Implicit motives, explicit traits, and task and contextual performance at work.

Area of Science:

• Industrial and Organizational Psychology
• Personality Psychology

Background:

• Explicit traits (questionnaires) and implicit motives (verbal behavior) are theorized to interact in predicting life outcomes.
• This interactionist perspective is applied to understanding employee job performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how explicit traits (extraversion, achievement) channel implicit motives (affiliation, power, achievement).
• To examine the combined predictive power of these traits and motives on task and contextual job performance.

Main Methods:

• Surveyed 241 employees using questionnaires and the operant motive test (implicit motive measure).
• Supervisors rated employee task and contextual performance.

Main Results:

• Four of six theoretical predictions were supported.
• Interactions between implicit motives and explicit traits significantly increased explained variance in job performance.

Conclusions:

• Explicit traits act as channels for implicit motives in predicting employee performance.
• The interactionist approach offers a more comprehensive understanding of job performance than considering traits or motives alone.