Department of Management, Strome College of Business, Old Dominion University.
Department of Management, College of Business, Florida State University.
J Appl Psychol. 2018 Mar;103(3):324-333. doi: 10.1037/apl0000274. Epub 2017 Oct 9.
By integrating the fundamental principles of the theory of purposeful work behavior (TPWB; Barrick, Mount, & Li, 2013) with cognitive-affective personality system (CAPS) theory (Mischel, 1977; Mischel & Shoda, 1995), we examine how and when salespeople's job-relevant personality traits relate to their performance. We argue that individuals with personality traits that fit outdoor sales jobs (i.e., conscientious, extraversion, openness to experience) will perceive their work as more meaningful and as a result achieve heightened performance. Moreover, drawing from TPWB and CAPS theory, we expect that as an important element of the social context, transformational leadership moderates the indirect effect of salespeople's job-relevant personality traits on their job performance via enhanced perceptions of meaningfulness at work. Results based on data from 496 outdoor salespeople and their 218 supervisors and regional managers provide support for the hypotheses pertaining to conscientiousness and openness, but not extraversion. Specifically, the conditional indirect effects of conscientiousness or openness on performance through perceived meaningfulness are more positive under low, rather than high, levels of transformational leadership. Implications for research and practice are discussed along with study limitations and future research directions. (PsycINFO Database Record
通过将目的性工作行为理论（TPWB；Barrick、Mount 和 Li，2013）的基本原理与认知-情感人格系统（CAPS）理论（Mischel，1977；Mischel 和 Shoda，1995）相结合，我们研究了销售人员的工作相关人格特质如何以及何时与他们的绩效相关。我们认为，具有适合户外销售工作的人格特质（即尽责、外向、经验开放性）的个体将认为他们的工作更有意义，并因此获得更高的绩效。此外，根据 TPWB 和 CAPS 理论，我们预计，作为社会环境的一个重要因素，变革型领导通过增强工作意义感，调节销售人员工作相关人格特质对工作绩效的间接影响。基于 496 名户外销售人员及其 218 名主管和区域经理的数据得出的结果支持了与尽责性和开放性相关的假设，但不支持与外向性相关的假设。具体来说，在变革型领导水平较低而非较高的情况下，尽责性或开放性通过感知意义对绩效的间接影响更为积极。讨论了对研究和实践的意义，以及研究的局限性和未来的研究方向。
