Counterdispositional Conscientiousness and Wellbeing: How Does Acting Out of Character Relate to Positive and Negative Affect at Work?
Conscientiousness is typically seen as a positive or desired personality trait in the workplace, with the overall assumption being “the more, the better”. Drawing on the behavioral concordance model, we challenge this assumption, expecting that the highest level of positive affect and the lowest level of negative affect will correspond at the point where state and trait conscientiousness converge. Using an experience sampling study and an event reconstruction study, we show that deviations from one’s level of trait conscientiousness relate to variations in positive and negative affect, but not in a straightforward way. While wellbeing was lower when people behaved less conscientiously than …
Extraversion and performance approach goal orientation : An integrative approach to personality
Abstract Research shows that extraversion is unrelated to performance approach goal orientation, both at the trait- and the state-level. However, since previous studies have either focused on the trait- or the state-level, such a conclusion may be premature. Building upon the idea that acting against one’s trait consumes self-control resources, we reason that within-person deviations from one’s level of trait extraversion might negatively relate to performance approach goal orientation. Using experience sampling data from 47 employees across 10 days (N = 307), we found that deviations from one’s trait extraversion levels are associated with lower levels of performance approach goal orientat…
Concurrent and lagged effects of counterdispositional extraversion on vitality
Abstract There are two contrasting perspectives on the effects of state extraversion. One states that people benefit from behaving extraverted, regardless of their level of trait extraversion. The second entails that behaving concordant to one’s trait is natural while deviations from the trait level— counterdispositional behaviors—are effortful to maintain, leading to mental fatigue. We test the possibility that both perspectives are correct, with beneficial effects of high state extraversion showing immediately, while the depleting counterdispositional effects are delayed. Experience sampling data from 67 employees (N = 1,664), shows that extraverted behaviors are associated with high leve…