Department of Management, CUHK Business School, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Department of Management and Marketing, Faculty of Business, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
J Appl Psychol. 2021 Jun;106(6):882-901. doi: 10.1037/apl0000808. Epub 2020 Jul 23.
Organizational research has predominantly adopted the classic dispositional perspective to understand the importance of personality traits in shaping work outcomes. However, the burgeoning literature in personality psychology has documented that personality traits, although relatively stable, are able to develop throughout one's whole adulthood. A crucial force driving adult personality development is transition into novel work roles. In this article, we introduce a dynamic, role-based perspective on the adaptive nature of personality during the transition from the role of employee to that of leader (i.e., leadership emergence). We argue that during such role transitions, individuals will experience increases in job role demands, a crucial manifestation of role expectations, which in turn may foster growth in conscientiousness and emotional stability. We tested these hypotheses in two 3-wave longitudinal studies using a quasi-experimental design. We compared the personality development of 2 groups of individuals (1 group promoted from employees into leadership roles and the other remaining as employees over time), matched via the propensity score matching approach. The convergent results of latent growth curve modeling from the 2 studies support our hypotheses regarding the relationship between becoming a leader and subsequent small, but substantial increases in conscientiousness over time and the mediating role of job role demands. The relationship between becoming a leader and change of emotional stability was not significant. This research showcases the prominence of examining and cultivating personality development for organizational research and practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
组织研究主要采用经典的性格视角来理解个性特征在塑造工作结果方面的重要性。然而，人格心理学领域的新兴文献已经记录到，个性特征虽然相对稳定，但能够在整个成年期发展。推动成年人格发展的一个关键力量是过渡到新的工作角色。在本文中，我们引入了一种动态的、基于角色的视角，来探讨个性在从员工角色向领导角色（即领导力出现）转变过程中的适应性。我们认为，在这种角色转变期间，个人将经历工作角色需求的增加，这是角色期望的一个重要表现，反过来又可能促进责任心和情绪稳定性的增长。我们使用准实验设计在两项 3 波纵向研究中检验了这些假设。我们通过倾向评分匹配方法比较了两组个体（一组从员工晋升为领导角色，另一组随着时间的推移仍然是员工）的个性发展。来自两项研究的潜在增长曲线建模的一致结果支持了我们关于成为领导者与随后的责任心随着时间的推移而持续增长之间关系的假设，以及工作角色需求的中介作用。成为领导者与情绪稳定性变化之间的关系不显著。这项研究展示了为组织研究和实践而检查和培养个性发展的重要性。
