Social cognitive career theory, conscientiousness, and work performance: A meta-analytic path analysis

Abstract We performed a meta-analytic path analysis of an abbreviated version of social cognitive career theory's (SCCT) model of work performance (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994). The model we tested included the central cognitive predictors of performance (ability, self-efficacy, performance goals), with the exception of outcome expectations. Results suggested that a slightly modified version of the model, incorporating a path between ability and goals, provided adequate fit to the data. In addition, we examined alternative pathways through which conscientiousness, a Big 5 personality variable, might operate in concert with the social cognitive variables in predicting work performance. Good fit was found for a model in which conscientiousness is linked to performance both directly and indirectly via self-efficacy and goals. The implications of these results for SCCT, future research, and practical efforts to facilitate work performance are discussed.

[1]  Vicki L. Goodwin,et al.  Meta-Analysis of the Antecedents of Personal Goal Level and of the Antecedents and Consequences of Goal Commitment , 1992 .

[2]  Robert W. Lent,et al.  A Social Cognitive View of Career Development and Counseling. , 2005 .

[3]  Jerard F. Kehoe,et al.  General Mental Ability and Selection in Private Sector Organizations: A Commentary , 2002 .

[4]  Steven D. Brown,et al.  Toward a Unifying Social Cognitive Theory of Career and Academic Interest, Choice, and Performance , 1994 .

[5]  Robert W. Lent,et al.  Social cognitive predictors of college students’ academic performance and persistence: A meta-analytic path analysis , 2008 .

[6]  Robert W. Lent,et al.  On Conceptualizing and Assessing Social Cognitive Constructs in Career Research: A Measurement Guide , 2006 .

[7]  R. MacCallum,et al.  When fit indices and residuals are incompatible. , 2002, Psychological methods.

[8]  Eric D. Heggestad,et al.  Intelligence, personality, and interests: evidence for overlapping traits. , 1997, Psychological bulletin.

[9]  Matthew J. Miller,et al.  Testing the choice model of social cognitive career theory across Holland themes: A meta-analytic path analysis. , 2010 .

[10]  Gilad Chen,et al.  The Roles of Self-Efficacy and Task Complexity in the Relationships Among Cognitive Ability, Conscientiousness, and Work-Related Performance: A Meta-Analytic Examination , 2001 .

[11]  Alexander D. Stajkovic,et al.  Self-efficacy and work-related performance: A meta-analysis. , 1998 .

[12]  Linda C. Schmidt,et al.  Longitudinal relations of self-efficacy to outcome expectations, interests, and major choice goals in engineering students , 2008 .

[13]  Jeffrey J. Mchenry,et al.  PROJECT A VALIDITY RESULTS: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PREDICTOR AND CRITERION DOMAINS , 1990 .

[14]  D. Ones,et al.  Theory testing: Combining psychometric meta-analysis and structural equations modeling , 1995 .

[15]  J. Hunter,et al.  Validity and Utility of Alternative Predictors of Job Performance , 1984 .

[16]  Robert Rosenthal,et al.  Meta-Analytic Procedures for Social Science Research , 1986 .

[17]  F. Schmidt,et al.  General mental ability in the world of work: occupational attainment and job performance. , 2004, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[18]  A. Bandura.  Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control , 1997, Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy.

[19]  A. Bandura,et al.  Negative self-efficacy and goal effects revisited. , 2003, The Journal of applied psychology.

[20]  Clay Gloster,et al.  Longitudinal test of the social cognitive model of choice in engineering students at historically Black universities , 2010 .

[21]  E. A. Locke,et al.  Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation. A 35-year odyssey. , 2002, The American psychologist.

[22]  T. Judge,et al.  Relationship of personality to performance motivation: a meta-analytic review. , 2002, The Journal of applied psychology.

[23]  P. Bentler,et al.  Fit indices in covariance structure modeling : Sensitivity to underparameterized model misspecification , 1998 .

[24]  Murray R. Barrick,et al.  THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS AND JOB PERFORMANCE: A META-ANALYSIS , 1991 .

[25]  Lisa M. Larson,et al.  The Relation of Self-Efficacy and Interests: A Meta-Analysis of 60 Samples. , 2003 .

[26]  Robert P. Steel,et al.  A meta-analytic study of the effects of goal setting on task performance: 1966-1984 , 1987 .

[27]  Michael P. Kirsch,et al.  METAANALYSES OF VALIDITY STUDIES PUBLISHED BETWEEN 1964 AND 1982 AND THE INVESTIGATION OF STUDY CHARACTERISTICS , 1984 .

[28]  Philip L. Roth,et al.  DERIVATION AND IMPLICATIONS OF A META‐ANALYTIC MATRIX INCORPORATING COGNITIVE ABILITY, ALTERNATIVE PREDICTORS, AND JOB PERFORMANCE , 1999 .

[29]  P. Bentler,et al.  Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis : Conventional criteria versus new alternatives , 1999 .

[30]  Kristy J. Lauver,et al.  Do psychosocial and study skill factors predict college outcomes? A meta-analysis. , 2004, Psychological bulletin.

[31]  Steven D. Brown,et al.  Relation of self-efficacy beliefs to academic outcomes: A meta-analytic investigation. , 1991 .

[32]  Murray R. Barrick,et al.  Conscientiousness and performance of sales representatives: Test of the mediating effects of goal setting. , 1993 .

[33]  F. Schmidt,et al.  The validity and utility of selection methods in personnel psychology: Practical and theoretical implications of 85 years of research findings. , 1998 .

[34]  Murray R. Barrick,et al.  Personality and Performance at the Beginning of the New Millennium: What Do We Know and Where Do We Go Next? , 2001 .

[35]  Patrick M. Wright,et al.  Operationalization of goal difficulty as a moderator of the goal difficulty-performance relationship , 1990 .

[36]  B. Tabachnick,et al.  Using Multivariate Statistics , 1983 .

[37]  John E. Hunter,et al.  Methods of Meta-Analysis: Correcting Error and Bias in Research Findings , 1991 .