Retaining the Productive Employee: The Role of Personality

Abstract

Prior meta-analyses and quantitative reviews have examined the construct-related true-score correlations by personality in predicting important organizational outcomes or have focused on relatively specific, practical problems generally associated with using personality tests in selection. However, there lacks a theoretical integration of major theories developed in the literature. In this review, we propose an integrative research paradigm for personality research by identifying key mediating and moderating mechanisms explaining why, how and when personality traits predict employee work effectiveness. Based on the compatibility principle, we develop a theoretical model to reconceptualize the effect of the five-factor model (FFM) on broadly defined work effectiveness outcomes. We contend researchers have not exploited the breadth of the FFM bandwidth and thus have underestimated the predictive power of personality. In support of our new propositions, we systematically review the almost overwhelming literature by focusing on retaining productive employees, in order to contribute theoretically by identifying a few key generalizable findings and to improve managerial efficiency by uncovering possible “best practices”.     

Personality traits and career satisfaction of human resource professionals

Occupational choice frameworks suggest that personality factors influence person-job fit. This paper focuses on personality factors and career satisfactions of human resources (HR) managers. ‘Big Five’ and narrow personality traits as well as managerial style variables were drawn from an archive of 1846 HR managers and 1375 non-managers. Results indicated that HR managers differed from 51,297 individuals in other occupations and from non-managerial HR specialists on many of the study variables, most of which were also related to career satisfaction. Implications for differentiation selection and development of HR managers were discussed.     

Leaders' relational self-concept and followers' task performance: Implications for mentoring provided to followers

Using a sample of 137 leader–follower dyads, this study investigated how leaders' relational self-concept relates to the mentoring (career support and psychosocial support) they provide to their followers, and whether followers' task performance moderates this relationship. As expected, leaders with a stronger relational self-concept provided more career support to followers who displayed higher (vs. lower) task performance. However, leaders' relational self-concept was unrelated to their provision of psychosocial support, irrespective of followers' task performance.     

员工导师网络对员工职业生涯成功的影响研究

在梳理了员工导师网络的导师制理论、社会资本理论和职业成功理论后,运用SEM方法对员工导师网络的社会资本,导师网络效益与员工职业成功之间的关系进行了研究.结果表明:员工导师网络的社会资本对导师网络效益有显著影响;导师网络效益水平对员工的薪酬水平、升迁次数和职业满意度有影响,且与职业满意度显著正相关.     

Mentoring relationships: implications for practitioners and suggestions for future research

This review of the literature is intended to help HRD practitioners facilitate healthy mentoring relationships and better address potentially negative functions or outcomes of the mentoring process within their own organizations. This work provides a review of the social learning processes that play a role in mentoring relationships. In addition, it reviews the functions and outcomes of mentoring for individuals and organizations, as well as the characteristics of good mentors and the influence mentors have upon career choice. Finally, the implications for mentoring relationships among individuals with disabilities, minorities and women are briefly reviewed in order to provide practitioners with a sense of the breadth of individuals who may benefit from well-planned or well-implemented mentoring. This article concludes with critical comments on the current state of mentoring research. Suggestions are made for future research in order to stimulate greater study into certain aspects of mentoring.     

Employee absence,age and tenure: A study of nonlinear effects and trivariate models

Multiple regression techniques were used to explore the nature of the relationships between age, tenure and absence in 2417 British local government workers drawn from three work groups. The data were collected from organizational records and included measures of both non-certified absence and medically certified absence. Linear and curvilinear associations among age, tenure and absence were examined. The possible moderating or mediating role of tenure in the relationship between age and absence was subsequently analysed. The data revealed linear relationships between age and absence that were negative for non-certified absence and positive for certified absence. In contrast, curvilinear relationships were found between tenure and absence that were U-shaped for noncertified absence and inverse U-shaped for certified absence. Tenure was found to moderate but not to mediate the relationship between age and absence. The implications of the results are discussed in the context of the changing age and career paths of the workforce, and of methodological issues in absence research.     

The impact of frequency of contact on protégé mentoring outcomes: the moderating effects of protégé general self-efficacy and face-to-face interaction

As a Human Resource Development (HRD) intervention, mentoring assists individuals in their career development. However, it is still unknown if mentoring could enhance individuals’ early career decision-making. Moreover, the literature lacks longitudinal research that investigates the role of frequency of contact in mentoring relationships. Therefore, this study examines whether frequency of contact between mentor and protégé influences protégé mentoring outcomes, namely, improvement in career decision self-efficacy (i.e. CDSE development) and satisfaction with mentoring. Data were collected at two times from 86 first-year undergraduate students who participated in a mentoring programme at a Middle Eastern business school, where email communication facilitated the contact between these protégés and their mentors. Based on regression analyses, the associfations were significant between frequency of contact and mentoring outcomes. The findings partially confirmed the effects of two moderating variables in the relationships mentioned above. This study has practical implications for HRD practitioners in higher-education institutions.     

