Edgar E. Kausel

The neurotic employee: Theoretical analysis of the influence of narrow facets of neuroticism on cognitive, social, and behavioral processes relevant to job performance

In this chapter, we argue that despite the fact that empirical research on trait neuroticism has shown fairly weak relations between the broad neuroticism trait and overall job performance, organizational research can benefit by increased attention to the neuroticism construct. This is because the influence of neuroticism on work behavior can be best understood by separating the more general neuroticism domain into its lower level facets. We discuss various conceptualizations of neuroticism and then review existing research on the relation between the facets of neuroticism and job performance. Next, we turn our attention to a theoretical framework that suggests that the relations between neuroticism facets and job performance outcomes are explained by the social, cognitive, and behavioral effects of having varying levels of neuroticism-based traits. In so doing, we not only focus on mediated relationships between facets of neuroticism and job performance dimensions but also recognize some important moderators, as well as some expected direct relations between the facets and job performance. Finally, we discuss implications for further conceptual development, offer some suggestions for testing the propositions, and discuss potential practical implications of finding support for this model.

Using General Mental Ability and Personality Traits to Predict Job Performance in Three Chilean Organizations

Although the field of personnel selection has amounted around 100 years of research, there has been an overrepresentation of American and Western European samples in these studies. In particular, samples from Latin America have been almost entirely absent from industrial and organizational psychology journals. Thus, it is unknown whether well‐documented findings, such as the prediction of job performance based on general mental ability and conscientiousness, replicate in this region. This research intended to address this gap in the literature with three studies conducted in Chilean organizations, using different research designs, and different operationalizations of predictors and criteria. Results are generally consistent with previous studies, showing that conscientiousness and general mental ability significantly predict job performance in these Chilean samples.

Responsible Personal Finance: The Role of Conscientiousness in Bank and Pension Savings in Chile

We investigate the role of trait conscientiousness, from the Big Five personality traits, in explaining individual saving behavior. Conscientiousness is a disposition to be responsible and pursue non‐immediate goals; thus, we expect this trait to positively predict saving behavior. Using a nationally representative survey from Chile, we find the expected effect of conscientiousness on pension and bank savings.

The Role of Narcissism and Should Counterfactual Thinking in the Hindsight Bias

Personnel selection decisions can lead to favorable outcomes, such as when a hired individual is successful, or unfavorable outcomes, such as when the hired individual underperforms in the workplac...

Assessing Others’ Risk‐Taking Behavior from Their Affective States: Experimental Evidence Using a Stag Hunt Game

Researchers are increasingly exploring the role of emotions in interactive decision‐making. Recent theories have focused on the interpersonal effects of emotions—the influence of the decisionmaker’s expressed emotions on observers’ decisions and judgments. In this paper, we examine whether people assess others’ risk preferences on the basis of their emotional states, whether this affects their own behavior, and how this assessment matches others’ actual behavior. To test these ideas, we used an experimental Stag Hunt game (n = 98), and included non‐trivial financial consequences. Participants were told (truthfully) that their counterparts’ previous task had left them happy, fearful, or emotionally neutral. People who were told their counterparts were fearful reported that they expected less risky decisions from these counterparts than people told their counterparts were neutral or happy. As a result, given that the Stag Hunt is a coordination game, these participants were themselves less risky. Interestingly, these participants’ expectations were not accurate; thus, coordination failed, and payoffs were low. This raises the possibility of a “curse of knowledge” whereby one player’s erroneous beliefs about the effects of the counterpart’s emotional state leads the first player to make poor action choices.

Scholarly impact in the organizational sciences in and from Iberoamerica

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to offer the author’s view about the conceptualization of scholarly impact, and some of the challenges young Iberoamerican scholars face to have an impact. Design/methodology/approach – This is a personal account based on previous theory and the author’s personal experience. Findings – The paper presents a short critique of the conceptualization and measurement of scholarly impact, and introduces dimensions and challenges of being a scholar in Iberoamerica. Originality/value – The paper offers an analytical perspective of scholarly impact in Iberoamerica and offers some insights to help overcome different challenges.