The increase in globalisation has led many organisations world-wide and in South African to send more employees on international assignments than ever before, with every indication that the use of expatriates will continue to expand into the 21st century. Expatriate assignments are important to the success of multinational companies because they can help build the level of global competence within the organisation, and expatriates often fill critical positions in host countries (e.g. new market development, technology transfer, joint venture negotiations and subsidiary management). Given the strategic importance multinational companies attach to global assignments, the harm an unsuccessful expatriate may cause in the host country can be detrimental to the multinational company's future global business. Implications of poor expatriate cross-cultural adjustment include inadequate performance, psychological stress, premature termination of the assignment, negative effects on the expatriates' families and the long-term career repercussions upon repatriation after failed expatriate assignments. Thus, in order to remain competitive in today's global marketplace, multinational companies have recognised that the attraction, selection, development and retention of employees who can live and work effectively outside their own national borders are crucial to their success. This study proposed that personality dispositions, coping, stress and expatriates' motivation for accepting the assignment can predict three criteria of expatriate success, namely (a) the desire to terminate the assignment, (b) performance, and (c) the cross-cultural adjustment of expatriates. The study population consisted of 95 expatriates from eight multi-national organisations. The research method for each of the three articles consists of a brief literature review and an empirical study. A cross-sectional survey design was used to achieve the research objectives. Descriptive statistics ( e g means, standard deviations, skewness and kurtosis) were used to vii analyse the data. Cronbach alpha coefficients and exploratory factor analysis were used to assess the reliability and validity of the measuring instruments, and multiple regression analyses was conducted to determine the percentage of the variance in the dependent variables that is predicted by the independent variables. The Neo-Personality Inventory Revised, Work Locus of Control Scale, Expatriate Stress Inventory, a biographical questionnaire, which included expatriates' motivation for accepting the assignment (independent variables) and expatriates' cross-cultural adjustment. their desire to terminate the assignment and their performance (dependent variables) were administered. The results showed that external locus of control is related to avoidance. Avoidance coping of expatriates' was best predicted by an external locus of control and approach coping of expatriates' was best predicted by an internal locus of control. The results showed that expatriates' desire to terminate the assignment is related to their cross-cultural adjustment and that personality dimensions are related to their cross-cultural adjustment and their desire to terminate the assignment. Personality dimensions explained 12% of the variance in expatriates' cross-cultural adjustment. Assertiveness and cross-cultural adjustment explained 17% of expatriates' desire to terminate the assignment. The results showed that cultural stress explained 17% of the variance in expatriates' cross-cultural adjustment. Assertiveness and cross-cultural adjustment explained 28% of expatriates' desire to terminate the assignment and extrinsic motivation explained 20% of expatriates' performance. Recommendations are made regarding future research and practical implications for expatriate management. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

Performance appraisal ratings provide the basis for numerous employment decisions, including retention, promotion, and salary increases. Thus, understanding the factors affecting the accuracy of these ratings is important to organizations and employees. Leniency, one rater error, is a tendency to assign higher ratings in appraisal than is warranted by actual performance. The proposed study examined how personality factors Agreeableness and Conscientiousness relate to rater leniency. The ability of narrower facets of personality to account for more variance in rater leniency than will the broad factors was also examined. The study used undergraduates' (n = 226) evaluations of instructor performance to test the study's hypotheses. In addition to personality variables, students' social desirability tendency and attitudes toward instructor were predicted to be related to rater leniency. Partial support for the study's hypotheses were found. The Agreeableness factor and three of the corresponding facets (Trust, Altruism and Tender-Mindedness) were positively related to rater leniency as predicted. The hypotheses that the Conscientiousness factor and three of the corresponding facets (Order, Dutifulness, and Deliberation) would be negatively related to rater leniency were not supported. In the current sample the single narrow facet Altruism accounted for more variance in rater leniency than the broad Agreeableness factor. While social desirability did not account for a significant amount of variance in rater leniency, attitude toward instructor was found to have a significant positive relationship accounting for the largest amount of variance in rater leniency.

