citizenship behaviors and negatively related to on-the-job substance use and absenteeism. Second, we investigate the moderating effects of sample and research design characteristics on the relationships between education and job performance. Significant results were found for gender, race, job level, and job complexity. The article concludes with implications for future research and the management of an increasingly educated workforce.

Core Self-Evaluations and Work Success

Abstract: Core self-evaluations (CSE) is a broad, integrative trait indicated by self-esteem, locus of control, generalized self-efficacy, and (low) neuroticism (high emotional stability). While only a decade old, research on CSE suggests that it explains much of the overlap among these trait measures, while also predicting many work and other applied outcomes better than the individual traits. Individuals with high levels of CSE perform better on their jobs, are more successful in their careers, are more satisfied with their jobs and lives, report lower levels of stress and conflict, cope more effectively with setbacks, and better capitalize on advantages and opportunities. Though research on individual self-concept traits such as self-esteem and locus of control should continue, researchers interested in these traits should consider the advantages of CSE in its relation to success in work and in life.

Personality, motivation and job satisfaction: Hertzberg meets the Big Five

Abstract: Purpose – The current study aims to investigate the extent to which personality and demographic variables contribute to motivation and job satisfaction as defined by the two‐factor theory.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 202 fulltime workers completed three questionnaires measuring their personality, work motivation and satisfaction.Findings – Results demonstrate that between 9 and 15 per cent of the variance in motivation is accounted for by demographic variables and the Big Five personality traits. In line with previous findings (Judge et al.), conscientiousness and job status were both significant predictors of job satisfaction, and between 11 and 13 per cent of the variance was accounted for by personality and other demographic variables.Research limitations/implications – This study was restricted to self‐report measure. It never took into consideration other potential confounds like a person's job history, level and responsibilities. It also showed personality factors accounted for very litt...

Does It Pay to Be Smart, Attractive, or Confident (or All Three)? Relationships Among General Mental Ability, Physical Attractiveness, Core Self-Evaluations, and Income

Abstract: The authors investigated core self-evaluations and educational attainment as mediating mechanisms for the influence of appearance (physical attractiveness) and intelligence (general mental ability) on income and financial strain. The direct effects of core self-evaluations on financial strain, as well as the indirect effects through income, were also considered. Longitudinal data were obtained as part of a national study, the Harvard Study of Health and Life Quality, and proposed models were evaluated with structural equation modeling. Results supported a partially mediated model, such that general mental ability and physical attractiveness exhibited both direct and indirect effects on income, as mediated by educational attainment and core self-evaluations. Finally, income negatively predicted financial strain, whereas core self-evaluations had both a direct and an indirect (through income) negative effect on financial strain. Overall, the results suggest that looks (physical attractiveness), brains (intelligence), and personality (core self-evaluations) are all important to income and financial strain.

Changes in newcomer job satisfaction over time: examining the pattern of honeymoons and hangovers.

Abstract: In this study, the authors contribute insight into the temporal nature of work attitudes, examining how job satisfaction changes across the 1st year of employment for a sample of organizational newcomers. The authors examined factors related to job change (i.e., voluntary turnover, prior job satisfaction) and newcomer experiences (i.e., fulfillment of commitments, extent of socialization) that may strengthen or weaken the job satisfaction pattern. Results of a study of 132 newcomers with data collected at 4 unique time periods show a complex curvilinear pattern of job satisfaction, such that satisfaction reached a peak following organizational entry and decreased thereafter. However, examination of moderating factors revealed that individuals who reported less satisfaction with their prior job and those having more positive experiences on the new job, such as greater fulfilled commitments and a higher degree of socialization, were most likely to experience this pattern. Findings from this study offer important implications for theory and research on changes in newcomer attitudes over time as well as practical insight on key factors that shape the pattern of job attitudes as individuals enter and experience a new workplace.

Core self-evaluations and job performance: the role of the perceived work environment.

