Give and Take: Validity, Personality Profiling, and Individual Success by Sara Katarina Trané ...

303 Pages·2017·5 MB·English

by  Sara Trane

Give and Take: Validity, Personality Profiling, and Individual Success

by
Sara Katarina Trané
Master of Science
Florida Institute of Technology
2011

A dissertation submitted to
College of Psychology and Liberal Arts a t
Florida Institute of Technology
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor in Philosophy
in
Industrial/Organizational Psychology

Melbourne, Florida
June, 2017
© Copyright 2017 Sara Katarina Trané
All Rights Reserved

The author grants permission to make single copies ______________________
The undersigned committee hereby recommends that the attached document be
accepted as fulfilling in part the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in Industrial/Organizational Psychology.

“Give and Take: Validity, Personality Profiling, and Individual Success”
a dissertation by Sara Katarina Trané

________________________
Patrick D. Converse, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Industrial/Organizational Psychology
Dissertation Advisor and Committee Chair

______________________
Jessica Wildman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Industrial/Organizational Psychology
Committee Member

________________________
Zhiqing Zhou, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Industrial/Organizational Psychology
Committee Member

________________________
Deborah Carstens, Ph.D.
Graduate Program Chair and Professor
Aeronautics
Committee Member

________________________
Mary Beth Kenkel, Ph.D.
Professor and Dean
College of Psychology and Liberal Arts
Abstract

Title:
Give and Take: Validity, Personality Profiling, and Individual Success

Author:
Sara Katarina Trané

Major Advisor:
Patrick D. Converse, PhD.

This research addresses two critical aspects of organizational performance: (1)
identification of individuals who have the potential to become the organization’s
greatest assets and (2) identification of individuals who are likely to be the
organization’s greatest liabilities. The greatest assets, contributing the most value to the
organization, are proposed to be individuals with a predisposition to engage in a
prosocial interaction style referred to as give. The greatest liabilities, engaging in
behaviors contradicting organizational goals, are proposed to be individuals with an
antisocial interaction style referred to as take. Although both givers and takers can be
highly successful as individuals, the difference between the two has been argued to be
their altruistic versus egoistic approach to providing value to the organization (Grant,
2013). So far, very limited research has evaluated give and take as a construct and a
measure (Utz, Muscanell, & Goritz, 2014), and no research has evaluated the
relationship between personality and give and take. Therefore, the current research first
evaluates the give and take concept and corresponding measure. Second, the extent to
which give and take is related to underlying personality profiles is examined. Lastly, the
iii
extent to which the identified personality profiles can be used to predict employee
performance is evaluated. Results from the validation study suggest give and take is a
construct distinct from yet similar to other existing constructs and that the measure can
be used to determine an individual’s social interaction style. Results also suggest givers,
takers, and matchers have different underlying personality profiles and that the three
styles differentially predict various individual success factors. The implications of the
current research are directly related to talent management, as findings can be applied to
identification and development of the most beneficial employees as well as to
identification of those individuals who may be particularly detrimental to the
organization.

