The Structural Relationship between Adaptive and Nonadaptive Personality Traits and Organizational Behavior with the Mediating Role of Emotional Information

Investigating positive psychological capabilities and human resource strengths leading to the improvement and management of employee performance is defined as positive organizational behavior. Organizational capital includes human, social, and psychological resources. When coping with the same situations, individuals fail to act in the same way; however, the nature of their processing is different from the information obtained. Therefore, the way they respond to situational demands will be different. Recognizing this difference helps to understand and predict individuals’ behavior. The five–factor model of personality traits has determined individualschr('39') manners of thinking, feeling, and behaving, based on their origins. It focuses on 5 main areas; neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. According to the five–factor model of personality, adaptive and nonadaptive personality traits lead to the formation of cognitions, emotions, and behaviors that link small and large tensions to positive and negative outcomes. Some personality traits may lead to adaptation in response to adversity and misery, and others may exacerbate life crises. The rational processing style acts non–consciously and consciously. Besides, it processes information purposefully and reasonably; however, the experiential style operates emotionally and tends to have cognitive distortions and biases. Organizational behavior requires an intellectual approach to issues. Furthermore, fostering a rational style induced by adaptive personality traits protects one from unplanned entry into challenging situations. The current study aimed to determine the relationship between personality traits and organizational behavior based on the mediating role of emotional information processing.

This was a descriptive–correlational research study and consisted of modeling of structural equations. The statistical population of this study consisted of all male and female employees of Mammoth Company in 2018–2019. Of them, 310 individuals were selected by stratified random sampling technique. Research tools included the NEO Five–Factor Inventory (NEO–FFI) by Costa and McCrae (1989); Psychological Capital Questionnaire by Luthans et al. (2007), and Rational–Experiential Inventory by Pacini and Epstein (1999). Structural equation modeling, AMOS software, and the significance level of 0.05 were used to analyze the obtained data. We examined causal relationships between the study variables in the form of a structural model.

In the present study, the indirect path coefficient between neuroticism and organizational behavior was mediated by rational emotional information processing style (p=0.012, β=–0.08). The indirect path coefficient between openness to experience (p=0.002, β=0.089) and conscientiousness (p=0.009, β=0.059), and organizational behavior was positive and significant. The indirect path coefficient between agreeableness (p=0.043, β=–0.031) and organizational behavior was negative and significant.

The obtained data revealed that neuroticism and agreeableness negatively influence organizational behavior through nonadaptive and negative effects on the rational processing of emotional information. Conscientiousness and openness to experience positively impacted organizational behavior through adaptive and positive effects on rational emotional information processing style. The present research findings explained that personality traits affect individuals’ emotional information processing in various ways. Furthermore, individual differences in emotional responses could be attributed to individual personality manifestations. Individuals with neuroticism fail to employ the rational emotional information processing style; therefore, they are unable to present proper organizational behavior. Individuals with agreeableness tend to express information processing and emotional decision–making due to their personality manifestations in interpersonal situations, such as work environment; this negatively affects their psychological capitals and organizational behaviors. It also negatively affects their dignity. As a result of the openness to experience, by resorting to the rational information processing, one can be flexible and manifest psychological capital against the changes and challenges of work. Individuals with conscientiousness enjoy psychological capitals and suitable adaptation process; accordingly, they recover quickly and successfully through the rational emotional information processing after encountering challenging events and tasks.