A relação professor-aluno é fator essencial no processo de desenvolvimento físico, social e emocional dos alunos, principalmente em se tratando de alunos da primeira infância, sendo este o momento de maior aprendizado em nossas vidas. Desta forma, estruturar uma boa relação com a criança permite ao professor consolidar um ambiente propício e estimulante ao ensino, além de facilitar ajustes comportamentais. Assim, este trabalho busca captar efeitos determinantes para uma boa relação professor-aluno, mais especificamente via nível de amabilidade do professor. Esta análise foi possível utilizando dados da cidade de Petrolina, coletadas pelo Instituto Alfa e Beto, contendo informações a respeito da escala de relação professor-aluno (ERPA) e o nível de amabilidade do professor via instrumento SENNA. O município de Petrolina utilizou-se do processo de convênio para expandir o número de vagas em educação infantil através do projeto denominado \"Nova Semente\". Entretanto, constatamos características divergentes entre a rede pública e conveniada sobre a composição da equipe de docentes, de forma que estas indiquem um cenário de baixa qualidade no ensino oferecido pela rede conveniada. Por fim, encontramos vestígios de que maiores níveis de amabilidade do professor de creche compensa em partes uma baixa qualificação. / The teacher-child relationship is an essential factor in the process of physical, social and emotional achievement of the students, especially in early childhood, the moment of highest development in the life. This way, structuring a good relationship with the child, allows the teacher not only consolidating a favorable and stimulant learning environment, but also provide behavioral adjustment. Therefore, this study aims at show determinants of a good teacher-child relationship, more specifically by teacher agreeableness. The analysis became possible by the use of a database from Petrolina (PE, Brazil) collected by Alfa e Beto Institute, which contains information related to a scale of teacher-child relationship (ERPA) and the score of teacher agreeableness measured by SENNA instrument. The city of Petrolina used the agreement process to increase the number of vacancies in early childhood education day care centers through a project named \"Nova Semente\" (New Seed). Distinct characteristics were registered between the public and chartered projects regarding the composition of teaching staff, indicating a low quality income in teaching process offered by chartered sector. It is fair to infer that teacher agreeableness in day care center compensates for low training level of teaching staff.

Personality variables have been shown to be significant predictors of job performance (Barrick & Mount, 1991; Tett, Jackson, & Rothstein, 1991). Recent advances in methodology for analyzing personality-job performance relationships indicate that interactions among traits may yield incremental validity. Job types in which performance has been shown to relate to trait interactions include clerical jobs, jobs with high interpersonal components, and jobs in realistic and conventional contexts, (Witt, Burke, Barrick, & Mount, 2002; Burke & Witt, 2002; and Burke & Witt, 2004). This study examined the validity of trait interactions for the prediction of managerial job performance. Hypotheses included a main effect for Conscientiousness, an interaction between Conscientiousness and Agreeableness, an interaction between Extraversion and Neuroticism, and finally, a three-way interaction between Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Conscientiousness. An archival dataset from Personnel Decisions, International (n=680 managers) containing GPI personality scores and supervisor-rated performance scores was analyzed to test the hypotheses. Correlations and moderated hierarchical linear regressions were performed to estimate the relationships of the predictors to the criterion, and to learn whether examination of trait interactions contributes incremental validity to the single trait scales. A main effect for Conscientiousness on managerial job performance was found. No trait interactions explained incremental variance in performance scores. Therefore, Conscientiousness is the recommended personality scale to use for selecting managers. This finding is consistent with previous research on the relation of Conscientiousness to job performance in managers (Barrick & Mount, 1991). Managers from diverse organizations and industries comprised the sample, increasing the generalizability of the results. Directions for future research include the examination of other trait interactions, more specific criteria such as competencies rather than overall managerial job performance, and effects of the hierarchical level of the manager in the organization.

The present study attempted to explore the role cultural values play on the relations between personality variables and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Specifically, Schwartz' cultural values of hierarchy and egalitarianism and the personality predictors of conscientiousness and agreeableness were examined. It was hypothesized that hierarchy and egalitarianism would moderate the relationship between conscientiousness, agreeableness and OCB. Specific hypotheses concerning the direction of the influence on particular dimensions of OCB were tested. Data were collected from multiple organizations resulting in a sample of 62 pairs of employee-supervisor dyads from the U.S. and 64 pairs from China. Results indicated that agreeableness correlated significantly with OCB toward individuals and that hierarchy moderated the relationship between conscientiousness and OCB toward the organization. The other hypotheses were not supported. Limitations of the study and implications for future research were also discussed.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka om det fanns skillnader i konfliktbenägenhet på arbetet beroende på syskonplacering och partnerstatus. Deltagarna var till största delen tågresenärer med en medelålder på 39 år. N= 174. Instrumentet bestod av en enkät med en standardiserad del, NEO-PI-R, som mätte personlighetsegenskapen agreeableness samt en nykonstruerad del som mätte arbetskonflikt. Skalan har fått namnet work-conflict scale (WCS). Det visade sig att förstfödda hade en signifikant (p= 0.002) högre poäng på WCS än de yngre syskonen. Personer utan partnerrelation hade även de ett signifikant (p= 0.00) högre poäng på WCS. Det visade sig också att förstfödda var de som i störst utsträckning levde utan partnerrelation. Den personlighet som skapas i konkurrensen mellan syskon visar sig även ha betydelse i en arbetssituation och för personens partnerstatus.

