Predicting Workplace Delinquency and Integrity with the HEXACO and Five-Factor Models of Personality Structure

Abstract

Recent lexical studies of personality structure suggest that there are 6, not just 5, basic dimensions of human personality variation. The most distinguishing feature of this new 6-dimensional structure, known as the HEXACO model, is the addition of a new factor named Honesty-Humility. We demonstrate that this new dimension has important implications in personnel psychology. Specifically, the HEXACO model substantially outperformed the Five-factor model (FFM) in predicting workplace delinquency based on samples obtained in 3 different countries, namely, Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands. In addition, the HEXACO model substantially outperformed the FFM in predicting scores on an overt integrity test, due to the inclusion of the Honesty-Humility dimension.The Five-factor model (FFM) of personality structure has had a profound impact on the Industrial and Organizational (I/O) psychological literature.

Predictors of Bribe-Taking: The Role of Bribe Size and Personality

“…Honesty-humility 336 has been previously found to be associated with cheating and self-reported 337 workplace delinquency (Lee, Ashton, & de Vries, 2005). The present study further shows the validity 338 of the honesty-humility scale in predicting moral behavior.…”

Public Sector Motivationad fonts: Personality Traits as Antecedents of the Motivation to Serve the Public Interest

“…Individuals with high levels of Honesty-Humility show less work-delinquent behaviors-such as theft, vandalism, absenteeism, and alcohol use-and have higher personal integrity (Lee et al, 2005). Moreover, they are also less likely to take unethical decisions within their work environments .…”

Broad versus narrow traits: Conscientiousness and honesty–humility as predictors of academic criteria

“…Berry, Sackett, & Wiemann, 2007). Despite the different operationalization of overt Integrity and HonestyHumility, several studies have provided evidence that Honesty-Humility is strongly associated with overt Integrity (Lee, Ashton, & De Vries, 2005;Marcus et al, 2007). Therefore, the terms Honesty-Humility and Integrity will be used interchangeably from this point onwards.…”

“…In addition, Integrity has been found to explain variance in work performance over and above the variance explained by cognitive ability and has even been found to explain more incremental variance in work performance than Conscientiousness does (Schmidt & Hunter, 1998). Several studies have found that Integrity and Honesty-Humility are comparable constructs (Lee, Ashton, & De Vries, 2005;Marcus, Lee, & Ashton, 2007) 1 , which may suggest that Honesty-Humility is a predictor of work performance as well. Based on these findings, it may be expected that Honesty-Humility will also be a relevant predictor of performance in academic settings.…”