Skip to main content

Dispositional Affect and Job Outcomes

Social Indicators Research volume 59, pages 229–259 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

This longitudinal study examines the influence of dispositional affect,defined as self-rated cheerfulness at college entry, on three job outcomes – current income, job satisfaction, and unemployment history – assessedabout 19 years later. Analysis shows that individuals with a highercheerfulness rating at college entry have a higher current income and ahigher job satisfaction rating and are less likely ever to have beenunemployed than individuals with a lower cheerfulness rating. Althoughcheerfulness generally has a positive effect on current income, this effectis curvilinear, with current income increasing more rapidly at lower thanat higher cheerfulness ratings; the effect is also moderated by parentalincome, with the increase in current income between any two cheerfulnessratings becoming greater as the level of parental income increases. Theeffect of cheerfulness on current income is not moderated by sex; the effectof cheerfulness on job satisfaction and on unemployment history is notmoderated by either sex or parental income.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

REFERENCES

  • Abelson, R.P.: 1985, 'A variance explanation paradox: When a little is a lot', Psychological Bulletin 97, pp. 129-133.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aiken, L.S. and S.G. West: 1991, Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions (Sage, Newbury Park, CA).

    Google Scholar 

  • Alexander, E.R. III and R.D. Wilkins: 1982, 'Performance rating validity: The relationship of objective and subjective measures of performance', Group & Organization Studies 7, pp. 485-496.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alicke, M.: 1985, 'Global self-evaluation as determined by the desirability and controllability of trait adjectives', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 49, pp. 1621-1630.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arvey, R.D., T.J. Bouchard, Jr., N.L. Segal and L.M. Abraham: 1989, 'Job satisfaction: Environmental and genetic components', Journal of Applied Psychology 74, pp. 187-192.

    Google Scholar 

  • Astin, A.W., M.R. King and G.T. Richardson: 1976, The American Freshman: National Norms for Fall 1976 (Cooperative Institutional Research Program of the American Council on Education and the University of California at Los Angeles, Graduate School of Education, Laboratory for Research in Higher Education, Los Angeles).

    Google Scholar 

  • Barrick, M.R. and M.K. Mount: 1991, 'The Big Five personality dimensions and job performance: A meta-analysis', Personnel Psychology 44, pp. 1-26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Block, J.: 1961, The Q-sort Method in Personality Assessment and Psychiatric Research (Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, IL).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowen, W.G. and D. Bok: 1998, The Shape of the River: Long-term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ).

    Google Scholar 

  • Brief, A.P., M.J. Burke, J.M. George, B.S. Robinson and J. Webster: 1988, 'Should negative affectivity remain an unmeasured variable in the study of job stress?' Journal of Applied Psychology 73, pp. 193-198.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brief, A.P., A.H. Butcher and L. Roberson: 1995, 'Cookies, disposition, and job attitudes: The effects of positive mood-inducing events and negative affectivity on job satisfaction in a field experiment', Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 62, pp. 55-62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burger, J.M. and D.F. Caldwell: 2000, 'Personality, social activities, job-search behavior, and interview success: Distinguishing between PANAS trait positive affect and NEO extraversion', Motivation and Emotion 24, pp. 51-62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caldwell, D.F. and J.M. Burger: 1998, 'Personality characteristics of job applicants and success in screening interviews', Personnel Psychology 51, pp. 119-136.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cardy, R.L. and G.H. Dobbins: 1986, 'Affect and appraisal accuracy: Liking as an integral dimension of evaluating performance', Journal of Applied Psychology 71, pp. 672-678.

    Google Scholar 

  • Champoux, J.E. and W.S. Peters: 1980, 'Applications of moderated regression in job design research', Personnel Psychology 33, pp. 759-783.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J. and P. Cohen: 1983, Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences (2nd ed.). (Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ).

