The expanded role of personality variables in the prediction of job success: Using job analytically derived personality predictors of task, contextual, and overall job performance

The present study was conducted to test the basic question, “Do personality variables, when derived through a job analysis, predict job task performance?” Recent literature on the subject has relegated the usefulness of personality constructs solely to the prediction of contextual job performance. In a sample of 431 Claim Representatives from a large Midwestern insurance organization, personality variables derived from the Personality-related Position Requirements Form (Raymark, Schmit, & Guion, 1997) were shown to predict both contextual job performance and task performance. Structural equation modeling analyses were conducted to compare job performance models where personality variables predicted both task and contextual performance versus personality variables that predicted contextual performance alone. The results of these analyses suggest that the expanded use of personality variables as predictors of task performance is a valuable addition to a comprehensive model of job performance.