Abstract: Using trait activation theory as a framework, the authors examined the moderating role of two situational variables—perceptions of organizational politics and perceptions of leader effectiveness—on the relationship between core self-evaluations and job performance. Results from two samples (N 137 and N 226) indicate that employee perceptions of their work environment moderated the relationship between their core self-evaluations and supervisor ratings of their performance. In particular, those with higher core self-evaluations received higher performance ratings in environments perceived as favorable than in environments perceived as unfavorable.

Psychological Empowerment and Job Satisfaction: An Analysis of Interactive Effects

Abstract: This research investigates the interactive effects of the psychological empowerment dimensions on job satisfaction. Using data collected from employees of multiple organizations, the authors find i...

Replicating and Extending Past Personality/Job Satisfaction Meta-Analyses

Abstract: A meta-analysis summarizing results of 187 studies reporting cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between job satisfaction and personality is described. The Big Five factor of Neuroticism related most strongly and negatively to job satisfaction (−.25), with the other factors ranging from .16 (Conscientiousness) to −.02 (Openness to Experience). Job satisfaction was positively related to internal locus of control (LOC), positive affectivity, and Type A (achievement striving). Results showed negative relationships with external LOC, trait anger, Machiavellianism, negative affectivity/trait anxiety, and Type A (global and impatience/irritability). Job satisfaction had a very weak, negative correlation with narcissism that was indistinguishable from zero. These relationships were similar, although the effect sizes were generally not as strong, when examined in a longitudinal context. The distinctiveness of Extraversion and positive affectivity, as well as that of global and composite measures of job...

Do Social Stressors Impact Everyone Equally? An Examination of the Moderating Impact of Core Self-evaluations

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between social stressors and the outcomes of job satisfaction, altruism, and turnover intentions. Additionally, this study examined the moderating impact of individuals’ core self-evaluations on these relationships. Data were obtained from a branch of the state government in the southeast. Responses were received from 144 employees. Supervisors provided responses as well, and the matched dyads where both supervisor and subordinate responses were received numbered 133. We found that social stressors were negatively related to job satisfaction and altruism and positively related to turnover intentions. Results also indicated that higher core self-evaluations buffered the negative influence of social stressors on job satisfaction and turnover intention, but not altruism. Our results reinforce the notion that social stressors exhibit significant negative associations with desired job consequences. Another managerial implication relates to managers when filling vacant positions. When completing this task, managers need to honestly and accurately assess the social stressors present in their organization. When social stressors are high, managers should seek to hire individuals who possess higher core self-evaluations. This study employed a different theoretical perspective, conservation of resources theory, and extended the nomological network related to social stressors. Additionally, this study showed the important moderating impact that core self-evaluations can have on other relationships, whereas the large majority of previous studies have examined core self-evaluations as a main effect predictor of important organizational outcomes.

How does satisfaction translate into performance? An examination of commitment and cultural values

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to add new insights into the mechanism through which job satisfaction relates to job performance. Affective commitment was tested as a potential mediator between job satisfaction and job performance, and traditionality was used as a potential moderator between job satisfaction and affective commitment. A survey study was conducted on 292 employees from seven companies in China. The study findings suggest that affective commitment serves as one of the mechanisms through which job satisfaction influences job performance. Job satisfaction can strengthen people's identification with, involvement in, and emotional attachment to their organization which in turn can foster better performance. The second major finding of this study is that cultural values influence how well people translate job satisfaction into affective commitment. People who are culturally more traditional tend to transfer their satisfaction with their job into stronger commitment than people lower in cultural traditionality. HRD implications are drawn.

The Influence of Work Personality on Job Satisfaction: Incremental Validity and Mediation Effects

Abstract: Drawing from recent developments regarding the contextual nature of personality (e.g., D. Wood & B. W. Roberts, 2006), we conducted 2 studies (1 cross-sectional and 1 longitudinal over 1 year) to examine the validity of work personality in predicting job satisfaction and its mediation of the effect of global personality on job satisfaction. Study 1 showed that (a) individuals vary systematically in their personality between roles- they were significantly more conscientious and open to experience and less extraverted at work compared to at home; (b) work personality was a better predictor of job satisfaction than both global personality and home personality; and (c) work personality demonstrated incremental validity above and beyond the other two personality measures. Study 2 further showed that each of the work personality dimensions fully mediated the association between its corresponding global personality trait and job satisfaction. Evidence for the discriminant validity of the findings is also presented.