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, W.H.: 1981, 'Ubiquitous halo', Psychological Bulletin 90, pp. 218-244.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cropanzano, R., K. James and M.A. Konovsky: 1993, 'Dispositional affectivity as a predictor of work attitudes and job performance', Journal of Organizational Behavior 14, pp. 595-606.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darlington, R.B.: 1990,Regression and Linear Models (international ed.). (McGraw-Hill, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, J.A.: 1985, The Logic of Causal Order. Sage University Paper Series on Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences, 07-055 (Sage, Newbury Park, CA).

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis-Blake, A. and J. Pfeffer: 1989, 'Just a mirage: The search for dispos-itional effects in organizational research', Academy of Management Review 114, pp. 385-400.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E.: 1984, 'Subjective well-being', Psychological Bulletin 95, pp. 542-575.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E.: 1999, [Percentage of waking time experiencing various feelings during a typical day]. Unpublished raw data.

  • Diener, E., E.M. Suh, R.E. Lucas and H.L. Smith: 1999, 'Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress', Psychological Bulletin, 125, pp. 276-302.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dodge, A.F.: 1938, 'Social dominance and sales personality', Journal of Applied Psychology 22, pp. 132-139.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dodge, A.F.: 1943, 'What are the personality traits of the successful teacher?' Journal of Applied Psychology 27, pp. 325-337.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunning, D., J.A. Meyerowitz and A.D. Holzberg: 1989, 'Ambiguity and self-evaluation: The role of idiosyncratic trait definitions in self-serving assessments of ability', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 57, pp. 1082-1090.

    Google Scholar 

  • Endler, N.S.: 1973, 'The person versus the situation–A pseudo issue? A response to Alker', Journal of Personality 41, pp. 287-303.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, H.: 1972, Introduction to Statistics (Random House, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedrich, R.J.: 1982, 'In defense of multiplicative terms in multiple regression equations', American Journal of Political Science 26, pp. 797-833.

    Google Scholar 

  • George, J.M.: 1989, 'Mood and absence', Journal of Applied Psychology 74, pp. 317-324.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerhart, B.: 1987, 'How important are dispositional factors as determinants of job satisfaction? Implications for job design and other personnel programs', Journal of Applied Psychology 72, pp. 366-373.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghiselli, E.E. and R.P. Barthol: 1953, 'The validity of personality inventories in the selection of employees', Journal of Applied Psychology 37, pp. 18-20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guion, R.M. and R.F. Gottier: 1965, 'Validity of personality measures in personnel selection', Personnel Psychology 18, pp. 135-164.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrell, W.:1940,'Testing cotton mill supervisors', Journal of Applied Psychology 24, pp. 31-35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hochwater, W.A., K.L. Zellars, P.L. Perrewé and A.W. Harrison: 1999, 'The interactive role of negative affectivity and job characteristics: Are high-NA employees destined to be unhappy at work?' Journal of Applied Social Psychology 29, pp. 2203-2218.

    Google Scholar 

  • House, R.J., A. Howard and G. Walker: 1991, 'The prediction of managerial success: A competitive test of the person-situation debate', Academy of Management Best Papers Proceedings 1991, pp. 215-219.

  • Jaccard, J., R. Turrisi and C.K. Wan: 1990, Interaction Effects in Multiple Regression. Sage University Paper Series on Quantative Applications in the Social Sciences, 07-072 (Sage, Newbury Park, CA).

    Google Scholar 

  • Judd, C.M. and G.H. McClelland: 1989, Data Analysis: A Model-comparison Approach (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, San Diego, CA).

    Google Scholar 

  • Judge, T.: 1992, 'The dispositional perspective in human resources research', in G.R. Ferris and K.M. Rowland (eds.), Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management (vol. 10) (JAI Press, Greenwich, CT, pp. 31-72).

