Do personality factors predict job satisfaction?

Two studies investigated the relationships between personality traits and aspects of job satisfaction. In Study 1, job applicants (n=250) completed the Eysenck Personality Profiler and the Work Values Questionnaire (WVQ), which requires respondents to rate various work-related facets according to the extent to which they contribute to their job satisfaction. These facets were combined into two composites (hygiene and motivator) based on previous research. The three personality superfactors accounted for a small percentage of the variance in importance ratings (about 5%). In Study 2, employees (n=82) completed a measure of the ‘Big Five’ personality traits and the Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (JSQ), which assesses both what respondents consider as important in their work environment as well as their satisfaction with their current job. Importance ratings were again combined into two composites while job satisfaction ratings were factor analyzed and three factors, differentiated along hygiene versus motivator lines, emerged. Personality traits again accounted for a small percentage of the total variance both in importance ratings and in levels of job satisfaction. It is concluded that personality does not have a strong or consistent influence either on what individuals perceive as important in their work environment or on their levels of job satisfaction.     

When does self-reported prosocial motivation predict helping? The moderating role of implicit prosocial motivation

In three studies, we tested a motivational model to predict different types of helping from an interactionist, dual-system perspective. We argued that helping behavior is determined by the interplay of two distinct motivational systems: the explicit (i.e., conscious) and the implicit (i.e., unconscious). In line with previous research we expected that explicit prosocial motivation relates to helping, and additionally proposed that depending on the type of helping this relationship is moderated by implicit prosocial motivation: For planned helping, explicit prosocial motivation is a sufficient predictor, regardless of implicit prosocial motivation. For spontaneous helping, on the other hand, the effect of explicit prosocial motivation is moderated by implicit prosocial motivation, and only predictive when also implicit prosocial motivation is high. Study 1 (207 Dutch participants, M _age  = 51.7 years; 51.7 % female) with self-reported willingness to help as dependent variable confirmed that planned helping was determined by explicit prosocial motivation, whereas its effect on spontaneous helping was moderated by implicit prosocial motivation. Study 2 (193 U.S. participants, M _age  = 35.2 years; 64.2 % female) with real-life measures of planned help confirmed the hypothesized main effect of explicit prosocial motivation. Study 3 (73 Dutch participants, M _age  = 20.8 years; 68.5 % female) with a real-life measure of spontaneous helping confirmed the moderating role of implicit prosocial motivation, as the effect of explicit prosocial motivation on helping was only significant for individuals with high implicit prosocial motivation. We argue that considering implicit prosocial motivation provides an overlooked avenue for a more systematic investigation of helping.     

The moderator role of followers’ personality traits in the relations between leadership styles,two types of task performance and work result satisfaction

Authentic leadership is changing our understanding of what makes good leadership. However, few studies have explored how followers’ individual differences and the nature of the task they perform affect its relation to followers’ work outcomes. We examine the moderator role of two core task types (intellective vs. generative) and two personality traits (conscientiousness and emotional stability) in the relationship between two leadership feedback styles (authentic vs. transactional) and task performance or work result satisfaction in a two-wave experiment. The sample consisted of 228 participants enrolled in an organizational psychology course, 34% of whom had work experience. Our results show that over time the effect of an authentic feedback style on task performance became stronger for those participants who previously scored very low on intellective tasks or very high on generative tasks. Furthermore, a significant three-way interaction between these two traits and our leadership feedback styles indicates that the effect of authentic feedback conforms different patterns depending on the followers’ personality traits and the type of task they perform. Moreover, authentic feedback had a stronger effect on participants’ work result satisfaction. Participants with low levels of either conscientiousness or emotional stability displayed higher levels of satisfaction in the authentic feedback condition.     

Do performance approach‐oriented individuals generate creative ideas? The roles of outcome instrumentality and task persistence

The literature is inconclusive about the positive and negative effects of performance approach goal orientation (PAGO) (i.e., a focus on demonstrating high performance and outperforming others) on creativity. To address this issue, this study examines when and how PAGO stimulates or hinders employee creativity. Drawing on trait activation theory and a self‐regulatory perspective, we propose that outcome instrumentality (i.e., the perception that one will receive desired organizational outcomes when performing well) moderates the effects of PAGO on task persistence bidirectionally, which, in turn, facilitates or hinders employee creativity. Results based on a two‐wave, multi‐source field survey provided strong support for our hypotheses. We found that the relationship between PAGO and task persistence was positive when outcome instrumentality was high but became negative when outcome instrumentality was low. Moreover, we found a moderated mediation effect, such that the indirect effect of PAGO on creativity through task persistence was positive when outcome instrumentality was high but negative when outcome instrumentality was low. These findings extend the PAGO literature by elucidating the goodness and badness of PAGO and provide practical implications on how to manage performance approach‐oriented employees to capitalize on their creative potentials and minimize the possible detrimental effects of PAGO on creativity.     