An Ecological Systems Perspective on Mentoring at Work: A Review and Future Prospects

After nearly 30 years as a subject of inquiry, mentoring remains a mainstay in the organizational literature, as relationships are arguably more important than ever to employees' personal and career growth. In this paper, we take an ecological perspective to situate and review topical areas of the literature with the intention of enhancing our understanding of how mentoring outcomes for protégés and mentors are determined not only by individual differences (e.g., personality) and dyadic factors (e.g., the quality of a relationship)—both of which represent the most frequently examined levels of analyses—but also the influences of the people from various social spheres comprising their developmental network, the larger organization of which they are a part, and macrosystem factors (e.g., technological shifts, globalization) that enable, constrain, or shape mentoring and other developmental relationships. Our review examines multi-level influences that shape mentoring outcomes, and brings into focus how the study of mentoring can be advanced by research at the network, organizational, and macrosystem levels. To help guide future research efforts, we assert that adult development and relational schema theories, Positive Organizational Scholarship, a social network perspective, signaling theory, and institutional theories can help to address emerging and unanswered questions at each ecological level.     

The Entrepreneurial Tendencies of Managers: a Research Note

In this study associations are sought between certain biographical, family, personality and career variables and the likelihood that managers will develop their own business venture. Results, based on an analysis of questionnaires completed by 194 managers, reveal that ownership of a business by self or parents together with certain personal characteristics predispose managers towards business founding. Contrary to expectations, job and career frustration does not incline managers towards proprietorship.     

Learning organization,organizational culture,and affective commitment in Malaysia: A person–organization fit theory

ABSTRACT

Based on person–organization fit theory, this article moves beyond theories of motivation and social exchange relationships that have often been used in commitment literature. This article contributes to understanding perceptions of organizational culture (OC) and affective commitment (AC) through perceptions of a learning organization (LO). Such understanding helps to tackle current commitment issues in Malaysia through strategic human resources development (HRD) planning and deploying organization development activities. We examined: (a) the extent to which organizations with an embraced LO mediated OC and AC, (b) the most influential component of OC in promoting employee AC, and (c) the most important component of LO for influencing OC and AC. We obtained 516 respondents (64.5% response rate) in selected Malaysian private organizations. It was concluded that LO mediated the relationship between OC and AC. Respect for people was an influential factor of OC for AC, while empowerment played a significant role in LO culture mediating the relationship between OC and AC. HRD practitioners should strategically plan organizational activities, norms, and policies that promote organizational learning processes and a learning culture to enhance AC.     

Trust in management and knowledge sharing: The mediating effects of fear and knowledge documentation

Knowledge sharing within and between teams is of vital importance for organizations. The influence of interpersonal trust in general and trust in management in particular on knowledge sharing is evident. However, it is not clear how the relationship between interpersonal trust and knowledge sharing works. This study provides a better understanding of that relationship by demonstrating that fear of losing one's unique value and knowledge documentation have a mediating effect on the relationship between trust in management and knowledge sharing. Specifically, trust in management increases knowledge sharing through reducing fear of losing one's unique value and improving willingness to document knowledge. These findings have important implications at both a managerial and theoretical level. For managers, this paper emphasizes the individual's central role in the knowledge sharing process in terms of knowledge documentation and fear of losing one's unique value. On the theoretical level, this study provides empirical evidence for two mechanisms that help explain the effect of trust in management on knowledge sharing. In future research, this study could be extended to include other psychosocial phenomena that enable knowledge sharing in organizations.     

Customer negative events and employee service sabotage: The roles of employee hostility,personality and group affective tone

Abstract

In the service industries, customer negative events towards a service provider, such as unreasonable demands or low-quality interpersonal treatment, might trigger service sabotage behaviours by the employee in response. Mitigating the problems associated with customer negative events is therefore an important issue for both practitioners and researchers. In the present study, we incorporate the perspectives of affective events theory into our research framework to clarify the mechanisms and boundary conditions of the customer negative event–service sabotage relationship in the context of face-to-face service. Specifically, we theorize and examine whether customer negative events lead to employee service sabotage through emotional reactions of the service worker (i.e. state hostility) and whether their personality traits (i.e. extraversion and neuroticism) and the work unit context (i.e. group affective tone) moderate this process. The sample was composed of 195 hairstylists and 61 managers from 61 hair salons in Taiwan. The results of hierarchical linear modelling showed that hairstylists' state hostility mediated the negative event–sabotage relationship. In addition, hairstylists' neuroticism and the affective tone of the unit moderated the relationship between negative events and state hostility, which in turn predicted service sabotage. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are also discussed.     

Mentoring,skill development,and career success of foreign expatriates

Previous literature on foreign assignments shows a high relevance of mentors for expatriates’ success. In this study we analyse the impact of different mentor-related factors on skill and career development. Drawing on social exchange theory, we develop five research hypotheses and test them using a sample of 59 US expatriates on assignments in Germany. Linear regression modelling reveals that organizational distance between the mentee and the mentor as well as the mentor’s involvement in career planning are positively related to skill development. Furthermore, there is a positive relationship between skill development and career development. We derive important implications for the implementation of mentoring in multinational corporations. The study is of value for researchers and practitioners in the areas of human resource management and organization.     

