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A meta‐analytic investigation into the moderating effects of situational strength on the conscientiousness–performance relationship
Author(s) -
Meyer Rustin D.,
Dalal Reeshad S.,
Bonaccio Silvia
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of organizational behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.938
H-Index - 177
eISSN - 1099-1379
pISSN - 0894-3796
DOI - 10.1002/job.602
Subject(s) - conscientiousness , situational ethics , psychology , meta analysis , job performance , social psychology , personality , big five personality traits , applied psychology , job satisfaction , medicine , extraversion and introversion
Debates about the utility of conscientiousness as a predictor of job performance have focused primarily on mean effect size estimates, despite theoretical and empirical reasons to expect variability across situations. The present study meta‐analytically demonstrates that occupation‐level situational strength is one important source of this variability. Consistent with theory, predicted uncorrected conscientiousness–performance correlations ranged from r = .09 to .23 (overall performance) and r = .06 to .18 (task performance), with stronger correlations observed in weak occupations. These results highlight the need for continued inquiry into the nature of situational strength, its impact on other predictor–outcome relationships, and the implications of these issues vis‐à‐vis theory and practice. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.