The Impact of Work Life Conflict on Job Satisfactions of Employees in Pakistan

Abstract: The study was aimed to explore the relationship between work life conflict and job satisfaction in Pakistan. We found that job satisfaction is significantly negatively correlated with work to family interference and family to work interference. Job satisfaction is also found to be negatively related with stress in our research. However, the correlation of workload is positive and insignificant which shows that workload does not effect the job satisfaction of the employees in Pakistan. Job autonomy emerged as having a strong and clear correlation with job satisfaction, more autonomy in a job leads to higher job satisfaction among employees. The policy alternative should be that a supportive management is required to minimize the conflict between work and family. Top management should realize the importance of work life balance and its adverse affect on job satisfaction.

Resources and coping with stressful events

Abstract: This longitudinal, quasi-field experiment tested whether perceived stress and increase in perceived stress are related to the resources of the individual, namely, personality (core self evaluation scale (CSES)), physical fitness, social support (acceptance and/or rejection by peers), and cognitive abilities. Perceived stress scale (PSS) was administered at two points in time to participants in a two-day selection process for a military unit, whose stressful environment formed the manipulation in this study. Baseline PSS was obtained from soldiers before the selection activity, when threatened with resource loss. PSS was next administered during the selection activity, when individuals had to cope with actual loss of resources and difficulty in regaining them. As expected, participants perceived more stress during the selection activity. Participants with higher CSES, higher cognitive abilities and higher levels of social support perceived lower stress levels prior to the activity. The increase in stress level was lower for participants with better fitness levels, but greater for participants rejected by their peers. Exploratory analysis of resource overlap was conducted and revealed a contribution of few key resources to coping, even in the presence of other resources. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Expanding the link between core self-evaluations and affective job attitudes

Abstract: The present study examined the differentiated relationship between core self-evaluations and affective job attitudes. In previous research, job characteristics were proposed to mediate this relationship. However, the facets of the job characteristics model have not yet been assessed separately. In the present study we tested which job characteristics (i.e., skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback) mediate the relationship between core self-evaluations and job satisfaction as well as organizational commitment in a sample of 199 employees. Results revealed that core self-evaluations were related to job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Task significance was found to mediate these relationships. These findings are discussed with respect to the level on which people regulate their actions.

Employee demographics and job training satisfaction: the relationship between dimensions of diversity and satisfaction with job training

Abstract: Human resource development professionals serve many diverse populations of learners in the workplace. They do so with limited resources which leads to a dilemma: How to most effectively and efficiently meet the needs of all learners in the workplace, given the different job duties, backgrounds, skills and abilities of each learner. This empirical study examines job training satisfaction among customer and technical service employees in nine different organizations in the US and Canada. The study concluded that there were no differences in job training satisfaction when examined with dimensions of diversity such as age groups, gender and race/ethnicity. There were differences in job training satisfaction, however, when examined with job type, job status, and job tenure.

A further examination of antecedents of correctional staff life satisfaction

Abstract: Working in corrections is not only a demanding job, but a socially important one. While a growing number of studies have examined how the work environment impacts the job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment of staff, very few studies have examined how working in corrections impacts the life satisfaction of workers. The current study utilized OLS regression to examine the antecedents of life satisfaction among staff at a Midwestern private prison. Job satisfaction had a positive relationship with life satisfaction, while age, work on family conflict, family on work conflict, and job involvement all had statistically significant negative effects. Finally, perceptions of the level of financial rewards, job stress, organizational commitment, gender, race, educational level, tenure, supervisory status, position, marital status, and having children, all had non-significant associations with overall satisfaction with life.

