Abstract
Whereas several studies have demonstrated that core self-evaluations (CSE)–or one’s appraisals about one’s own self-worth, capabilities, and competences–relate to job outcomes, less is known about the mechanisms underlying these relationships. In the present study, we address this issue by examining the role of within- and between-person variation in CSE in the relationship between work pressure and task performance. We hypothesized that (a) work pressure relates to task performance in a curvilinear way, (b) state CSE mediates the curvilinear relationship between work pressure and task performance, and (c) the relationship between work pressure and state CSE is moderated by trait CSE. Our hypotheses were tested via a 10-day daily diary study with 55 employees in which trait CSE was measured at baseline, while work pressure, task performance, and state CSE were assessed on a daily basis. Bayesian multilevel path analysis showed that work pressure affects task performance via state CSE, with state CSE increasing as long as the employee feels that (s)he is able to handle the work pressure, while it decreases when the level of work pressure exceeds the employees’ coping abilities. Moreover, we found that for people low on trait CSE, the depleting effect of work pressure via state CSE happens for low levels of work pressure, while for people high in trait CSE the depleting effect is located at high levels of work pressure. Together, our findings suggest that the impact of work pressure on task performance is driven by a complex interplay of between- and within-person differences in CSE.
Highlights
Most studies on the role of personality in work and organizational settings have focused on the Big Five dimensions, arguing that they cover a large part of what is referred to as personality (Barrick and Mount, 1991; Barrick et al, 2001)
In the foregoing, we have argued that within-person variation in work pressure triggers within-person variation in core self-evaluations (CSE), and that performance varies as a function of the extent to which the individual feels that s/he can cope with the situational demands, which in the present study is captured by the level of state CSE
The intra-class correlations (ICCs) show that a substantial part of the variability in work pressure, state CSE, and task performance is due to within-person differences
Summary
Most studies on the role of personality in work and organizational settings have focused on the Big Five dimensions, arguing that they cover a large part of what is referred to as personality (Barrick and Mount, 1991; Barrick et al, 2001) Whereas this claim has been supported by a bulk of empirical research, it has become clear that the Big Five personality dimensions are not all encompassing, with one important example being that they “fail to capture chronic differences in how individuals evaluate themselves” Previous research has shown that there is a relationship between stable, between-person differences in CSE and stable, between-person differences in job outcomes, no studies have focused on if and how CSE relates to job outcomes on a day-to-day basis Such an understanding is important, both from a theoretical and a practical point of view. We aim to expand our understanding of the mechanisms underlying day-to-day fluctuations in CSE by examining (a) how day-to day variation in work pressure is related to day-to day variation in CSE, (b) how variable, within-person differences in CSE dynamically interact with stable, between-person differences in CSE, and (c) how within- and between-person differences in CSE together relate to job performance
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