Within-person personality variability in the work context: A blessing or a curse for job performance?

Abstract

Only recently, the question whether <i>within-person personality variability</i> is a blessing or a curse for job performance has reached the agendas of industrial and organizational (I-O) psychology researchers. Yet, this limited stream of research resulted in inconsistent findings, and only little understanding exists about the role of rater source and mean-level personality in this relationship. Broadly following socioanalytic theory, the present study examined the extent to which self- and other-rated within-person personality variability predicts self- and other-rated job performance, and whether this is moderated by mean-level personality. Within-person personality variability indices and job performance evaluations were obtained from an experience sampling study including <i>N</i> = 166 teachers, <i>N</i> = 95 supervisors, and <i>N</i> = 69 classes (including 1,354 students). Results showed that-above and beyond the effects of mean-level personality-self-rated within-person variability was positively associated with self-rated job performance, while other-rated within-person variability was negatively associated with other-ratings of performance. Many interactions with mean-level personality were found, mainly demonstrating <i>negative</i> effects of variability for those with a less adaptive personality profile (cf. variability as a "curse"), while showing <i>positive</i> effects of variability for those with a more adaptive trait profile (cf. variability as a "blessing"). Importantly, however, additional analyses provided little evidence for associations across type of rater source. These findings contribute to the field of I-O psychology by highlighting that perceptions of within-person personality <i>variability</i> may impact performance evaluations beyond personality <i>traits</i>, although its desirability seems to depend on individuals' personality trait level. Implications and limitations are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).