Emotional expression has played an important role in our social life. This is especially true for leaders who have unequal power during the interaction with followers. According to the EASI model, we explored whether supervisor¡¦s negative emotional expression influenced follower¡¦s task performance by examining the moderating effects of follower's conscientiousness, agreeableness, power distance orientation, and perceived supervisor power on such relationship. In present study, we collected data from 34 companies of different kinds of industries, including 191 leader-follower dyads from 86 supervisors and 191 followers. The results of the hierarchical regression analysis showed that followers¡¦ conscientiousness and agreeableness positively moderated the relationship between supervisor¡¦s negative emotion expression and follower¡¦s task performance. Furthermore, under the condition of follower¡¦s low power distance orientation and low perceived supervisor power, the relationship between supervisor¡¦s negative emotion expression and follower¡¦s task performance became negative. Finally, theoretical and practical implications of our findings are also discussed.

<p>Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka om det fanns skillnader i konfliktbenägenhet på arbetet beroende på syskonplacering och partnerstatus. Deltagarna var till största delen tågresenärer med en medelålder på 39 år. N= 174. Instrumentet bestod av en enkät med en standardiserad del, NEO-PI-R, som mätte personlighetsegenskapen agreeableness samt en nykonstruerad del som mätte arbetskonflikt. Skalan har fått namnet work-conflict scale (WCS). Det visade sig att förstfödda hade en signifikant (p= 0.002) högre poäng på WCS än de yngre syskonen. Personer utan partnerrelation hade även de ett signifikant (p= 0.00) högre poäng på WCS. Det visade sig också att förstfödda var de som i störst utsträckning levde utan partnerrelation. Den personlighet som skapas i konkurrensen mellan syskon visar sig även ha betydelse i en arbetssituation och för personens partnerstatus.</p>

Forskningen kring sambandet mellan ADHD och olika personlighetsdrag är fortfarande begränsad. Syftet med den föreliggande studien var att undersöka skillnader inom de fem personlighetsdimensionerna (Big Five) mellan personer med en ADHD diagnos och de utan diagnos i Sverige. De personer med ADHD förväntades uppvisa lägre grad av Conscientiousness och Agreeableness samt högre grad av Neuroticism än de utan denna diagnos. Totalt 140 unga vuxna med eller utan ADHD problematik fyllde i ett Big Five test. Resultaten visade att de med ADHD rapporterade signifikant lägre grad av Agreeableness och Conscientiousness men högre grad av Neuroticism än de utan denna nedsättning. Resultaten var i linje med tidigare forskning och studiens begränsningar diskuterades samt förslag på vidare studier inom detta område.

Die doel van hierdie ondersoek was om die interpersoonlike komponent van psigologiese welsyn te verhelder. Vanuit die literatuur is dit duidelik dat psigologiese welsyn 'n interpersoonlike komponent bevat, maar ook dat dit op verskillende wyses gekonseptualiseer word. Die aard van interpersoonlike welsyn is dus nog nie duidelik nie, en dit is ook nie duidelik in watter mate indikatore van interpersoonlike welsyn oorvleuel met indikatore van algemene psigologiese welsyn nie. In 'n empiriese ondersoek het 'n multi-kulturele beskikbaarheidsteekproef van 384 persone, 8 rneetinstrumente of hul sub-skale voltooi ter meting van algemene psigologiese welsyn en konstrukte wat interpersoonlike welsyn verteenwoordig. Interpersoonlike welsyn is geoperasiodi met behulp van die BarOn Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) van Bar-ON (1997), die Fortitude Questionnaire (FORQ) van Pretorius (1998), die Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) van Costa & Mc Crae (1992) en die Attachmeat Style Questionnaire (AS) van Feeney, Noller & Hanrahan (1994). Psigologiese welsyn is geoperasionaliseer vanuit 'n fortigene persperktief met die Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC) van Antonovsky (1989), die Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) van Diener, Emmons, Larsen en Griffen (1985), en die Affectometer 2 (AFM) van Kammann en Flett (1983), sowel as vanuit 'n patogene perspektief, met behulp van die General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) van Goldberg en Hillier (1979). Goeie betroubaarheidsindekse is vir alle skale en subskale gevind. Gemiddeldes van alle skale en subskale was vergelykbaar met die wat in die literatuur gerapporteer is vir ander soortgelyke groepe. Die resultate toon dat interpersoonlike welsyn in 'n mate oorvleuel met algemene psigologiese welsyn, maar as dit ook 'n afsonderlike komponent of dimensie van van psigologiese welsyn vorm. Bevindings toon ook twee onderskeibare patrone van interpersoonlike welsyn. Die eerste een word primer uitgedruk in die uitreiking na ander, omgee-gedrag, 'n houding van nederigheid in nabye verhoudings asook verantwoordelikheid teenoor ander in die groter sosiale konteks. Die tweede patroon word gekenmerk deur 'n geniet van sosiale interaksie en 'n houding van gemak en assertiwiteit in nabye sowel as wyer sosiale kontekst Hierdie onderskeid hou moontlik verband met persoonlikheidsverskille soos inskiklikheid versus ekstraversie. Implikasies van die bevindinge vir psigoterapie en lewensvaardigheidsontwikkeling word aangedui. / Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.