Core self-evaluations


Core self-evaluations 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 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

is an enduring tendency to experience unpleasant emotions 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. 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

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. reasoned that the traits most likely to predict job satisfaction would maintain three important characteristics: evaluation-focused, fundamental, and large in scope.
  1. Evaluation-focused: An evaluative trait involves a fundamental value judgment about oneself, rather than a simple description. 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.
  2. Fundamental: A fundamental trait, also called a source trait, is one that is basic and underlying. Fundamental traits together cause broader "surface" traits, 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.
  3. 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. 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.

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, 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")

Positive/negative affectivity (PA/NA)

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:
  1. Length: Direct scales are able to measure the underlying trait in fewer items.
  2. 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.
  3. 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 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

One of the more consistent and significant relationships that has been examined in the literature is the relationship between core self-evaluations and job satisfaction. In fact, when Judge et al. developed the construct of core self-evaluations, they did so in an effort to identify a valid dispositional predictor of job satisfaction. Since the creation of this construct in the Judge et al. study, research has continued to support the relationship between core self-evaluations and job satisfaction, which suggests that people who appraise themselves positively are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs. Additional research has also confirmed that CSE traits can predict job satisfaction over time. People who have positive core-self evaluations are likely to be satisfied with their jobs throughout the duration of their lives spent in the work environment.
Job satisfaction is an outcome of core self-evaluations that has become well-established throughout psychological literature. However, Judge et al. suggest that researchers investigate other variables that may influence this relationship. In response, subsequent literature began to examine the influence of a variety of other constructs on the relationship between core self-evaluations and job satisfaction.