Core self-evaluations (CSE) represent a stable personality trait which encompasses an individual's subconscious, fundamental evaluations about themselves, their own abilities and their own control. People who have high core self-evaluations will think positively of themselves and be confident in their own abilities. Conversely, people with low core self-evaluations will have a negative appraisal of themselves and will lack confidence. The concept of core self-evaluations was first examined by Judge, Locke, and Durham (1997)The concept of core evaluation was first identified by clinical psychologist Edith Packer and presented in her lecture "Understanding the Subconscious" in 1984. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ENAPR3S/ and involves four personality dimensions: locus of control, neuroticism, generalized self-efficacy, and self-esteem. The trait developed as a dispositional predictor of job satisfaction, but has expanded to predict a variety of other outcomes. Core self-evaluations are particularly important because they represent a personality trait that will remain consistent over time. Furthermore, the way in which people appraise themselves using core self-evaluations has the ability to predict positive work outcomes, specifically, job satisfaction and job performance. These relationships have inspired increasing amounts of research on core self-evaluations and suggest valuable implications about the importance this trait may have for organizations.
Definitions of the four dimensions
Locus of control The locus of control construct indicates a tendency for individuals to attribute life's events to their own doing or to outside forces beyond their control. There are two basic classifications of locus of control: internals and externals. Internals believe they control their own environment whereas externals believe outside forces control their lives. Those with an internal locus of control are more likely to be satisfied with their job and life because they believe in their own control over the situation.
Neuroticism Neuroticism is an enduring tendency to experience unpleasant emotions (e.g., anger, anxiety, depression) easily. Those high in neuroticism react more negatively to stress, are prone to anxiety, and are susceptible to feelings of helplessness. Neuroticism, when examined as part of core self-evaluations, is conceptualized as the opposite of emotional stability (i.e., non-neuroticism). In fact, because neuroticism and emotional stability are simply labels for two sides of the same trait, they are often used interchangeably in literature.
Generalized self-efficacy "Generalized self-efficacy", adapted from Albert Bandura's original definition of self-efficacy, is defined as an individual's estimate of his or her own ability to perform well and handle a variety of situations. Although an individual can differ in levels of self-efficacy across different domains, generalized self-efficacy is the global estimate of ability across a wide range of situations, and can be considered a stable trait. Individuals high in generalized self-efficacy are more likely to take on new tasks that allow for growth in their ability and are more persistent than those low in generalized self-efficacy.
Self-esteem Self-esteem reflects a person's overall appraisal of his or her own worth. Self-esteem may, in fact, be one of the most essential core self-evaluation domains because it is the overall value one places on oneself as a person.
Development of the construct The core self-evaluation trait was developed through the study of job satisfaction. Historically, three models have been used to study job satisfaction. The situational/job characteristics approach, which attributes job satisfaction to external factors such as the characteristics of the job itself, The dispositional approach, which attributes job satisfaction to internal, stable personality traits, and The interactionist approach, which attributes job satisfaction to an interaction between situational and dispositional factors. The situational and interactionist approaches had received the majority of the support in previous literature. Acknowledging this disparity, core self-evaluations were developed in an effort to increase exploration of the dispositional approach to job satisfaction.
Selection of the core self-evaluation traits While investigating the dispositional model, Judge et al. (1997) reasoned that the traits most likely to predict job satisfaction would maintain three important characteristics: evaluation-focused, fundamental, and large in scope. Evaluation-focused: An evaluative trait involves a fundamental value judgment about oneself, rather than a simple description ("I am confident and worthy," vs. "I am ambitious"). Job satisfaction is itself an evaluation that people make about their jobs; therefore, an individual's evaluations, especially those regarding how they think of and value themselves, should have a large effect on their job satisfaction. Fundamental: A fundamental trait, also called a source trait, is one that is basic and underlying. Fundamental traits together cause broader "surface" traits,Cattell, R. B. (1965). The Scientific Analysis of Personality. Oxford England: Penguin Books. Retrieved from Ebscohost. and affect all other more specific evaluations. For example, self-doubt and frustration are considered to be source traits that commonly predict the surface trait of aggression. Fundamental traits will have a stronger and more consistent effect on job satisfaction than surface traits. Large in scope: A trait that is large in scope, or global, will more likely generalize to the workplace than a specific trait will. For example, a global evaluation of one's worth will better predict overall job satisfaction than a specific evaluation of one's artistic ability. Using the above characteristics, four well-studied personality traits; locus of control, neuroticism, generalized self-efficacy, and self-esteem, were chosen as possible dispositional predictors of job satisfaction. Each trait had previously presented as a relatively powerful predictor of various job outcomes; however, until this time, these traits' predictive powers had only been studied in isolation. When studied together, Judge et al. (1997) discovered that these four traits would form a broader personality trait called core self-evaluations, which could predict job satisfaction better than each trait could when examined alone. In other words, relative levels of each of these four traits in an individual can be explained by one broad underlying trait; core self-evaluations. Furthermore, combining these traits allowed for better prediction of job satisfaction, and later, a variety of other outcomes.Bono, J. E., & Judge, T. A. (2003). Core self-evaluations: A review of the trait and its role in job satisfaction and job performance. European Journal of Personality, 17(Suppl1), S5-S18.
