The joint power of personality and motivation dynamics for occupational success: Bridging two largely separated fields

Abstract

When establishing a career in adulthood, two major socioemotional ingredients are expected to affect people’s success: how people act (personality) and what motivates them to act this way (motivation). However, little is known about whether and how personality and motivation change together and how their possible dynamic interplay predicts success. We investigated the roles that changes in personality and expectancy beliefs played in explaining occupational success in 4121 participants assessed after high school ( Mage = 22.80, SDage = 0.70; 63% female) and about 20 years later. We used latent change models and moderated structural equation modeling to investigate correlated change and latent change interactions of personality and expectancy beliefs in predicting success. Results illustrated that besides being related in a nomological net, personality and expectancy beliefs also illustrated a strong interrelatedness in change across time. We found the clearest joint change dynamics between emotional stability, conscientiousness, self-concept, and self-efficacy. Changes in personality and expectancy beliefs were furthermore associated with objective and subjective occupational success. The results call for a more integrative view on personality-motivation dynamics across time for understanding the long-term adaptive ingredients of occupational success stories in adulthood.

Beyond Big Five trait domains: Stability and change in personality facets across midlife and old age

“…Our results thus highlight that facet‐specific analyses can bring to light what is hidden at the broad trait domain level. Given that personality characteristics and how these change over time often play a paramount role for a multitude of important life outcomes such as occupational success, health, or well‐being (Brandt et al, 2021; Roberts et al, 2007; Soto, 2019), understanding when personality is stable or changing is crucial to identify age periods when risk for detrimental life outcomes may be expressed. Future research should thus further invest to use information on differential change at the facet level to help to better understand antecedents, drivers, and consequences of personality stability and change.…”

A closer look at the domain‐specific associations of openness with language achievement: Evidence on the role of intrinsic value from two large‐scale longitudinal studies

“…Also, some researchers propose different models to describe how personality traits and academic motivation interrelate when predicting academic achievement. Recently, Brandt et al (2021) suggested that personality traits and motivational variables should be considered at the same level of analysis, showing that both constructs interrelate in how they change over time. While our study was not able to test this assumption, this suggestion does not contradict our findings.…”

“…Previous research has rarely considered the longitudinal associations of personality with achievement (Brandt et al, 2021; Göllner et al, 2017; Israel et al, 2019; Tackman et al, 2017), and most prior studies have focused exclusively on conscientiousness (for an exception, see Israel et al, 2022). Building on this research, we investigated the associations of openness with language achievement and the mediating role of intrinsic value using two large‐scale longitudinal data sets.…”

Kepribadian Peserta Didik SMK di Kota Bandung selama Pandemi COVID-19

“…Kemudian, Dóci et al (2021) melihat dinamika kepribadian di tempat kerja melalui perilaku interpersonal individu antara pimpinan dan karyawan, bahwa memalui interaksi yang berulang menunjukan hasil kecocokan antar kepribadian semakin nyambung. Sementara, Brandt et al (2021) mengkaji penelitian yang berfokus pada perubahan jangka panjang dalam ciri-ciri kepribadian daripada perubahan sesaat pada kepribadian individu. Lain halnya dengan penelitian Etzel dan Nagy (2021) dan Hanna et al (2021) yang meneliti dan mengkaji proses dinamika kepribadian individu yang mendasari kesesuaian antara individu dengan lingkungan.…”