Editorial summary. This is our text summary of an article published by journal-of-business-and-psychology. Charts, figures, and the author’s full voice are at the original — read it there .
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Editorial verdict
Methodologically solid empirical study. The core findings on personality-trait-specific prediction of OCB types are internally consistent and supported across multiple analyses, but the simulated setting, modest effect sizes (r = .22–.30), and single-source supervisor ratings limit generalizability — treat the directional findings as credible, the practical magnitude claims with caution.
Executive summary
This study addresses the gap in personnel selection research regarding tools designed to predict organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB). The authors argue that personality traits, specifically the Big Five, are theoretically appropriate predictors of OCB and that a structured, personality-based behavior description job interview can serve as a more valid assessment method than traditional self-report measures in selection contexts. A sample of 223 employed individuals participated in a simulated selection setting, completing a 15-question behavior description interview and a contextualized personality self-report; supervisors independently rated participants' OCB across three dimensions: compliance, helping, and initiative. Results demonstrated that: (1) the Big Five structure was recoverable from interview ratings via confirmatory factor analysis; (2) Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and Intellect/Openness differentially predicted OCB-compliance, OCB-helping, and OCB-initiative, respectively; (3) interview ratings explained incremental variance in OCB beyond both self-reports and verbal cognitive ability; and (4) interview ratings mediated the relationship between self-reported traits and OCB. The authors conclude that personality-based structured interviews represent a viable addition to selection procedures aimed at identifying employees predisposed to engage in OCB.
Key insights
- 1Conscientiousness assessed via structured interview differentially predicts OCB-compliance; Agreeableness predicts OCB-helping; and Intellect/Openness predicts OCB-initiative — each explaining incremental variance over and above the corresponding personality self-report and verbal cognitive ability.
- 2Interview ratings of Big Five traits mediated the relationship between self-reported personality and supervisor-rated OCB, suggesting interviews capture situation-specific manifestations of underlying dispositions that are more proximal to workplace behavior.
- 3The personality-based behavior description interview demonstrated acceptable construct-related validity, with a Big Five factor structure fitting the data better than a single general interview factor, and convergent validity coefficients (mean r = .34) exceeding discriminant validity coefficients — outperforming previous interview research in this regard.
Practical takeaways
- Organizations seeking to identify employees predisposed to OCB can adapt the structured interview questions developed in this study as blueprints, tailoring the organizational context and behavioral anchors through job analysis to match specific roles.
- Using three interview questions per target trait (Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Intellect/Openness) — approximately 18 additional minutes of interviewing — yields better criterion-related validity than shortened versions, though even one or two questions per trait produce statistically significant predictions in some cases.
Frameworks mentioned
Big Five
A five-factor model of personality (Extraversion, Emotional Stability, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Intellect/Openness) used as the theoretical basis for developing interview dimensions and predicting OCB types.
References
- Organ, Podsakoff & MacKenzie (2006).Organizational citizenship behavior: Its nature, antecedents, and consequences.
- Chiaburu, Oh, Berry, Li & Gardner (2011).The five-factor model of personality traits and organizational citizenship behaviors: A meta-analysis.
- Levashina, Hartwell, Morgeson & Campion (2014).The structured employment interview: Narrative and quantitative review of the research literature.
- Van Iddekinge, Raymark & Roth (2005).Assessing personality with structured interviews.
- Latham & Skarlicki (1995).Predicting OCB with a structured interview.
- Allen, Facteau & Facteau (2004).Using structured interview questions to predict OCB.
- Costa & McCrae (1989).The NEO Five Factor Inventory.
- Goldberg (1992).International Personality Item Pool (IPIP).
- Amthauer, Brocke, Liepmann & Beauducel (1999).IST 2000 cognitive ability test.
- Staufenbiel & Hartz (2000).OCB questionnaire based on Niehoff and Moorman scales.
- McAbee & Connelly (2016).The trait-identity-reputation model.
- LePine, Erez & Johnson (2002).The nature and dimensionality of organizational citizenship behavior: A critical review and meta-analysis.
- Huffcutt, Culbertson & Weyhrauch (2014).Validity of structured employment interviews.
- Preacher & Hayes (2008).Indirect and direct effects in mediation analysis.
Source & Provenance
journal-of-business-and-psychology
Anna Luca Heimann, Pia V. Ingold, Maike E. Debus, Martin Kleinmann
October 7, 2020
Research Study
Europe
Original source metadata is preserved. AI analysis is generated separately.
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