SITUATIONAL STRENGTH BASED ON CULTURE AS A MODERATOR OF THE PERSONALITY-JOB PERFORMANCE RELATIONSHIP A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY HAZAL YAĞCI IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY MAY 2015 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Meliha AltunıĢık Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Prof. Dr. Tülin Gençöz Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Assist. Prof. Dr. Yonca Toker Supervisor Examining Committee Members Prof. Dr. Orhan Aydın (UFUK,PSY) Prof. Dr. Reyhan Bilgiç (METU,PSY) Assist. Prof. Dr. Yonca Toker (METU,PSY) I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name : Signature : iii ABSTRACT SITUATIONAL STRENGTH BASED ON CULTURE AS A MODERATOR OF THE PERSONALITY-JOB PERFORMANCE RELATIONSHIP Yağcı, Hazal MSc., Department of Psychology Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Yonca Toker May 2015,151 pages The purpose of the present study is to examine the moderating influence of cultural dimensions on the relationship between personality and job performance. The main focus is on the situational strength framework (Meyer & Dalal, 2009) which claims that characteristics of situations moderate the relationship between personality and outcomes, in this case job performance. In the current study, situations are studied in terms of cultural characteristics that also pertain to organizations; namely uncertainty avoidance, power distance, and masculinity- femininity (Hofstede, 1980; 2001). The expectation is that in strong situations, which are defined as those with higher levels of uncertainty avoidance, power distance, masculinity/lower levels of femininity, the relationship between personality and job performance will be weaker when compared to weak situations. The data related to personality and culture dimensions were collected from employees working in Turkey and in Germany, while their immediate supervisors iv rated their performance in terms of task performance and several organizational citizenship behaviors. Matched data from 120 employees and their supervisors were analyzed to test the hypotheses. Findings showed that there were several personality-job performance relationships moderated by cultural dimensions. Firstly, power distance moderated the conscientiousness-task performance, and -personal industry relationships. For lower power distance, conscientiousness positively predicted both task performance and personal industry. Furthermore, masculinity/femininity moderated the conscientiousness-, and extraversion-loyal boosterism relationships. For the low masculinity/high femininity level, both conscientiousness and extraversion had a positive association with loyal boosterism. Results are discussed together with the limitations and strengths. Implications for practitioners and suggestions for future research are presented. Keywords: Situational Strength, Personality, Culture, Task Performance, Organizational Citizenship Behaviors v ÖZ KÜLTÜRE BAĞLI DURUMSAL GÜCÜN ÇALIġAN KĠġĠLĠĞĠ VE Ġġ PERFORMANSI ARASINDAKĠ ĠLĠġKĠYE OLAN ETKĠLERĠ Yağcı, Hazal Yüksek Lisans, Psikoloji Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Yard. Doç. Dr. Yonca Toker Mayıs 2015, 151 sayfa Bu çalıĢmanın amacı durumsal faktörlerden biri olan kültürün çalıĢan kiĢiliği-iĢ performansı iliĢkisi üzerindeki etkisini araĢtırmaktır. ÇalıĢmanın odak noktasını Meyer ve Dalal tarafından (2009) ortaya atılmıĢ olan durum özelliklerinin kiĢilik özellikleri ve iĢ performansı arasındaki iliĢkiye düzenleyici etkisi yaptığını savunan durumsal güç (situational strength) teorisi oluĢturmaktadır. Bu çalıĢmada düzenleyici etkisi araĢtırılan durum özellikleri kültür boyutlarından belirsizliğin önlenmesi, güç mesafesi, ve erillik/diĢillik olarak belirlenmiĢtir. Bu çalıĢmada çalıĢan kiĢilik özellikleri ile iĢ performansı arasındaki iliĢkinin güçlü durumlara kıyaslandığında, zayıf durum olarak isimlendirilen yani; kültür boyutlarının düĢük seviyede olduğu durumlarda, daha zayıf olması beklenmektedir. KiĢilik ve kültür verisi Türkiye ve Almanya sınırları içerisinde farklı kurumlardaki çalıĢanlardan toplanırken, amirlerinden de çeĢitli performans boyutları (görev performansı ve örgütsel vatandaĢlık davranıĢları) üzerinden çalıĢanlarını değerlendirmeleri istenmiĢtir. Toplamda eĢleĢtirilen 120 çalıĢan ve