Employee personality, justice perceptions, and the prediction of workplace deviance

We examined the relative and incremental prediction of workplace deviance (i.e., intentional acts that harm the organization or its employees) offered by personality and organizational justice perceptions in a sample of 464 employees working in a large retail organization. We found that personality - including a sixth factor called Honesty-Humility, and its facet of trait Fairness - accounted for incremental variance in deviance criteria beyond justice perceptions. We found little support for the reverse. From a practical standpoint, these findings suggest that organizations may benefit from personality-related interventions (e.g., screening job applicants for relevant traits) more so than from justice-related interventions (e.g., organizational changes involving policies and procedures) in order to reduce workplace deviance. From a research perspective, our findings highlight the advantages of considering traits beyond the Big Five (e.g., Honesty-Humility) for maximizing the prediction and understanding of deviant behaviors at work.     

Interactive effects of personality and perceptions of the work situation on workplace deviance

Previous research on workplace deviance has examined the relationship of either personality or employees' situational perceptions with deviant behavior. In this study, the authors focused on the joint relationship of personality and perceptions of the work situation with deviant behavior. Using 4 samples of employees and multiple operationalizations of the core constructs, the authors found support for the hypothesis that positive perceptions of the work situation are negatively related to workplace deviance. In addition, consistent with hypotheses, the personality traits of conscientiousness, emotional stability, and agreeableness moderated this relationship. Specifically, the relationship between perceptions of the developmental environment and organizational deviance was stronger for employees low in conscientiousness or emotional stability, and the relationship between perceived organizational support and interpersonal deviance was stronger for employees low in agreeableness.     

Mastery approach and performance approach: the differential prediction of organizational citizenship behavior and workplace deviance,beyond HEXACO personality

Goal orientation has become one of the most studied motivational constructs in the psychology literature. However, in organizational contexts, the research focus to date has largely centered on the relationship between goal orientation and task performance—neglecting the valuable contribution of non-task work behaviors, such as workplace deviance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) to organization functioning. In this paper, we addressed this gap in the literature by investigating the differential prediction of performance approach and mastery approach goal orientation on workplace deviance and OCB, beyond personality correlates. We hypothesize that performance approach orientation is positively associated with workplace deviance and mastery approach orientation is positively associated with OCB. A sample of employed participants (n = 114) provided self-reports of goal orientation, workplace deviance, OCB and personality. Additionally, participants nominated a well-acquainted peer to provide peer-reports of their personalities. When controlling for personality, performance approach orientation positively predicted workplace deviance whereas mastery approach orientation positively predicted organizational citizenship behavior. This study is the first to our knowledge to explore the relationships between goal orientation and non-task work behaviors and to show that goal orientation adds to the understanding of workplace deviance and OCB, beyond personality. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

To Be,or Not to Be,Linear: An expanded representation of personality and its relationship to leadership performance

In this study, we tested for a set of complex, nonlinear relationships between derailing/dark side personality composites and leadership performance using two independent samples of managers/leaders (N=1306 and N=290 for Study 1 and 2, respectively). Based on the structure and characteristics of the derailing/dark side trait composites, we expected the relationship between these composites and leadership performance would best be described with an inverted U function. In Study 1, we found evidence of a nonlinear relationship between the derailing composite, as measured by the Global Personality Inventory^©, and behaviorally based, structured ratings of leadership performance in an assessment center. Similarly, Study 2 found evidence for a nonlinear relationship between dark side composites, as measured by the Hogan Development Survey^©, and supervisory/other ratings of leadership performance. We discuss the implications of these complex, nonlinear findings with respect to the continued use of personality for the selection and promotion of future leaders. Limitations of the current study and directions for future research are noted.     

Why people harm the organization and its members: Relationships among personality,organizational commitment,and workplace deviance

Based on the five-factor model of personality traits and social exchange theory, this study examines the relationships of personality traits, organizational commitment, and two target-based factors of workplace deviance (organizational deviance and interpersonal deviance), using a sample of 113 South Korean employees. By the use of path-analysis, we first found that Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability were meaningfully related to organizational commitment. In addition, both the effect of Conscientiousness on organizational deviance and the effect of Agreeableness on interpersonal deviance were partially mediated by organizational commitment. In sum, results clearly show that the personality traits of Conscientiousness (impersonal) and Agreeableness (interpersonal) function differently in predicting workplace deviance.     

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.     

