Trait Activation Theory Research Articles

The Influence of Introversion–Extroversion on Service Quality Dimensions: A Trait Activation Theory Study

Personality characteristics influence individuals’ perceptions, evaluations, and behaviors toward external stimuli. This study aims to investigate the influence of the extroversion–introversion personality characteristics of hospitality customers on the amount of value they attached to the different service quality dimensions. The influence of customers’ personality characteristics on the amount of value attached to the different service quality dimensions has not been previously studied by researchers. The data were obtained from 508 Turkish tourists staying at five-star hotels in holiday resorts located on the Aegean coast of Turkey. Partial least-squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the data. At the measurement model stage, the scales were subjected to reliability and validity tests. It was seen that all the variables in the measurement model met the reliability and validity criteria. The structural model and the hypotheses were tested to examine the relationships between the latent variables. The results show that while introvert customers tend to attach more value to the tangibles dimension of service quality, extrovert customers tend to attach more value to the empathy dimension of service quality.

When and why proactive employees get promoted: A trait activation perspective.

Although there is a consensus that workplace proactivity is vital for both employees and organizations, little is known as whether proactivity is beneficial for employees to develop leadership capabilities. Drawing from trait activation theory, we theorize that proactive personality could enhance employee promotability through taking charge behavior. We also propose that task structure determines the odds that proactive employees might be promoted. We tested the theoretical model with data from 226 employees and their direct leaders in 26 teams at three time points. The results of multi-level path analysis indicated that the positive relationship between proactive personality and taking charge was stronger in more organic work unit, which in turn, positively related to employees' promotability. These findings provide new knowledge in understanding the impacts of proactive personality and offers important empirical practices for proactivity management for organizations.

The New Foundation of Organizational Psychology. Trait Activation Theory in the Workplace: Literature Review

The New Foundation of Organizational Psychology. Trait Activation Theory in the Workplace: Literature Review

When and How Tourists Engage in Citizenship Behavior: The Interactive Effect of Trait Gratitude and Positive Resident–Tourist Contact

This study investigates when and how trait gratitude stimulates tourist citizenship behavior (TCB). Building on trait activation theory, the present study proposes a mediated moderation model in which tourists’ trait gratitude and positive resident–tourist contact jointly influence TCB. In driving TCB, the interactive effect of trait gratitude and positive contact is mediated by perceived insider status. Data were collected from 497 Mount Wuyi tourists and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results reveal that trait gratitude positively influences TCB, and this relationship is moderated by positive contact. Furthermore, positive contact moderates the association between trait gratitude and perceived insider status. Additionally, perceived insider status, which is positively related to TCB, significantly mediates the moderating effects of positive contact on the link between tourists’ trait gratitude and TCB.

CEO narcissism and innovation ambidexterity: The moderating roles of CEO power and firm reputation

AbstractWe examine how CEO narcissism affects firm innovation ambidexterity—the relatively balanced development in existing domains through exploitative innovation and in new domains through exploratory innovation. We theorize that firms led by more narcissistic CEOs are less likely to achieve innovation ambidexterity than those led by less narcissistic CEOs. Drawing on the trait activation theory, we further argue that this negative relationship is strongest when the CEO's power is intermediate and when the firm's reputation in the market is intermediate. Our analyses of a large‐scale onsite survey collected from 132 Chinese firms, matched with their archival patent information, support our hypotheses. Our study first sheds new light on the existing literature on the influence of firm managers on innovation ambidexterity by considering their different personalities. Second, this study contributes to the strategic leadership research on CEO narcissism by extending its implications to innovation ambidexterity as a new organizational outcome. Third, our study indicates that narcissistic CEOs' priority orders to chase the two conflicting needs—that is, the need to dominate decision‐making and the need for acclaim—vary in different scenarios. This finding thus challenges the assumption in prior CEO narcissism research that the behavioral manifestations of narcissistic personalities' different facets are the same regardless of the contextual scenarios.

The relationship between Machiavellianism and knowledge hoarding: a moderated mediation model

ABSTRACT This research examines the relationship between employees’ Machiavellianism and knowledge hoarding. Socioanalytic theory is used to explore the mediating role of knowledge-based psychological ownership, and trait activation theory is used to explore the moderating role of employee relationships. A questionnaire survey was administered to 335 full-time employees in China to collect data for the analysis, which was performed using hierarchical regression and bootstrapping. The results show that Machiavellianism positively predicts knowledge hoarding. Moreover, knowledge-based psychological ownership plays a partial mediating role between Machiavellianism and knowledge hoarding. Both affective relationships and instrumental relationships can moderate the relationship between Machiavellianism and knowledge-based psychological ownership and the mediation of Machiavellianism on knowledge hoarding via knowledge-based psychological ownership. This research enriches the theoretical framework of knowledge hoarding activities and provides theoretical guidance and empirical evidence for organisations seeking to effectively manage negative knowledge activities.

