Motivation, cognitions and traits: predicting occupational health, well‐being and performance

Abstract

Abstract Past research on vulnerability/resistance to occupational stress and strain has focused predominantly on personality defined at the trait or dispositional level (e.g. Type A Behaviour Pattern, Locus of Control, Dispositional Optimism and Negative Affectivity). This is problematic for two reasons. First, within the current, prevailing integrative view of personality there are three main elements: motivation, cognitions, and traits (Winter, 1996; McAdams, 2000). The second problem is that there are two branches that together define personality psychology as a discipline: (a) the nomothetic or ‘individual difference’ approach; and (b) the ‘ideographic’ approach, that is the structure and organization of personality at the individual level (Epstein, 1994), yet trait theory—and especially the ‘Big Five’ model—have paid little attention to the latter, a trend that is also evident in the occupational stress literature. The central thesis of the current paper is that motivation, cognitions and traits should contribute more variance to the stress–strain relationship than trait personality alone. A preliminary model is presented and recommendations for future research provided. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.