A dynamic view of coach transformational leadership: How leadership perceptions relate to task cohesion and team potency

We examined whether athletes’ perceptions of coach transformational leadership across time related to task cohesion and team potency beliefs. Across multiple time points, we collected 384 observations (M = 5.41 observations per athlete) from competitive youth athletes via a mobile application designed to examine team dynamics. Multilevel structural equation modelling revealed intraindividual variation in athletes’ evaluations of coach transformational leadership across time. Further, we observed robust support for a positive relation between perceptions of coach transformational leadership and task cohesion over time at both the between- and within-person levels. The relation between coach transformational leadership and team potency was significant at the between-person level, however, we did not find support for this relation at the within-person level. These results provide insight into how the ebb and flow of coach transformational leadership over time connects to team cohesion, highlighting the need for more intensive longitudinal designs that capture the dynamic nature of leadership.     

The mediating role of work climate perceptions in the relationship between personality and performance

Although past research has demonstrated a link between personality and job performance, potential enabling factors of this relationship have yet to be explored comprehensively. We hypothesized that perceptions of work climate, specifically relationship dimensions—cohesion, supervisor support, and job involvement—might be the mechanism through which the relationship between personality and job performance can be explained. Two hundred and thirty Australian employees completed an online survey measuring personality, relationship dimensions of work climate (job involvement, coworker cohesion, and supervisor support) and job performance. Results revealed that the relationship dimensions of work climate fully mediated the relationship between agreeableness and job performance, and extraversion and job performance, while the relationship between neuroticism and job performance was partially mediated by relationship dimensions of work climate. Supervisor support primarily accounted for this mediated effect for the neuroticism–job performance relationship, whereas for extraversion only job involvement explained significant unique variance. Our findings suggest that the relationship of agreeableness, extraversion, and neuroticism with job performance is indirect, and perceptions of the work environment itself play a role in this relationship. This implies that organizations should consider the work environment, in addition to personality during selection procedures. Future research should examine whether different levels of work environment dimensions, foster greater job performance in employees.     

The impact of “non-targeted traits” on personality test faking,hiring, and workplace deviance

Evidence suggests that job applicants often “fake” on pre-employment personality tests by attempting to portray an exceedingly desirable impression in order to improve the likelihood of being selected. In the current research we shed light on the personality characteristics of those individuals who seem most likely to engage in faking. We refer to these personality variables as non-targeted traits when they are not directly targeted by the organization’s pre-employment personality test. These traits, however, may have an influence on targeted scores used for employment decision making through their effect on faking. Findings suggest that individuals will be more likely to be hired if they are low on non-targeted traits including Honesty–Humility, Integrity, and Morality, and high on Risk Taking. Such individuals also reported higher levels of workplace deviance in their current jobs. Thus, it seems that individuals low on Honesty–Humility, Integrity, and Morality, and individuals high on Risk Taking, may be most likely to engage in personality test faking, be hired, and participate in workplace deviant behaviors if these traits are not directly targeted in selection.     

Deprivation in the early mother-daughter relationship: A factor in the development of the narcissistic personality

Depriving mother-child relationships at an early age lay the foundation for narcissistic disturbances. Here, the specific focus is on mother-daughter relationships and the lack of appropriate maternal recognition and admiration of the infant. The particular treatment modality combines individual psychotherapy with a female therapist and group therapy in an all-women's group. The transferential phenomena to the various women found in this treatment situation are instrumental in helping the female patient achieve a significant change in her narcissistic personality.     

The relative importance of task and contextual performance dimensions to supervisor judgments of overall performance

Although evidence supports the unique contribution of task performance and contextual performance to overall evaluations, little is known about the relative contribution that specific dimensions of contextual performance make to overall performance judgments. This study evaluated the extent to which supervisors consider task and contextual performance by using relative weights (J. W. Johnson, 2000) to statistically describe the relative importance of specific dimensions of each type of performance to overall performance ratings. Within each of 8 job families in a large organization, each of 4 dimensions of contextual performance made not only a unique contribution but a relatively important contribution to the overall evaluation. Evidence also supports the adaptive performance dimension of handling work stress as an aspect of contextual performance and job-task conscientiousness as an aspect of both task and contextual performance.     

The relationship between personality, approach to learning and academic performance

This study considers the relationship between students' approaches to learning, as measured by a short-form of Entwistle and Tait's (1995) Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory (RASI), the Big Five personality factors, as measured by Cattell's 16PFi, and the background variables of age, gender and prior educational achievement and academic performance. Subjects were 146 social science undergraduate students at a university in Scotland. Structural equation modelling identifies the Big Five personality factor scores account for between 22.7% and 43.6% of the variance across scores on the three approach to learning dimensions. Four of the Big Five personality factors and the three approach to learning dimensions were found to be poor predictors of academic performance. A linear regression analysis with academic performance as the dependent variable and age, prior educational attainment and conscientiousness as independent variables, accounted for 24.1% of the variance in performance. Our investigation suggests approach to learning is a subset of personality. However, we conclude it makes sense to measure these two groups of variables separately in educational settings.     

