New Directions in Personality Research - Where Do We Go Now?

Abstract

As House, Shane, and Herald (1996) note, dispositional research (of which personality is a subset) has enhanced our understanding of organizational behavior and has important implications for practitioners. Unfortunately, however, the validity of personality research for predicting organizational outcomes, like job performance, is still questioned and acknowledged as relatively low (e.g. Barrick, Mount, & Judge, 2001; Morgeson, Campion, Dipboye, Hollenbeck, Murphy, & Schmitt, 2007; Murphy, 2005), despite the research stream being credited for its progress taxonomically (McCrae & Costa, 1997). There is room for optimism, however, as scholars in the past few years have made significant advancements in personality research. Therefore, the purpose of this panel symposium is to bring established personality scholars together to discuss both the new advancements in personality research and the gaps and issues that still remain. Thus, this panel symposium aims to encourage the advancement of personality research by scholars through the discussion of methodological, theoretical, and research design issues (and corresponding recommendations) on personality research. Specific topics include, but are not limited to: the person-situation debate, situational strength vs. trait activation, multiple personality measurement issues, and alternatives to the Big Five.