How Career Exploration Affects Employment Outcomes: A Two-Wave Study Among Young Chinese Adults

Drawing on social cognitive career theory (SCCT) and trait activation theory, this study investigated how and when career exploration affects career outcomes in early adulthood with an integrated conceptual framework. Data came from a two-wave survey of young Chinese adults ( N = 239). This study examined a serial mediation model in which career exploration related to career satisfaction and person-job fit via career success criteria clarity (CSCC) and career decision making self-efficacy (CDSE) sequentially. Results showed, as expected, that more career exploration was related to higher career satisfaction and better person-job fit via higher career success criteria clarity and CDSE. In addition, results indicated that the indirect effect of career exploration on career outcomes becomes stronger when family socioeconomic status is lower. The current research provided insights into the underlying mechanisms between career exploration and career outcomes and the findings offered practical implications for both career educators and consultants.

The stimulation mechanism of students' entrepreneurial intention in entrepreneurship course: A trait activation theory perspective.

This study examines the extent to which flow experience inhibits/enhances the effects of students' creativity on their entrepreneurial intentions. This study provides evidence to support the contention that flow experience moderates the relationship between creativity and entrepreneurial intention by reference to a field survey of 226 Chinese college students in six college classes. Adopted by a hierarchical regression, this study found that creativity has a significant positive impact on entrepreneurial behavior. Within the subdimensions of flow, Intrinsic work motivation and Work enjoyment plays a significant positive moderating role in the relationship between creativity and entrepreneurial behavior, while absorption does not have such moderating effect. These findings reveal the process and mechanism by which creativity affects entrepreneurial intention and the associated psychological contingency factors.

Does owner CEO narcissism promote exporting SMEs' market spreading strategy? Joint effects of asset-specific investments and firm exporting experience

This study explores the influence of owner chief executive officer (CEO) narcissism on the market spreading strategy of exporting small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs). Combining insights from the literature on CEO narcissism and trait activation theory, it is argued that SMEs with narcissistic owner CEOs are more likely to prefer a market spreading strategy, depending on firm-level asset-specific investments and exporting experience. The empirical analysis of a sample of 248 exporting SMEs in China supports the theoretical prediction that owner CEO narcissism has a positive impact on the preference toward a market spreading strategy. In addition, the results show that asset-specific investments weaken the positive influence of owner CEO narcissism on the preference of a market spreading strategy, but this negative moderating effect becomes less significant as SMEs gain more exporting experience. This paper contributes to the emerging research on the role of owner CEO narcissism in firm internationalization decisions, offering a more complete understanding of the extent to which owner CEO narcissism can influence exporting SMEs' tendency toward market spreading, and delineating how such influence may be dependent on organizational-level situational factors.

Personality trait imprints across generations: small family business context

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate how the congruence between predecessor and successor personality traits (PTs) with the values of their small family business (SFB) contributes to a successful succession transition across generations.Design/methodology/approachThe conceptual model method was employed in this investigation, which describes an entity and identifies issues that should be considered in a study (MacInnis, 2011). It involves a form of theorizing that seeks to create a nomological network around the focal concept, to examine and detail the causal linkages and mechanisms at play (Delbridge and Fiss, 2013).FindingsDrawing on the trait activation theory (TAT), this study conceptualizes that the congruence of the successor's PTs with those of the predecessor, as well as the values, transitions and nature of the assigned task, activates the successor's PTs and motivates him to work diligently for a successful succession transition while preserving the business's core values established by the founder.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is an eye-opener for strategists and SFB predecessors to ponder the successor's PTs disparities across generations. Additionally, it urges them to consider the congruence of SFB's values and nature of operations with the successor's PTs for successful succession transition. Thus, such awareness may contribute to stabilizing the SFB's survival rate.Originality/valueThis study contributed to the existing literature by answering how predecessor’s and successor's PTs congruence and SFB's values and nature of operations congruence with their PTs may contribute to successful succession transition across generations. This study contributed to the TAT by thematically explaining the organizational cues to bridge a relationship between entrepreneurial personality traits (EPT) and succession success of SFBs.