Relationship between the traits Locus of control, neuroticism, generalized self-efficacy, and self-esteem have many conceptual similarities, but beyond stating that the similarities exist, these traits were rarely studied together until their integration into the common underlying trait of core self-evaluations. Many researchers of personality psychology argue that specific traits have been proposed and studied without considering that these traits have a broad, common core. Many such traits correlate so highly that they should be considered measures of the same construct, which is the case with the four traits of core self-evaluations. These traits are very closely related, and each one only predicts a small portion of job satisfaction by itself. However, when combined into one core trait (i.e., core-self evaluations), their predictive power increases.
Comparisons with the Five-Factor Model and positive/negative affectivity The core self-evaluations trait has proven to be a valuable dispositional predictor of job satisfaction, demonstrating stronger predictive power than the Big Five personality traits or Positive/Negative Affectivity.
Five-Factor Model ("Big Five personality traits") There is skepticism that core self-evaluations contribute any predictive value above what the Big Five personality traits – (agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, openness) – can predict. Some argue that trait indicators of core self-evaluations are the same as various conceptualizations of the neuroticism component of the Big Five.Judge, T. A., & Bono, J. E. (2001). A rose by any other name . . . . Are self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, neuroticism, and locus of control indicators of a common construct? B.W. Roberts, & R. Hogan (Eds.), Personality Psychology in the Workplace (pp. 93–118). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Although it is true that some definitions of neuroticism include all four CSE traits, the Big Five does not refer explicitly to self-esteem in the description of neuroticism, nor is self-esteem one of the facets of neuroticism in their model. Therefore, the conceptualization of neuroticism in the Big Five is narrower than in core self-evaluations. Additionally, no existing neuroticism scales measure self-esteem. Furthermore, measures of neuroticism include only descriptive questions and lack an evaluative component.
Positive/negative affectivity (PA/NA) Affective disposition, the tendency to primarily experience either positive or negative emotional states, has frequently been studied as a correlate of job satisfaction. Although affective disposition does influence job satisfaction, a measure of positive or negative affectivity does not explain unique variance in job satisfaction beyond that explained by the individual core self-evaluations of self-esteem and neuroticism. In fact, measures of core self-evaluations explain significant variance in job and life satisfaction not explained by the PA/NA scales.
Measurement Previously, attempts to measure the CSE trait were indirect, requiring the trait to be extracted from the four scales that measured each trait. However, a direct core self-evaluation scale, the CSES, has recently been developed and proven both reliable and valid. Although some researchers still favor using the individual trait scales to measure core self-evaluations, the use of the direct measure is growing more popular in recent literature.
There are several reasons the previous indirect measurement of the CSE trait was considered a limitation of CSE research: Length: Direct scales are able to measure the underlying trait in fewer items. Validity: Direct scales are likely to be more valid because they are designed to measure the underlying trait itself rather than indicators of the trait. Consistency: Most traits in contemporary personality research are measured with relatively short, direct scales.
The core self-evaluations scale (CSES) The CSES consists of 12 items, and uses a five-point Likert scale (i.e., strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, strongly agree) to score responses. Sample items are below: "I am confident I get the success I deserve in life." "Sometimes I feel depressed." "Sometimes when I fail I feel worthless." "I am filled with doubts about my competence. "I determine what will happen in my life."
Outcomes
Job satisfaction