Ivan T. Robertson

A meta‐analytic review of the Big Five personality factors and accident involvement in occupational and non‐occupational settings

Although a number of studies have examined individual personality traits and their influence on accident involvement, consistent evidence of a predictive relationship is lacking due to contradictory findings. The current study reports a meta-analysis of the relationship between accident involvement and the Big Five personality dimensions (extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness). Low conscientiousness and low agreeableness were found to be valid and generalizable predictors of accident involvement, with corrected mean validities of .27 and .26, respectively. The context of the accident acts as a moderator in the personality-accident relationship, with different personality dimensions associated with occupational and non-occupational accidents. Extraversion was found to be a valid and generalizable predictor of traffic accidents, but not occupational accidents. Avenues for further research are highlighted and discussed.

The validity of the occupational stress indicator

Abstract This paper investigates the validity of four subscales of the Occupational Stress Inventory (OSI). Data derived from a sample of British managers are used to generate a multitrait–multimethod matrix. The results obtained suggest that three of the four OSI sales (job satisfaction, mental health, type A behaviour) show acceptable validity. The fourth scale (locus of control) needs further development. Further analysis, using multiple regression procedures, was conducted to explore the validity of the theoretical ideas underlying the OSI. The results reveal that both sources of pressure at work and type A behaviour are linked to mental health and job satisfaction.

Full engagement: the integration of employee engagement and psychological well‐being

Purpose – By introducing the concept of “full engagement,” this article aims to propose that employee engagement is more likely to be sustainable when employee well‐being is also high.Design/methodology/approach – Research evidence covering the separate concepts is reviewed and evidence of the benefits that both engagement and well‐being confer on organizations is presented.Findings – Most current perspectives on employee engagement include little of direct relevance to well‐being and reflect a narrow, commitment‐based view of engagement. This view focuses too heavily on benefits to organizations. A broader conception of engagement (referred to as “full engagement”), which includes employee well‐being, is a better basis for building sustainable benefits for individuals and organizations.Research limitations/implications – Research exploring the links between employee engagement and well‐being is needed to validate and develop the propositions put forward in this article.Practical implications – A model fo...

Older people's well-being as a function of employment, retirement, environmental characteristics and role preference.

The life satisfaction and affective well-being of employed, unemployed and retired men and women aged between 50 and 74 were examined as a function of characteristics of their environment and the degree to which their current role was personally preferred. Early-retired and late-employed individuals had particularly high affective well-being. Role preference (e.g. to be in a job) was significantly associated with both indicators, with better well-being in those individuals who wanted to be in their current role. Both forms of well-being were a function of the features experienced in a role (opportunity for control, clarity, etc.), over and above the identification of role membership on its own, with the relationship between older peoples role occupancy (employed, unemployed or retired) and well-being being mediated by perceived environmental characteristics.

Activity and psychological well-being in older people

Affective well-being and life satisfaction between the ages of 50 and 74 were investigated as a function of the frequency with which individuals undertook six types of activity, after control for potential confounding variables. Overall activity level (across all types) was significantly positively associated with both outcome variables. Activities in the Family and Social and in the Church and Charity domains were found to be important in this age-range, but other types of activity were less consistently associated with affective well-being or life satisfaction. Differences were observed in the frequency of some activity types between men and women and between people in employment, unemployment and retirement. However, associations between activity and psychological well-being did not vary between men and women, and differences in correlations with well-being between non-employed and employed individuals were significant only for aggregate indicators.

Time-Related Individual Differences.

Postmodernism has brought about changing demands with respect to time in work organizations. While the impact of this has been given some attention at both the organizational and individual levels, far less has been given to a consideration of the extent to which individual differences might moderate the impact of such changes. In order to proceed with this line of enquiry it is necessary first to be able to measure individual differences related to time. This article through an analysis and synthesis of existing measures of individual attitudes/approaches to time, a subsequent qualitative study, and large quantitative survey study (n = 683), identifies a five-factor structure for time-related individual differences (Time Personality) and reports on the development of five complementary measurement scales: Leisure Time Awareness, Punctuality, Planning, Polychronicity and Impatience. The findings are discussed in the context of the role Time Personality might play in moderating the effects that differing organizational structures and changing work demands might have in organizational settings.

