Interaction of social skill and general mental ability on job performance and salary.

Abstract

Job and organizational changes have promoted the importance of social skill at work, yet research in this area has been limited. The authors investigated the interaction between social skill and general mental ability (GMA) in the explanation of job performance and salary, controlling for personality and demographic characteristics. The results indicated that the relationships between social skill and job performance were stronger among workers high than low in GMA. In a similar manner. the relationships between GMA and job performance were stronger among workers high than low in social skill. The interaction on salary indicated that increases in social skill (or GMA) for high-GMA (or social skill) individuals were associated with higher salary levels. It is interesting, however, that increases in social skill (or GMA) for those low in GMA (or social skill) contributed to lower salaries. Implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed.

General mental ability as moderator of personality traits as predictors of early career success

“…The rationale behind the inclusion of neuroticism is its repeated negative weight as an individual difference variable and its association with other variables such as anxiety, self-control, emotional stability and social skills, which are linked to dimensions of emotional intelligence and in some cases have been found to interact with IQ when predicting job performance (Coté & Miners, 2006) or with GMA for salary (Ferris, Witt & Hochwarter, 2001). Openness has been included among the possible mediating variables due to the inconsistent results obtained for this factor as a predictor, and the fact that it forms part of the general personality factor known as plasticity (Van der Linden et al, 2010).…”

The importance of conscientiousness in the telemarketing industry

“…Also, self-reporting instruments for measuring performance have been used by various researchers in the sales industry (Silver, Dweyer & Alford, 2006;Wang & Netemeyer, 2004;Sharma, Rich & Levy, 2004); even in the context of telemarketing (Malhotra & Mukherjee, 2004 ). Although a single item for measuring this construct is undesirable, it has been used by various researchers (Rotundo & Sackett, 2002;Witt & Ferris, 2003;Ferris, Witt & Hochwarter, 2001). Evidence of its use on call centre agents also exists (Nel & De Villiers, 2004).…”

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Politics and Politicians at Work

“…These include widespread changes to company structures resulting in more complex and challenging work environments for managers. With greater spans of control the manager role is increasingly concerned with the need to influence groups and social situations rather than monitoring the performance of individual subordinates (Ahearn, Ferris, Hochwarter, Douglas & Ammeter, 2004;Ferris, Witt & Hochwarter, 2001). Similarly, a growing emphasis on coaching, facilitating, and coordination of teams has meant that political skills have become more important to managers" ability to achieve their own individual objectives.…”

“…Despite difficulties of definition, there is growing interest in how to measure political skill. Ferris et al (2001) developed an 18-item Political Skill Inventory [PSI] that measures four constructs: interpersonal influence, network building, social-astuteness, and genuineness and sincerity. Example items include: "I understand people well", "I find it easy to imagine myself in the position of others", "I am able to make most people feel comfortable and at ease around me", "I am good at getting others to respond positively to me", "I usually try to find some common ground with others" and "It is easy for me to develop good rapport with most people".…”