Informal Mentoring as an Organisational Resource

Mentoring is a mechanism for supporting junior managers but until now little research on the benefits to the organisation has been reported. This paper reports on a survey of managers in a UK local government authority to ascertain their views of the benefits of informal mentoring to the organisation. Both mentors and protégés perceived mentoring as investment in a future pool of managers and a tool for the management of change. Mentoring was also seen as assisting in the transfer of knowledge, organisational learning and cross-departmental communication—in other words, as nodes in an information network. Further research is suggested into mentoring as a micro-level knowledge-producing community of practice. As informal mentoring is likely to bring longer-term advantages to the organisation, the paper also discusses how to capture the benefits of informal mentoring when designing formal schemes.     

An Examination of the Impact of Career-Oriented Mentoring on Work Commitment Attitudes and Career Satisfaction Among Professional and Managerial Employees1

Data obtained from 164 proteges in managerial and professional positions in public and private sector organizations in Singapore were used to examine the impact of career-oriented mentoring on three work commitment attitudes (career, organization and job) and career satisfaction. Factor analysis of the 15-item career-oriented mentoring scale (Ragins and McFarlin, 1990) revealed a five-factor solution – coach, sponsor, protection, challenging assignments and exposure. These career-oriented mentoring roles were differentially related to job involvement, organizational commitment and career satisfaction, and explained modest amounts of the variance in these outcome variables. T-test results indicated that mentored respondents (N = 164) reported significantly higher levels of the outcome variables than non-mentored respondents (N = 225). Limitations of the study, directions for further research and implications of the findings are discussed.     

How displaying empathic concern may differentially predict career derailment potential for women and men leaders in Australia

Past research notes the importance of emotions in the workplace. Much less is known about the role that empathic concern, an affect-laden construct, plays in predicting a leader's career advancement using measures of one's upward mobility, such as career derailment potential. Data provided by practicing managers in Australia show that leaders who displayed behaviors that convey empathic concern receive lower ratings of career derailment potential. We also found that gender was a statistically significant moderator of these relationships. With boss rating of derailment potential as the outcome, the negative relationship between empathic concern and derailment potential was statistically significant for women only. With peer ratings of derailment potential as the outcome, the negative relationship between empathic concern and derailment potential was stronger for women than men. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

When does part-time employment allow managers with family responsibilities to stay on the career track? A vignette study among German managers

The present study examines the specific conditions under which part-time (PT) arrangements in managerial jobs allow parents with childcare responsibilities to stay on the career track. By integrating economic signaling theory and gender role congruity theory, a vignette study among German managers revealed that substantial PT hours, flexible working schedules, and flexible childcare arrangements positively influence decision makers’ personal promotion decisions. Further, we found a significant fatherhood bias with male PT managers receiving less favorable promotion decisions than female PT managers. The study further reveals that decision makers’ evaluations of managers’ levels of advancement motivation mediate several significant relationships. The paper discusses practical impactions and future research directions.     

The personality factor: how top management teams make decisions. A literature review

Past research has increasingly suggested that CEO/TMT personality can play a relevant role in influencing various external (e.g. firm performance) and internal (e.g. firm organizational structure) management outcomes. These promising results need appropriate systematization and discussion, which we aim at providing through a literature review based on rigorous inclusion/exclusion criteria. Our analysis shows great heterogeneity in regard to both the personality traits and the personality based management outcomes explored by the investigated population of studies. Thus, we specifically use the framework provided by the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality to codify the publications and this framework allows us to identify some possible theoretical trajectories. These trajectories mainly regard the empirical testing of the highlighted associations between CEO emotional stability, extraversion and conscientiousness with bureaucratization, strategic pro-activity and firm performance. Our article is primarily intended for those scholars and practitioners who want to improve their knowledge about psychology-based decision making and behavioural corporate governance through the understanding of how CEO/TMT personality can affect their strategic decisions.     

Employee absence, age and tenure: a study of nonlinear effects and trivariate models

Multiple regression techniques were used to explore the nature of the relationships between age, tenure and absence in 2417 British local government workers drawn from three work groups. The data were collected from organizational records and included measures of both non-certified absence and medically certified absence. Linear and curvilinear associations among age, tenure and absence were examined. The possible moderating or mediating role of tenure in the relationship between age and absence was subsequently analysed. The data revealed linear relationships between age and absence that were negative for non-certified absence and positive for certified absence. In contrast, curvilinear relationships were found between tenure and absence that were U-shaped for noncertified absence and inverse U-shaped for certified absence. Tenure was found to moderate but not to mediate the relationship between age and absence. The implications of the results are discussed in the context of the changing age and career paths of the workforce, and of methodological issues in absence research.