When Selection Ratios Are High: Predicting the Expatriation Willingness of Prospective Domestic Entry-Level Job Applicants

Abstract: High expatriate selection ratios thwart the ability of multinational organizations to select expatriates. Reducing the selection ratio may be accomplished by selecting those applicants for entry level domestic positions who have expatriate aspirations. Regression analyses conducted on data from a sample of 299 Dutch students about to enter the job market indicated that 20 predictors subsumed under the Five Factor Model, core self-evaluations, expatriate specific predictors, and biodata account for 50% of the variance in expatriation willingness. The predictors were ordered relative to their increasing alignment with expatriation willingness in terms of the action, target, context, and time elements reflected in Ajzen's (1988, 1991) principle of correspondence. Dominance and relative weights analysis provided strong support for the hypothesis that greater alignment on these elements translates into greater predictive power, with biodata emerging as the most powerful predictor set, followed by expatriate specific predictors, the Five Factor Model, and finally core self-evaluations.

Psychological Testing in Personnel Selection, Part III: The Resurgence of Personality Testing

Abstract: This article is the third in a three-part series examining the development of selection testing. Part I focused on the historical development of personnel selection testing from the late 19th century to the present, with particular attention given to personality testing. Attention was given to the efforts of early industrial psychologists that shaped and defined the role of testing in the scientific selection of employees. Part II examined the development of methods and standards in employment testing, with particular emphasis on selection validity and utility. We also explored the issues of selection fairness and discrimination in selection as they relate to psychological testing. Part III explores the development and application of personality testing with a particular emphasis on the development of the Big Five personality model and the utility of adding personality testing to the menu of choices for personnel selection methods. The transient nature of models of personality is noted, and current paradi...

The Mediating Effect of Work-Family Conflict on the Relationship Between Locus of Control and Job Satisfaction

Abstract: Problem statement: Based on the literature review, few studies have tested the mediating effect of work-family conflict on the relationship between locus of control and job satisfaction. Approach: This study tested a mediation model consisting of job satisfaction as the dependent variable, locus of control as the independent variable and work-family conflict as the mediator. Data were gathered from 159 single mother employees, aged 45 and below and having at least one child, using self-administered questionnaires. The data were analyzed using correlation and multiple regression analyses. Results: Results of correlation analysis revealed that locus of control was related to work-family conflict and job satisfaction and work-family conflict was related to job satisfaction. Results of a series of multiple regression analyses indicated that work-family conflict partially mediates the relationship between locus of control and job satisfaction. During the screening process of potential recruits, employers should take into consideration locus of control as one of the important dispositional characteristics of candidates. Employers should look into the possibility of designing training programmes to assist employees in taking more control of events in their work situations. Conclusion: Single mother employees who believe that they are in control of the events that happen in their lives seem to be more satisfied with their jobs and seem to experience less work-family conflict.

Self‐Enhancement in a Job Search Context

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the role of self-enhancement in a job search context. Based on previous theoretical and empirical research on positive illusions and core self-evaluations, we examined the relationships among core self-evaluations, self-enhancement, perceived job alternatives, and job search behaviors. Participants in two different studies were students attending a career fair at a university in the southwestern United States to look for a job. Results showed that self-enhancement is positively related to preparatory job search and mediates the relationship between core self-evaluations and perceived job alternatives. The implications of this study are discussed.

Factors affecting intention to quit among IT professionals

Abstract: Turnover among information technology (IT) professionals still remains a challenge for many companies. IT professionals suffer from high stress levels. This, in turn, may lead to burnout and result in quitting their jobs. Knowing the factors that affect the quitting decision of IT professionals is important for companies to decrease the turnover rate of qualified employees. To this end, this study investigated the impact of stressors, job stress, organizational commitment, locus of control and job satisfaction on intention to quit among IT professionals in Turkey. A total of 204 questionnaires were collected from IT professionals. The results show that job satisfaction is explained by stressors and locus of control, whereas the effect of job stress on job satisfaction is found to be insignificant. Additionally, both organizational commitment and job satisfaction predict intention to quit. The paper concludes with discussion and recommendations for future research.