Conscientiousness and managerial performance

Recent research has provided clear evidence that personality factors are associated with job performance. The construct of conscientiousness has been shown to be a particularly promising predictor of overall job performance. Some authors have proposed that conscientiousness might be the ‘g’ of personality and predict performance in most occupational areas. The nature of the construct of conscientiousness is reviewed and consideration given to the likely behaviour associated with high conscientiousness. It is hypothesized that, given the requirements of managerial work, the criterion-related validity of conscientiousness may not extend to all managerial jobs. Conscientiousness scores are derived for a sample of managers (N= 437), with the aid of personality questionnaire data. In a concurrent validity design these scores are correlated with indicators of current job performance, promotability and specific job performance factors. The correlation of conscientiousness with current performance is close to zero and the correlation with promotability is -.20. The pattern of relationships between conscientiousness and the job performance factors is used to interpret the finding that conscientiousness is not influential in determining managerial performance. The results suggest that there may be limits to the range of occupational areas in which conscientiousness is closely linked with job performance.

Work Sample Testing

The general evidence supporting the use of work sample tests (good criterion — related validity, positive applicant reaction and job preview capability) is reviewed, limitations are also noted. The extent to which work sample tests may be used to limit adverse impact in selection is reviewed and the extent to which work sample tests may be used to complement other selection instruments, in particular, cognitive ability tests, is discussed. Work sample tests are based on attempts to embody key tasks within the job in a selection instrument. Five distinctive (though not mutually exclusive) types of work sample tests are identified and validity evidence is reviewed. Key dimensions (bandwidth, fidelity, task specificity, necessary experience, type of tasks and mode of presentation and response) are identified and used to compare different types of work sample tests.

The Validity of Assessment Centres for the Prediction of Supervisory Performance Ratings: A meta-analysis

Purpose. The main aim of the present study is to update previous research data on the Assessment Center (AC) Validity, obtained in Gaugler study in 1987. This meta-analytic study focused on Assessment Center Validity examination. Study design. This meta-analysis examined works carried out from 1985 to 2005, 26 studies and 27 validity coefficients (N = 5850), linking the Overall Assessment Rating (OAR) to the supervisory performance ratings (PR) were analyzed. The same methodology as Gaugler employed to analyze data. AC has seen in terms of the ability to select the best candidates for a position, Overall Assessment Rating has used as a criterion measure Assessment Center Effectiveness. The validity of the individual competencies measurement has not considered. Findings. The average value of the correlation between the OAR and PR is 0.28 (95% confidence interval 0.24 ≤ ρ ≤ 0.32). Number of assessed competencies, number of original selection methods and type of procedure were taken into account. As might be expected, none of the variables are affected. Research implications for practice. Focus future research predictive validity AC deserves the following issues. Firstly, it is the need to expand and refine the criteria by which the validity of the AC is measured. Secondly, it is important to examine the validity of the AC competitive compared with simulation exercises with low ecological validity, such as case-tests. It has been suggested that this validity estimate is likely to be conservative given that assessment centre validities tend to be affected by indirect range restriction.

Human information-processing strategies and style

Abstract The interactions that take place between the human and artificial aspects of information–technology systems are basically cognitive. Research in cognitive psychology conducted over the past 30 years or so has demonstrated that people exhibit significant individual differences in the information–processing strategies that they adopt during problem solving and other decision making activities. The different strategies that have been observed are outlined and some ideas concerning the theoretical bases of these strategies are discussed together with the implications that such human characteristics have for the operation and design of man-machine systems.