The Person–Situation Debate Revisited: Effect of Situation Strength and Trait Activation on the Validity of the Big Five Personality Traits in Predicting Job Performance

Abstract

Derived from two theoretical concepts -situation strength and trait activation -we develop and test an interactionist model governing the degree to which five-factor model personality traits are related to job performance. One concept -situation strength -was hypothesized to predict the validities of all Big-Five traits, while the effects of the othertrait activation -were hypothesized to be specific to each trait. Based on this integrative model, personality-performance correlations were located in the literature, and occupationally homogeneous jobs were coded according to their theoretically-relevant contextual properties. Results revealed that all five traits were more predictive of performance for jobs in which the process by which the work was done represented weak situations (e.g., work was unstructured, employee had discretion to make decisions). Many of the traits also predicted performance in job contexts that activated specific traits (e.g., extraversion better predicted performance in jobs requiring social skills, agreeableness was less positively related to performance in competitive contexts, openness was more strongly related to performance in jobs with strong innovation/creativity requirements). Overall, the findings supported our interactionist model in which the situation exerts both general and specific effects on the degree to which personality predicts job performance. PERFORMANCEDerived from two theoretical concepts -situation strength and trait activation -we develop and test an interactionist model governing the degree to which five-factor model personality traits are related to job performance. One concept -situation strength -was hypothesized to predict the validities of all Big-Five traits, while the effects of the other -trait activation -were hypothesized to be specific to each trait. Based on this integrative model, personality-performance correlations were located in the literature, and occupationally homogeneous jobs were coded according to their theoretically-relevant contextual properties.Results revealed that all five traits were more predictive of performance for jobs in which the process by which the work was done represented weak situations (e.g., work was unstructured, employee had discretion to make decisions). Many of the traits also predicted performance in job contexts that activated specific traits (e.g., extraversion better predicted performance in jobs requiring social skills, agreeableness was less positively related to performance in competitive contexts, openness was more strongly related to performance in jobs with strong innovation/creativity requirements). Overall, the findings supported our interactionist model in which the situation exerts both general and specific effects on the degree to which personality predicts job performance.

Avaliação de ambientes ocupacionais: construção do Inventário de Classificação Ocupacional

“…Por exemplo, atividades de trabalho caracterizadas por pouca interação social seriam inadequadas para pessoas com características marcantes de extroversão e comportamento gregário (Judge & Zapata, 2015). A caracterização de determinado ambiente ocupacional permite estabelecer as características de personalidade que aumentam a chance de sucesso e satisfação naquele ambiente (Magalhães & Teixeira, 2015).…”

“…O desenvolvimento de medidas para avaliação de ambientes é fundamental para diversos campos de pesquisa em psicologia que adotam uma visão interacionista, na qual o comportamento resulta da interação entre pessoa e ambiente (Judge & Kristof-Brown, 2004;Funder, 2009;Judge & Zapata, 2015). Nessa perspectiva, Judge e Zapata (2015) constataram que traços de personalidade são preditores de desempenho em contextos de trabalho que ativam estes traços específicos, por exemplo: extroversão é melhor preditor de desempenho em ambientes que demandam habilidades sociais; abertura a experiência foi preditor de desempenho em ocupações que requerem inovação e criatividade; e, amabilidade (agreeableness) obteve relação negativa com o desempenho em contextos altamente competitivos.…”

“…O modelo RIASEC fornece uma descrição análoga de características pessoais e ambientais, favorecendo a análise de suas interações e de seu impacto no comportamento. A compreensão das atividades e demandas interpessoais exigidas em um ambiente ocupacional específico estabelece critérios para escolhas de carreira, bem como para seleção e movimentação de pessoas em organizações (Judge & Zapata, 2015).…”

Assessing Competencies and Proficiency of Army Intelligence Analysts Across the Career Life Cycle

“…Openness to experience is also associated with job performance, particularly for jobs that are relatively unstructured or in which personnel have discretion to make decisions or have a strong requirement for innovation or creativity (Judge and Zapata, 2015).…”

Using O*NET to Develop a Framework of Job Characteristics to Potentially Improve the Predictive Validity of Personality Measures

“…Recently, Judge and Zapata (2015) conducted a meta-analysis investigating the validity of Big Five personality traits in predicting job performance as a function of situation strength and trait activation. Occupations were classified along situation strength and trait activation variables by coding O*NET context items as informed by theories on the dimensions of situational strength and trait activation (Meyer et al, 2010;Tett & Burnett, 2003).…”