Disentangling the Linkage between Personality and Commitment: A Moderated Mediation Model of Core Self-Evaluations and Affectivity

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate how several personality traits and two affective states might be associated with organizational (affective) commitment in a Middle Eastern collectivist culture like Turkey. We tested moderated mediation models of the effects of Big-Five personality traits on affective commitment to the organization while investigating the mediation effects of two affective states (i.e., positive affectivity and negative affectivity) and the moderating effects of a personality trait (i.e., core self-evaluations) on these relationships. Data were collected in a field study (N = 312) using a time-lagged research design. As expected, the results indicated that the traits extraversion and agreeableness are positively related to affective commitment through positive affectivity when core self-evaluations is high-to-medium in strength. The results also showed that the indirect and negative effect of neuroticism on affective commitment via negative affectivity was not supported. The main contribution of this study is the focus on personality and affective-commitment linkages, giving an increased understanding of the processes, mechanisms, and conditions (i.e., indirect and moderating) operating within these linkages.

Keywords

• personality
• core self-evaluations
• extraversion
• agreeableness
• neuroticism
• positive and negative affectivity
• affective commitment