    Google Scholar 

  • Judge, T.A., D.M. Cable, J.W. Boudreau and R.D. Bretz, Jr.: 1995, 'An empirical investigation of the predictors of executive career success', Personnel Psychology 48, pp. 485-519.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judge, T.A., C.A. Higgins, C.J. Thoresen and M.R. Barrick: 1999, 'The Big Five personality traits, general mental ability, and career success across the life span', Personnel Psychology 52, pp. 621-652.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judge, T.A. and C.L. Hulin: 1993, 'Job satisfaction as a reflection of disposition: A multiple source causal analysis', Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 56, pp. 388-421.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judge, T.A., J.J. Martocchio and C.J. Thoresen: 1997, 'Five-factor model of personality and employee absence', Journal of Applied Psychology 82, pp. 745-755.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judge, T.A., C.J. Thoresen, V. Pucik and T.M. Welbourne: 1999, 'Managerial coping with organizational change: A dispositional perspective', Journal of Applied Psychology 84, pp. 107-122.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kruger, J.: 1999, 'Lake Wobegon be gone! The “below-average effect” and the egocentric nature of comparative ability judgments', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 77, pp. 221-232.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levin, I. and J.P. Stokes: 1989, 'Dispositional approach to job satisfaction: Role of negative affectivity', Journal of Applied Psychology 74, pp. 752-758.

    Google Scholar 

  • Linton, M. and P.S. Gallo, Jr.: 1975, The Practical Statistician: Simplified Handbook of Statistics (Brooks/Cole, Monterey, CA).

    Google Scholar 

  • Marks, G.N. and N. Fleming: 1999, 'Influences and consequences of well-being among Australian young people: 1980–1995', Social Indicators Research 46, pp. 301-323.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maxwell, S.E. and H.D. Delaney: 1990, Designing Experiments and Analyzing Data: A Model Comparison Perspective (Brooks/Cole, Pacific Grove, CA).

    Google Scholar 

  • McClelland, G.H. and C.M. Judd: 1993, 'Statistical difficulties of detecting interactions and moderator effects', Psychological Bulletin 114, pp. 376-390.

    Google Scholar 

  • McFatter, R.M.: 1979, 'The use of structural equation models in interpreting regression equations including suppressor and enhancer variables', Applied Psychological Measurement 3, pp. 123-135.

    Google Scholar 

  • Menard, S.: 1995, Applied Logistic Regression Analysis. Sage University Paper Series on Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences, 07-106 (Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA).

    Google Scholar 

  • Mischel, W.: 1968, Personality and Assessment (Wiley, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Mischel, W.: 1977, 'The interaction of person and situation', in D. Magnusson and N.S. Endler (eds.), Personality at the Crossroads: Current Issues in Interactional Psychology (Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, pp. 333-352).

    Google Scholar 

  • Monson, T.C., J.W. Hesley and L. Chernick: 1982, 'Specifying when personality traits can and cannot predict behavior: An alternative to abandoning the attempt to predict single-act criteria', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 43, pp. 385-399.

    Google Scholar 

  • Necowitz, L.B. and M. Roznowski: 1994, 'Negative affectivity and job satisfaction: Cognitive processes underlying the relationship and effects on employee behaviors', Journal of Vocational Behavior 45, pp.270-294.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nickerson, C., E. Diener, D. Kahneman and N. Schwarz: 1999, Positive Illusions and College Outcomes. Manuscript under review.

  • Nisbett, R.E.: 1980, 'The trait construct in lay and professional psychology', in L. Festinger (ed.), Retrospections on Social Psychology (Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 109-130).

    Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, D.R.: 1968, The Clinical Study of Social Behavior (Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, C., A. Semmel, C. von Baeyer, L.Y. Abramson, G.I. Metalsky and M.E.P. Seligman: 1982, 'The Attributional Style Questionnaire', Cognitive Therapy and Research 6, pp. 287-300.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pulakos, E.D. and N. Schmitt: 1983, 'A longitudinal study of a valence model approach for the prediction of job satisfaction of new employees', Journal of Applied Psychology 68, pp. 307-312.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenthal, R.: 1990, 'How are we doing in soft psychology?' American Psychologist 45, pp. 775-777.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenthal, R. and D.B. Rubin: 1979, 'A note on percent variance explained as a measure of the importance of effects', Journal of Applied Social Psychology 9, pp. 395-396.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenthal, R. and D.B. Rubin: 1982, 'A simple, general purpose display of magnitude of experimental effect', Journal of Educational Psychology 74, pp. 166-169.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz, N. and G.C. Clore: 1983, 'Mood, misattribution, and judgments of well-being: Informative and directive functions of affective states', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 45, pp. 513-523.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz, N. and F. Strack: 1999, 'Reports of subjective well-being: Judgmental processes and their methodological implications', in D. Kahneman, E. Diener and N. Schwarz (eds.), Well-being: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology (Russel Sage, New York, pp. 61-84).