Effect of Work Values on Miners’ Safety Behavior: The Mediating Role of Psychological Empowerment and the Moderating Role of Safety Climate

Although numerous studies have confirmed the important influence of values on employees’ behavior, less is known about the relationship between work values and miners’ safe behavior. Based on self-verification theory and trait activation theory, this study constructed a structural equation model to explore the effect of work values on miners’ safety behavior, using psychological empowerment as a mediating variable and safety climate as a moderating variable. Data were collected from 207 miners in three coal mines in China. The model was examined using a hierarchical regression analysis and the bootstrapping method. The results showed that three types of work values significantly and positively predicted miners’ safety behavior, and psychological empowerment mediated the relationship between work values and miners’ safety behavior. However, the moderating role of safety climate was not supported. The results enrich the boundary conditions under which work values influence miners’ safety behavior and provide coal managers with intervention measures such as cultivating miners’ work values and psychological empowerment, which can improve miners’ safety behavior.

Leader Narcissism, Perceived Leader Narcissism and Employee Outcomes:The Moderating Effect of Goal

Leader narcissism is an important issue in organizational management. However, its effects on employees outcomes yield inconsistent results. A review of extant literature on leader narcissism suggests that its downside or upside effects may depend on situational moderators that explain when and why leaders’ latent narcissistic traits are activated and manifested in behavioral tendencies. In response to this, the present research drew on trait activation theory and identified leaders’ perceived goal congruence with their followers as a key boundary condition that is likely to activate narcissistic leaders’ behavioral expressions. Multilevel analysis of a sample of 55-leader and 214-follower pairing from multisource and multiwave showed that when narcissistic leaders perceive high goal congruence with employees, their latent traits tend to be elicited and expressed in behaviors, which leads to employees’ perceived leader narcissism and in turn negatively affects perceptions of leader effectiveness, employee performance and employee creativity. The results serve as a response to the contradictory findings of the effects of leader narcissism and suggest implications for theory and practice.

Creating Cognitive Style and Employee Creativity in the Uncertain Work Context

Drawing on trait activation theory, we examine the mechanism through which creating cognitive style influences employee creativity in the uncertain work context. Using multi-level, multi-source, and multi-wave sample of 221 employees from 42 teams in mainland China, we have four major findings. First, work uncertainty activates the trait of creating cognitive style and enhances its effect on creative role identity. Second, creative role identity mediates the relationship between creating cognitive style and employee creativity. Third, work uncertainty is positively related to team problem-solving demand, and team problem-solving demand enhances the positive effect of creative role identity on employee creativity. Fourth, work uncertainty and team problem-solving demand moderate the indirect effect of creating cognitive style on employee creativity via creative role identity. The indirect effect of creating cognitive style is highest when both work uncertainty and team problem-solving demand are higher. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Supplementary analysis suggests that the moderated mediation effects remain when planning cognitive style serves as a parallel independent variable or creative self-efficacy serves as a parallel mediator. The result attenuates omitted variable bias. The study contributes to creativity literature.

A Contingency Approach to the Impacts of Impression Management on Individual Performance

Due to today's business environment in which the task interdependence and team-based work is increasing, organizational members are experiencing a high level of social interaction in their organizational life. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the effects of impression management tactics used by employees in their interaction and the contingencies that strengthen their effectiveness. In this background, this study investigates the effects of impression management tactics such as ingratiation and self-promotion on individual performance. Then, it also tends to shed light on the contingencies that individual personality influences on the effectiveness of these tactics. Based on trait activation theory, it is hypothesized that extraversion and openness to experience strengthen the relationship between ingratiation and performance, while agreeableness weakens the influence of self-promotion on performance. I collected research data from a survey with 22 employees in a Korean organization. As a result, self-promotion was found to have a positive effect on individual performance evaluated by a supervisor, whereas the effect of ingratiation was not significant. Predictions on moderating effects were all supported.

Who Displays Exploitative Leadership and Who Bears the Brunt?

This study examines the link between leader Machiavellianism, followers’ perceptions of exploitative leadership, and follower wellbeing. Results from a study with 108 leader-follower dyads revealed that leader Machiavellianism, with its inherent focus on calculative and manipulative behaviors, predicted exploitative leadership. Exploitative leadership, in turn, was positively related to subordinates’ level of emotional exhaustion. Invoking an interactionist perspective on destructive leadership and drawing on trait activation theory, leaders’ evaluations of subordinate performance were found to amplify the effect of leader Machiavellianism on exploitative leadership.