How do people respond to health news? The role of personality traits

When a patient receives a health diagnosis, their response (e.g. changes in behaviour, seeking support) can have significant consequences for long-term health and well-being. Characteristics of health news are known to influence these responses, but personality traits have been omitted from this line of research. The current study examines the role of personality traits in predicting response to health news. Participants (N = 298) read scenarios in which they received health news that was manipulated to vary in severity, controllability and likelihood of outcomes. Participants then rated how likely they were to engage in a number of response behaviours. We examined the main effects and interaction of situational manipulations and personality traits on ratings of these behaviours. Both situations and personality traits influenced behavioural responses to health events. In particular, conscientiousness predicted taking action and seeking social support. Neuroticism predicted both maladaptive and adaptive behavioural responses, providing support for the ‘healthy neurotic’ hypothesis. Moreover, personality traits predicted best in weak (unlikely, controllable) situations. Both personality traits and situational characteristics contribute to behavioural responses to health news.     

Should supervisors communicate goals or visions? The moderating role of subordinates' psychological distance

There is an ongoing debate about how supervisors should communicate desired end‐states to subordinates, that is, whether they should set concrete goals (according to goal setting theory) or communicate abstract visions (according to transformational leadership theory). In this paper, we draw on construal level theory (CLT) to reconcile both views and develop a model of when supervisors communicating concrete goals versus abstract visions are seen as more effective. According to CLT, being psychologically removed from (vs. near to) an event or object makes people construe the event or object in a more abstract (vs. concrete) way, which, in turn, leads people to process abstract (vs. concrete) information more fluently and thus evaluate the sender of this information more favorably. Accordingly, supervisor effectiveness may be higher in conditions where communication and psychological distance to the supervisor converge (vision/far and goals/close) rather than diverge (vision/close and goals/far). We tested this hypothesis in two experiments, using different operationalizations of psychological distance. In these studies, we found supervisor effectiveness to be higher when vision was communicated at a far versus near distance and goals were communicated at a near versus far distance.     

Do women who succeed in male‐dominated domains help other women? The moderating role of gender identification

It is often expected that the first women to advance in male‐dominated fields will promote other women who follow them. Two studies test the hypothesis that some women show this expected pattern of promoting women but that others show the opposite pattern, favoring men over women. In two studies, women's gender identification moderated the extent to which they favored men over women when they advanced in a male‐dominated field. Specifically, the weaker women's gender identification, the more favoritism they showed for a male relative to a female subordinate. Gender identification did not moderate women's behavior in a context in which women were not underrepresented, pointing to the power of the situation in eliciting this relationship. Implications for the advancement of women in male‐dominated fields are discussed.     

Do subjective measures of attention and memory predict actual performance? Metacognition in older couples

Older individuals who recognize their cognitive difficulties are more likely to adjust their everyday life to their actual cognitive functioning, particularly when they are able to estimate their abilities accurately. We assessed self- and spouse-ratings of memory and attention difficulties in everyday life of healthy, older individuals and compared them with the respective test performance. Eighty-four older individuals (women's age, M = 67.4 years, SD = 5.2; men's age, M = 68.5 years, SD = 4.9) completed both the self and the spouse versions of the Attention Deficit Questionnaire and the Everyday Memory Questionnaire and completed two neuropsychological tests. Using the residual score approach, subjective metacognitive measures of memory and attention were created and compared with actual test performance. Significant associations between subjective and objective scores were found only for men and only for episodic memory measures. Men who underreported memory difficulties performed more poorly; men who overreported memory difficulties performed better. Men's recognition performance was best predicted by subjective measures (R2 = .25), followed by delayed recall (R2 = .14) and forgetting rate (R2 = .13). The results indicate gender-specific differences in metacognitive accuracy and predictive validity of subjective ratings.     

Ecological validity of neuropsychological assessment: Do neuropsychological indexes predict performance in everyday activities?

This paper discusses the nature of neuropsychological assessment within the context of ecological validity. It considers the extent to which traditional neuropychological tests can predict performance in everyday life before going on to describe several new procedures designed to map directly on to real life functioning.     

The role of task rules and stimulus–response mappings in the task switching paradigm

Switch costs occur whenever participants are asked to switch between two or more task sets. In a typical task switching experiment, participants have to switch between two task sets composed of up to four different stimuli per task set. These 2 (task sets) x 4 (stimuli) contain only 8 different stimulus-response (S-R) mappings, and the question is why participants base their task performance on task sets instead of S-R mappings. The current experiments compared task performance based on task rules with performance based on single stimulus-response mappings. Participants were led to learn eight different S-R mappings with or without fore-knowledge about two underlying task sets. Without task set information no difference between shifts and repetitions occurred, whereas introducing task sets at the beginning led to significant switch costs. Most importantly, introducing task sets in the middle of the experiment also resulted in significant switch costs. Furthermore, introducing task rules at the beginning of the experiment lead to slower RTs when simple stimuli (Experiment 1) had to be processed. This detrimental effect disappeared with more complex stimuli (Experiment 2). Results will be discussed with respect to cognitive control.     