amirden elde edilen veri hipotezleri test etmek için kullanılmıĢtır. vi Analiz sonuçları bazı kültür özelliklerinin bazı kiĢilik-performans iliĢkilerine olan düzenleyici etkilerini desteklemiĢtir. Güç mesafesinin, özdisiplin sahibi olma- görev performansı ve özdisiplin sahibi olma-kiĢisel çalıĢkanlık iliĢkileri üzerindeki düzenleyici etkisi bulunmuĢtur. Güç mesafesi düĢük olan yerlerde özdisiplin sahibi çalıĢanların daha yüksek görev performansı ve kiĢisel çalıĢkanlığa sahip oldukları gözlemlenmiĢtir. Ayrıca erillik/diĢillik kültür boyutunun da özdisiplin sahibi olma- sadık destek ve dıĢa dönüklük-sadık destek iliĢkilerini düzenlediği bulunmuĢtur. DüĢük erilliğin/yüksek diĢilliğin hakim olduğu yerlerde özdisiplin sahibi ve dıĢa dönük çalıĢanların kurumlarını, kurum dıĢında överek sadık destek davranıĢını daha çok sergiledikleri görülmüĢtür. Tüm bulgular çalıĢmanın güçlü ve zayıf yanlarıyla birlikte tartıĢılmıĢtır. Uzmanlar için pratik uygulamalar ve gelecek çalıĢmalar için bazı öneriler sunulmaktadır. Anahtar kelimeler: Durumsal Güç, KiĢilik, Kültür, Görev Performansı, Örgütsel VatandaĢlık DavranıĢları vii To my beloved one and dearest friend Aras Korkmaz who always believes in me and makes me believe in myself… viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my thesis advisor Assist. Prof. Dr. Yonca Toker for the continuous support and excellent guidance throughout my study and research. I could not have imagined having a better advisor and mentor for my MSc. study. Besides my advisor, I would like to thank the rest of my thesis committee: Prof. Dr. Orhan Aydın, and Prof. Dr. Reyhan Bilgiç, for their encouragement, insightful comments, and delightful questions. Iwould like to thank to my friends in Ankara and Istanbul who have been always there to help me while I am away. Also I thank my fellows in Munich for bringing new perspectives into my life. The contribution of each and every participant who voluntered to take place in this research is gratefully acknowledged. My sincere thanks goes to my family: my mother Fatma Yağcı, for her endless encourgament, love, and and faith in me, my sister Hande Yağcı for whom I have always tried to be a successful role model, and my grandmothers Hatice Tuncay and Mayire Yağcı whose prayers and thoughts are always with me. My deepest gratitude is for my beloved one and dearest friend Aras Korkmaz. I am grateful him for picking me up every time I fall down. As last, I also would like to place on record, my sense of gratitude to TÜBĠTAK for the financial support which helped me to reach out my dreams. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM ........................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. iv ÖZ .............................................................................................................................. vi DEDICATION ........................................................................................................ viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................ ix TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................... x LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................. xiii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................ xiv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................. xv CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 1 1.1 Overview ............................................................................................... 1 1.2 Job Performance and Personality ........................................................... 3 1.2.1 Conscientiousness ....................................................................... 7 1.2.2 Extraversion ................................................................................ 8 1.2.3 Agreeableness .............................................................................. 9 1.3 Moderators of the Personality-Performance Association with regards to Situational Strength ................................................................................. 10 1.3.1 Conscientiousness as Moderated by Situational Strength ................... 13 1.3.2 Extraversion as Moderated by Situational Strength ............................ 15 1.3.3 Agreeableness as Moderated by Situational Strength ........................