iv
Table of Contents
Abstract ................................................................................................................................................................. iii
Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................................... v
Acknowledgement .............................................................................................................................................. viii
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................ 1
Summary of the Current Research ........................................................................................................................ 5
Give and Take: A Social Interaction Style ........................................................................................................... 6
Givers, Takers, and Matchers............................................................................................................................... 9
Give and Take: Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior ........................................................................................... 13
Give as Prosocial Behavior ................................................................................................................................ 13
Take as Antisocial Behavior ............................................................................................................................... 16
Validity of Give and Take .................................................................................................................................... 18
Existing Evidence for Validity ............................................................................................................................ 21
Nature of the Construct ...................................................................................................................................... 21
Theoretical Evidence for the Nature of the Construc t........................................................................................ 23
Empirical Evidence for the Nature of the Construct .......................................................................................... 29
Relationships with Other Variables .................................................................................................................... 30
Convergent and Discriminant Validity ............................................................................................................... 30
Similar Constructs .............................................................................................................................................. 32
Motives – What Drives Giving and Taking Behavior? ....................................................................................... 39
Prosocial Motivation and Givers ....................................................................................................................... 41
Impression Management and Competitive Motivation and Takers .................................................................... 42
Reciprocal Motivation and Matchers ................................................................................................................. 45
Predictive Validity .............................................................................................................................................. 46
Individual Success .............................................................................................................................................. 47
Job Performance ................................................................................................................................................ 51
Task Performance and Give and Take................................................................................................................ 53
Contextual Performance and Give and Take ...................................................................................................... 54
Counterproductive Work Behavior (CWB) ......................................................................................................... 56
v
Career Success ................................................................................................................................................... 58
Subjective career success ............................................................................................................................... 60
Objective career success ................................................................................................................................. 62
Personality and Give and Take ........................................................................................................................... 66
Personality Profiling ............................................................................................................................................. 72
Different Approaches to Personality Profiling ................................................................................................... 73
Classification of Individuals ............................................................................................................................... 75
Profiling Givers, Takers, and Matchers ............................................................................................................. 76
Methodology ......................................................................................................................................................... 80
Study 1: A Validation Study of Give and Take .................................................................................................. 80
Method................................................................................................................................................................... 81
Participants ........................................................................................................................................................ 81
Procedure ........................................................................................................................................................... 82
Measures ............................................................................................................................................................ 82
Results ................................................................................................................................................................... 90
Discussion .............................................................................................................................................................. 98
Study 2: Profiling Givers and Takers ............................................................................................................... 102
Method................................................................................................................................................................. 102
Participants ...................................................................................................................................................... 102
Procedure ......................................................................................................................................................... 103
Measures .......................................................................................................................................................... 105
Results ................................................................................................................................................................. 110
Discussion ............................................................................................................................................................ 119
Findings and Implications ................................................................................................................................ 120
Limitations ........................................................................................................................................................ 127
Study 3: The Relationship Between Give and Take Personality Profiles and Individual Performanc e..... 128
Method................................................................................................................................................................. 129
Participants ...................................................................................................................................................... 129
Procedure ......................................................................................................................................................... 130
vi
Measures .......................................................................................................................................................... 130
Results ................................................................................................................................................................. 131
Proposed Method for Personality Profiling. .................................................................................................... 131
Discussion ............................................................................................................................................................ 141
Findings and Implications ................................................................................................................................ 141
Limitations ........................................................................................................................................................ 148
General Discussion ............................................................................................................................................. 148
Validity of Give and Take ................................................................................................................................. 149
Personality Profiling ........................................................................................................................................ 151
Relationships with Individual Success .............................................................................................................. 152
Implications for Theory and Practice ............................................................................................................... 153
Limitations and Future Research ..................................................................................................................... 154
Summary ............................................................................................................................................................. 157
References ........................................................................................................................................................... 159
Appendix A: Study 1 Tables .............................................................................................................................. 184
Appendix B: Study 2 Tables .............................................................................................................................. 193
Appendix C: Study 3 Tables .............................................................................................................................. 231
Appendix D: Figures .......................................................................................................................................... 259
Appendix E: Additional Versions of Target Profiles ....................................................................................... 261
Appendix F: Item Measures .............................................................................................................................. 269

vii
Acknowledgement
For several years my dream of one day purusing my doctoral degre egrew stronger and
stronger, but I neverr eally thought I would do it.W hen I one day was presented the
opportunity to make realtiy of my dream, I quickly ignored any doubt or concern I had about
my ability to pursue a Ph. D , and jumped on board. For this opportunity I will be forever
thankful! Although I was prepared for the hard work I knew was required, I could never have
imagined the mental and emotional struggles I would go through. I cannot describe the
gratitude I feel towards my amazing advisor Pat for guiding and mentor ing me through this
journey, which I many times thought was never-ending. I could not have asked for a better,
smarter, or more supporting advisor. Sometimes I (almost) wish the journey was not over yet
as I still have so much to learn from him.
I also want to direct a huge thank you to my committee members Jessica Wildman,
Zhiqing Zhou, and Deborah Carstens for their guidance and valuable efforts to improve my
research. I would like to thank Jessica specifically for sharing her great knowledge in team
research. Jessica transformed my interest in groups and teams from quite low to something I
now find highly interesting. I would like to thank Zhiqing specifically for teaching me
advanced statistics. Zhiqing’s ability to break down statistics and providing alternative
explanations was invaluable for my understanding of statistics. I would like to thank Deborah
specifically for her interest in my research from the very beginning. I also want to thank my
former classmate and friend Stephen Young, as well as his colleagues at the Center for
Creative Leadership, for providing me with the data I needed for the final part of my research.
viii
Many people have, during different periods, been instrumental in helping me finish and
I would like to especially express my appreciation towards my cohort, my friends, and my
family. My cohort, who adopted me two years into their Ph.D, made me feel like I had always
been part of their crew, and helped me survive the program.I would like to especially thank
Charlie and Agnes for helping me stay sane while preparing for myb iggest challenge so far,
the comprehensive exam, and for their great friendshipM. y friends outside of the program, for
always being there for me in spite of thep hysical distance between us. Finally, I could not
have done this without the tireless encouragemen at nd support from my family.
ix