Do they know how hard I work? Investigating how implicit/explicit achievement orientation, reputation, and political skill affect occupational status

Abstract

Researchers have yet to precisely test the Socioanalytic proposition that social skill moderates the personality identitypersonality reputation relationship. Further, although research has found personality to have both explicit and implicit aspects, scholars have not examined these differences with respect to the Socioanalytic perspective on personality. The present study investigates how explicit and implicit achievement orientation identities relate to one's reputation for that trait in the workplace and to career success, as measured by occupational status. We propose that explicit and implicit achievement orientation, political skill, and their interplay positively relate to reputation of achievement orientation at work, which, in turn, is positively related to occupational status. We found that 1) both explicit and implicit achievement orientation were positively associated with its reputation, as rated by coworkers, 2) reputation mediated both relations between implicit/explicit achievement orientation and occupational status, and 3) heightened political skill strengthened the relationship between explicit achievement orientation and its reputation, as well as its indirect effect on occupational status via reputation (first stage moderated-mediation). Our research provides a potential explanation for why observer ratings of personality are more strongly associated with outcomes than self-ratings: Observers perceive both implicit and explicit personality behaviours.

Fearless dominance and performance in field sales: A predictive study

“…Achievement motivation reflects the desire to be more competent than others and to compete with them (Baranik, Stanley, Bynum, & Lance, 2010). It has been found to be related to career success (Dietl, Meurs, & Blickle, 2017;Judge & Kammeyer-Mueller, 2012).…”

Who earns more? Explicit traits, implicit motives and income growth trajectories

“…Implicit motives are described as affective preferences that are aimed at the attainment of specific classes of incentives (McClelland, Koestner, & Weinberger, 1989;Schultheiss, 2008). Authors continue calling for more studies investigating effects of implicit motives on work-related outcomes as such motives might be especially effective in predicting behavioral trends over time, among which career success (Dietl, Meurs, & Blickle, 2017).…”

Are observer ratings of applicants’ personality also faked? Yes, but less than self‐reports

“…The reduced error‐proneness associated with others ratings also fits well to the finding that there is considerable agreement between observer‐ratings (Connelly & Ones, ), indicating that observer‐ratings are fairly systematic. Other might even have a more complete picture than people themselves (see Dietl, Meurs, & Blickle, ).…”

“…indicating that observer-ratings are fairly systematic. Other might even have a more complete picture than people themselves (see Dietl, Meurs, & Blickle, 2017).…”