Leading yourself and leading others: Linking self-leadership to transformational,transactional, and laissez-faire leadership

It has often been proposed that one must lead oneself before being able to lead others (e.g., Drucker, 1999 Drucker, P. 1999. Managing oneself. Harvard Business Review, : March–April, 65–74.  [Google Scholar]; Manz & Sims, 1991 Manz, C. C. and Sims, H. P. Jr. 1991. Superleadership: Beyond the myth of heroic leadership. Organizational Dynamics, 19: 18–35. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Pearce, 2007 Pearce, C. L. 2007. The future of leadership development: The importance of identity, multi-level approaches, self-leadership, physical fitness, shared leadership, networking, creativity, emotions, spirituality and on-boarding processes. Human Resource Management Review, 17: 355–359. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). In two studies, we empirically investigated associations among self-leadership (with subfacets) and the full range leadership model (transformational, transactional, laissez-faire leadership) in N = 447 professionals with leadership experience (Study 1) and N = 35 leaders with N = 151 followers (Study 2). In both studies, leaders' self-leadership was positively associated with active styles of leading (transformational and transactional leadership) and negatively with passive styles of leading (laissez-faire leadership), as indicated by self- and follower-reports. These relationships remained even after controlling for sex, age, and leadership experience. Overall, data support the notion that effectively leading oneself is associated with effectively leading others.     

Hostility, job attitudes, and workplace deviance: test of a multilevel model

The authors tested a model, inspired by affective events theory (H. M. Weiss & R. Cropanzano, 1996), that examines the dynamic nature of emotions at work, work attitudes, and workplace deviance. Sixty-four employees completed daily surveys over 3 weeks, reporting their mood, job satisfaction, perceived interpersonal treatment, and deviance. Supervisors and significant others also evaluated employees' workplace deviance and trait hostility, respectively. Over half of the total variance in workplace deviance was within-individual, and this intraindividual variance was predicted by momentary hostility, interpersonal justice, and job satisfaction. Moreover, trait hostility moderated the interpersonal justice-state hostility relation such that perceived injustice was more strongly related to state hostility for individuals high in trait hostility.     

Contributions of psychopathic, narcissistic, Machiavellian, and sadistic personality traits to juvenile delinquency

The aim of this study was to assess the relative contributions of psychopathic, narcissistic, Machiavellian, and sadistic traits to delinquent behaviors in adolescents. Participants were 615 high-school students who completed self-report questionnaires. Psychopathic, narcissistic, Machiavellian, and sadistic traits were moderately correlated suggesting they may be overlapping but distinct constructs. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to control for other socio-familial or psychopathological risk factors. Psychopathic and sadistic traits were independent predictors of delinquent behaviors in boys only. These findings suggest the importance of studying the role of sadistic traits in juvenile delinquency.     

How management style moderates the relationship between abusive supervision and workplace deviance: An uncertainty management theory perspective

Based on uncertainty management theory [Lind, E. A., & Van den Bos, K., (2002). When fairness works: Toward a general theory of uncertainty management. In Staw, B. M., & Kramer, R. M. (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 24, pp. 181–223). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.], two studies tested whether a management style depicting situational uncertainty moderates the relationship between abusive supervision and workplace deviance. Study 1, using survey data from 379 subordinates of various industries, found that the positive relationship between abusive supervision and organizational deviance was stronger when authoritarian management style was low (high situational uncertainty) rather than high (low situational uncertainty). No significant interaction effect was found on interpersonal deviance. Study 2, using survey data from 1477 subordinates of various industries, found that the positive relationship between abusive supervision and supervisor-directed and organizational deviance was stronger when employees’ perceptions of their organization’s management style reflected high rather than low situational uncertainty.     

Personality in teams: Its relationship to social cohesion,task cohesion,and team performance

This study continued past research on the relationship between personality composition in teams and social cohesion and team performance (Barrick, Stewart, Neubert, & Mount, 1998). Results from the Barrick et al. sample (N = 50) were compared with data from two new samples, one comprising drilling teams in the US (N = 24), and the other comprising student teams in The Netherlands (N = 25). Furthermore, this study examined the relationship between personality composition and task cohesion, usually considered to be a stronger predictor of team performance than social cohesion. Results partly confirmed the relationships between personality composition, cohesion, and team performance that were found previously. Minimum levels of conscientiousness and agreeableness contributed positively to both task cohesion and team performance. High mean levels of extraversion and emotional stability contributed positively to social cohesion. Some results differed across the three samples, stressing the importance of task characteristics as a factor influencing relationships between team personality, team processes, and team performance. Although significant relationships were found between social cohesion, task cohesion, and performance, cohesion measures did not mediate relationships between personality composition and team performance.