Abstract
A daily diary and two experience sampling studies were carried out to investigate curvilinearity of the within-person relationship between state neuroticism and task performance, as well as the moderating effects of within-person variation in momentary job demands (i.e., work pressure and task complexity). In one, results showed that under high work pressure, the state neuroticism–task performance relationship was best described by an exponentially decreasing curve, whereas an inverted U-shaped curve was found for tasks low in work pressure, while in another study, a similar trend was visible for task complexity. In the final study, the state neuroticism–momentary task performance relationship was a linear one, and this relationship was moderated by momentary task complexity. Together, results from all three studies showed that it is important to take into account the moderating effects of momentary job demands because within-person variation in job demands affects the way in which state neuroticism relates to momentary levels of task performance. Specifically, we found that experiencing low levels of state neuroticism may be most beneficial in high demanding tasks, whereas more moderate levels of state neuroticism are optimal under low momentary job demands.
Highlights
Because of its theoretical and practical significance, the relationship between personality and performance has been studied extensively [1]
The intra-class correlation coefficients revealed that only a small amount of the total variance in momentary task performance could be explained by betweenperson differences, while the large majority of the variation was within-person variation
Whereas our findings revealed that the within-person state neuroticism-momentary task performance relationship is generally linear, we found tentative support for a curvilinear relationship when we took into account the moderating effects of within-person fluctuations in momentary job demands
Summary
Because of its theoretical and practical significance, the relationship between personality and performance has been studied extensively [1]. Whereas the results of these studies have undisputedly demonstrated that personality relates to performance at work [2], almost all of them –including some meta-analytic ones– concluded that the relationship is relatively weak [3] – [5] Drawing on these results, some authors have urged practitioners not to rely too heavily on personality measures, while others have discouraged their use in personnel selection [6]. Some authors have urged practitioners not to rely too heavily on personality measures, while others have discouraged their use in personnel selection [6] Despite these early pessimistic findings, recent studies have shown that a number of methodological issues may account for these weak relationships. A number of recent studies have demonstrated that trait conscientiousness and trait neuroticism relate to overall task performance in a curvilinear way [2], [8], [10]
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