Do higher-class individuals feel more entitled? The role of system-justifying belief

ABSTRACT

Sense of entitlement can be defined as a pervasive sense that one deserves more and is entitled to more than others. Two studies examined the relationship between social class and sense of entitlement and how this relationship is moderated by system-justifying belief (SJB) in China. In Study 1, we conducted a survey among adults (N = 669) with results showing that social class was positively correlated with sense of entitlement for those endorsing SJB, but negatively correlated with sense of entitlement for those opposing SJB. In Study 2, we conducted an experiment among undergraduates (N = 128) with both social class and SJB being primed and the results replicated the pattern: the positive effect of primed higher social class on pay entitlement existed only for those primed with high SJB, and was dampened for those primed with low SJB. Therefore, higher-class individuals do not necessarily feel more entitled, and SJB may play an important role in shaping their sense of entitlement.     

The role of input–output modality compatibility in task switching

Input–output (I–O) modality compatibility refers to the similarity of stimulus modality and modality of response-related sensory consequences. A previous study found higher switch costs in task switching in I–O modality incompatible tasks (auditory-manual and visual-vocal) than in I–O modality compatible tasks (auditory-vocal and visual-manual). However, these tasks had spatially compatible S–R mappings, which implied dimensional overlap (DO). DO may have led to automatic activation of the corresponding compatible responses in the incorrect response modality, thus increasing interference effects. The present study was aimed to examine the influence of DO on I–O modality compatibility effects. In two experiments, we found that I–O modality compatibility affects task switching even in tasks without DO, which even tended to result in further increased modality influences. This finding suggests that I–O modality mappings affect response selection by affecting between-task cross-talk not on the level of specific response codes but on the level of modality-specific processing pathways.     

The relative importance of task,citizenship and counterproductive performance to job performance ratings: Do rater source and team‐based culture matter?

This study contributes to our understanding of which factors predict raters' policies for combining performance components into an overall job performance rating. We used a work‐roles framework to examine the effects of rater source and team‐based culture. The sample consisted of 612 individuals in three job categories (317 nurses, 168 personnel recruiters and 127 sales representatives). Respondents rated employee performance profiles that were described on task, citizenship and counterproductive performance. Raters' weights differed by (a) organizational culture (low‐ vs. high‐team‐based); (b) rating source (supervisor vs. peer) and (c) job. In a team‐based culture, more weight was given to citizenship performance and less to task performance. Peers attached more importance to citizenship performance and less to task performance. Implications of these findings for performance management are discussed.     

Do tests facilitate decision‐making performance on a transfer task?

Testing can improve later recall of information. However, much less is known about the potential use of testing in promoting the transfer of learning. In this study, we investigated whether testing improves decision‐making performance on a transfer task in a sample of 98 university students using a between‐subjects design. After studying several statements about a fictional disease under different learning conditions (restudy, free recall, and multiple‐choice), participants were asked to recall this information and subsequently make medical decisions concerning the fictional disease (i.e., the transfer task). The present study found no advantage of testing conditions over restudy condition on the 30‐min delayed memory task. However, participants in the active retrieval practice (i.e., free recall) group performed significantly better on the transfer task over those in both restudy and multiple‐choice groups. These results suggest free‐recall tests promote the transfer of learning.     

When can feedback-seeking behavior result in a better performance rating? Investigating the moderating role of political skill

Feedback-seeking behavior is generally used to acquire job-related information that enables performance improvement. However, it can also be a form of impression management that improves an employee’s reputation. In this study, we show that employees who hold an image enhancement motive are more likely to seek feedback from their supervisors. Further, this feedback-seeking behavior mediates the relationship between the image enhancement motive and task performance ratings, consistent with the self-concept enhancing tactician (SCENT) model. However, we additionally incorporate socioanalytic theory to demonstrate that this indirect effect is moderated: the image enhancement motive translates into greater feedback-seeking behavior and task performance ratings only for employees with high political skill, who are capable of acting on their image enhancement motive successfully.     

Does power corrupt? The moderating effect of status

Findings on the effect of power on corruption are mixed. To make sense of these mixed results, three studies were conducted to examine the moderating role of status on this effect. In Study 1, corrupt intent was measured using a corruption scenario that contained manipulations of power and status. In Study 2, corrupt behaviour was measured in a corruption game that contained manipulations of power and status. Study 3 was conducted in real organisational settings, and aimed to expand the external validity of Studies 1 and 2. The results of all three studies consistently indicated that the effect of power was moderated by status. Specifically, power increased corruption when status was low, whereas this effect disappeared when status was high. The implications of reducing the facilitating effect of power on corruption by considering status from the perspective of social hierarchy are discussed.