A conventional wisdom in personality and social psychology and organizational behavior is that personality matters most in weak situations and least in strong situations. The authors trace the origins of this claim and examine the evidence for the personality-dampening effect of strong situations. The authors identify the gap between claim and evidence and suggest an agenda for future research.
In this research, we examine whether effort‐allocation decisions are influenced by the strength of the situation, the personality characteristics of the people involved, and the interaction between these factors. Two role‐playing scenarios were created using contextual information (e.g., availability of suitable alternatives) that varied in situation strength. We measured the Big Five personality factors (emotional stability, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) of 418 students prior to the role‐playing task and assessed effort‐provision decisions after they were exposed to one of the role‐playing scenarios. As predicted, our results showed that the effect of personality on provision of effort depended on the strength of the situation. The implications for personality research are discussed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.