Personality and Extrinsic Career Success
Predicting Managerial Salary at Different Organizational Levels
Abstract
Abstract. The relationship between personality and salary was investigated among 4,150 managers. Individuals at five different managerial levels completed a measure of the Big Five personality dimensions as part of a work-related psychological assessment. The validity of personality for predicting salary was examined separately by managerial level, sex, as well as by purpose of assessment (selection versus development). Results indicated that personality predicts managerial salaries with useful levels of validity and thus is valuable for predicting extrinsic career success. While there was no evidence for differential validity by sex or purpose of assessment, results differed across managerial levels, with stronger relationships among the lowest and highest managerial groups (i. e., supervisors and top executives) largely due to increased predictor and criterion score variability.
Zusammenfassung. Der Zusammenhang zwischen Persönlichkeit und Gehalt wurde in einer Stichprobe von 4150 Managern untersucht. Individuen auf fünf verschiedenen Managementebenen füllten ein Big Five Persönlichkeitsinventar als Teil einer psychologischen Evaluation aus. Die Validität des Persönlichkeitsinventars zur Vorhersage des Gehalts wurde separat für die verschiedenen Managementebenen, Geschlecht sowie Zweck der Evaluation (Personalauswahl oder -entwicklung) untersucht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Persönlichkeit Managergehälter mit brauchbarer Validität vorhersagt und deshalb wertvoll für die Vorhersage von Berufserfolg ist. Des Weiteren gab es keine Anzeichen differentieller Validität nach Geschlecht und Evaluationszweck, jedoch unterschiedliche Ergebnisse für die verschiedenen Managementebenen. Der stärkere Zusammenhang zwischen Persönlichkeit und Gehalt auf der niedrigsten und höchsten Hierarchieebene ist hauptsächlich auf erhöhte Prädiktor- und Kriteriumsvariabilität zurückzuführen.
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