The Individual Differences and Competencies of Hybrid Workers: A Systematic Review

Despite the significant increase in employees working away from the traditional office (i.e., hybrid work), our understanding of the individual differences that support hybrid workers’ success remains fragmented, limiting theoretical development and practical applications. To remedy this gap in the literature, we conducted a systematic review of the individual differences and capabilities (i.e., traits, abilities, skills) related to hybrid work outcomes (e.g., job performance, job satisfaction). We identified 53 studies published in 49 published and unpublished sources. Then, to gain an understanding of common clusters of individual differences and capabilities, we inductively grouped the extracted study variables to identify three trait and ability clusters (e.g., Big Five Personality, other personality constructs, abilities) and four higher-order competency clusters (e.g., self-management, interpersonal-focused, leadership-specific, technology-based). To aid in practical applications and future research directions, we connected these trait and competency clusters to two computer-mediated work theories (e.g., media richness theory, social presence theory) and two organizational behavior theories (e.g., trait activation theory, role theory).

Better Safe Than Sorry: How CEO Neuroticism Affects Time-To-Recall in Product Recalls

Extant research on product recalls provides substantial insights on the determinants of recall frequency, but less is known about what determines time-to-recall, i.e., how quickly firms issue a recall once a defect surfaces. Building on upper echelons theory and personality theory, we argue that CEOs’ personality impacts time-to-recall. Specifically, we propose that more neurotic CEOs are more vigilant when they face uncertainty, as they do when making recall decisions, and strive to avoid the potential threat of social disapproval from recalling late, leading to lower time-to-recall. We contextualize this argument by taking a configurational approach to personality to hypothesize that another personality trait, CEO agreeableness, increases the salience of the threat of social disapproval and thus positively moderates the main relationship. Further, we invoke trait activation theory to argue that more negative recent CEO media tenor provides a trait-relevant situational cue which reinforces CEOs’ neurotic tendencies and thus also positively moderates the main relationship. We find broad support for our theory in analyses on a sample of 1,573 product recalls in the U.S. healthcare industry.

Promoting Voice in Policing: The Role of Imagination, Centralization, and Psychological Safety

This article aims to trace the antecedents of promotive and prohibitive voicing in the police workforce. We draw from trait activation theory to develop a model that includes individual and organizational factors that can create or hinder the social support necessary for police officers to adopt voice behavior. Specifically, we argue feelings of psychological safety emerge and encourage voicing from imaginative individuals depending on the centralization dynamics in which they operate. We used time-lagged, survey-based data from 326 Canadian police officers to test our theory. We found that imaginative officers operating in a decentralized context exercise more voicing thanks to heightened feelings of psychological safety. However, imagination can backfire in a context of centralization because officers feel less psychologically safe and refrain from speaking out. Our study helps shed light on which officers can become inclined to engage in voice behavior and under what circumstances, which offers significant contributions to both theory and practice.

Newcomer Proactive Personality and Creative Behavior

Organizational socialization may have unintended outcomes for newcomers. To extend this line of research, we integrate the proactive process model and trait-activation theory to explore whether and when newly-graduated proactive newcomers express or suppress their creative behavior during the socialization processes. We hypothesize that this positive relationship between newcomer proactive personality and creative behavior is weaker during the early socialization stage, but it becomes positive and stronger during the later socialization stage. Further, we examine demands-abilities fit perception as a critical boundary condition in activating proactive newcomers to express more creative behavior during the early socialization stage. Based on 290 newly-graduated newcomers with data collected at four critical transition stages, including one month before entry, during the first month after entry, three months after entry (the early socialization stage), and six months after entry (the later socialization stage), the results supported our hypotheses. Our findings provide theoretical and practical implications on how and when newcomers’ trait proactivity will be suppressed or released into creative outcomes during the socialization processes.

Does playful work design ‘lead to’ more creativity? A diary study on the role of flow

ABSTRACT Playful work design refers to the process through which employees proactively create conditions within work activities that foster enjoyment and challenge without changing the design of the job itself. Using flow theory, we propose that employees experience more work-related flow (work enjoyment, work absorption, and intrinsic work motivation) on the days when they playfully design their work – with positive implications for creative performance on these days. In addition, based on trait activation theory, we hypothesize that flow proneness strengthens the relationship of playful work design with work-related flow. A daily diary approach was employed to test the hypotheses. In total, 149 participants completed both baseline and daily questionnaires across five consecutive working days (total N = 552). Alternative Uses Task was used to measure objective creativity at work. Multilevel analysis showed that playful work design was positively associated with work-related flow, and work-related flow was significantly related to creativity – on a daily basis. In addition, employees high (vs. low) in flow proneness reported more flow and creativity when playfully designing their work. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.