The role of negative affectivity in employee reactions to job characteristics: Bias effect or substantive effect?

Abstract

The hypothesized role of the personality trait negative affectivity (NA) in employee reactions to jobs has been debated in recent years. Some researchers have argued that this dispositional variable biases self‐reports of job‐related variables, whereas others have argued that its role is substantive in that NA might affect or be affected by job variables. This study tested competing hypotheses concerning relations of two measures of NA with both incumbent and non‐incumbent measures. Results supported the substantive and not the bias hypothesis: NA correlated significantly with non‐incumbent, but not with incumbent, measures of job characteristics.

Complex Relationships Among Personality Traits, Job Characteristics, and Work Behaviors

“…The results show that the ratings by job incumbents and their supervisors were related, although their perceptions differed (cf. Spector et al, 1999).…”

“…The relationships between job characteristics and job outcomes were not associated with negative affectivity, but positive affectivity showed a weak association with these relationships. Spector, Fox, and Van Katwyk (1999) rejected the bias hypothesis, stating that negative affectivity relates only to job characteristics as rated by incumbents. On the contrary, negative affectivity correlated with job characteristics rated by supervisors and job analysts, but not with job characteristics rated by job incumbents.…”

The Role of Acceptance and Job Control in Mental Health, Job Satisfaction, and Work Performance.

“…Such widespread, or "common," biases are problematic in that they may produce correlations among measures (e.g., between those of acceptance and mental health) when the constructs that they represent are not actually associated (e.g., Spector, Fox, & Van Katwyk, 1999). We believe that this confounding potential for negative affectivity and locus of control may appear when testing for associations between acceptance, on the one hand, and mental health and job satisfaction, on the other.…”

The Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Iranian Language Institute Teachers’ Job Satisfaction

“…According to Spector (1997), job satisfaction is simply how people feel about different aspects of their jobs, and it actually refers to the extent to which people like or dislike about their jobs (Spector, Fox, & Van Katwyk, 1999). Dormann and Zapf (2001) claimed that job satisfaction has become one of the most important research concepts in organizational psychology.…”