    Google Scholar 

  • Seligman, M.E.P. and P. Schulman: 1986, 'Explanatory style as a predictor of productivity and quitting among life insurance sales agents', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 50, pp. 832-838.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spector, P.E. and B.J. O'Connell: 1994, 'The contribution of personality traits, negative affectivity, locus of control, and Type A to the subsequent reports of job stressors and job strains', Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 67, pp.1-11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Staw, B.M.: 1986, 'Organizational psychology and the pursuit of the happy/ productive worker', California Management Review 28, pp. 40-53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Staw, B.M. and S.G. Barsade: 1993, 'Affect and managerial performance: A test of the sadder-but-wiser vs. happier-and-smarter hypotheses', Administrative Science Quarterly 38, pp. 304-331.

    Google Scholar 

  • Staw, B.M., N.E. Bell and J.A. Clausen: 1986, 'The dispositional approach to job attitudes: A lifetime longitudinal test',Administrative Science Quarterly 31, pp. 56-77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Staw, B.M. and J. Ross: 1985, 'Stability in the midst of change: A dispositional approach to job attitudes', Journal of Applied Psychology 70, pp. 469-480.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steering Committee of the Physicians' Health Study Research Group: 1988, 'Preliminary report: Findings from the aspirin component of the ongoing Physicians' Health Study', New England Journal of Medicine 318, pp. 262-264.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stokes, J.P. and I.M. Levin: 1990, 'The development and validation of a measure of negative affectivity', Journal of Social Behavior and Personality 5(2), pp. 173-186.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tzelgov, J. and I. Stern: 1978, 'Relationship between variables in three variable linear regression and the concept of suppressor', Educational and Psychological Measurement 38, pp. 325-335.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, D. and L.A. Clark: 1984, 'Negative affectivity: The disposition to experience aversive emotional states', Psychological Bulletin 96, pp. 465-490.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, D., L.A. Clark and A. Tellegen: 1988, 'Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS Scales', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 54, pp. 1063-1070.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, D. and A.K. Slack: 1993, 'General factors of affective temperament and their relation to job satisfaction over time', Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 54, pp. 181-202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weitz, J.: 1952, 'A neglected concept in the study of job satisfaction', Personnel Psychology 5, pp. 201-205.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright, T.A., D.G. Bonett and D.A. Sweeney: 1993, 'Mental health and work performance: Results of a longitudinal field study', Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 66, pp. 277-284.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright, T.A. and B.M. Staw: 1999, 'Affect and favorable work outcomes: Two longitudinal tests of the happy-productive worker thesis', Journal of Organizational Behavior 20, pp. 1-23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yeaton, W.H. and L. Sechrest: 1981, 'Meaningful measures of effect', Journal of Counseling and Clinical Psychology 49, pp. 766-767.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology (m/c 716), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 603 East Daniel Street, Champaign, IL, 61820, USA

    Ed Diener, Carol Nickerson & Richard E. Lucas

  2. Everett, Washington, USA

    Ed Sandvik

Authors
  1. Ed Diener
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Carol Nickerson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Richard E. Lucas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ed Sandvik
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Diener, E., Nickerson, C., Lucas, R.E. et al. Dispositional Affect and Job Outcomes. Social Indicators Research 59, 229–259 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019672513984

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019672513984

Keywords

  • Longitudinal Study
  • Satisfaction Rating
  • College Entry
  • Parental Income
  • Current Income