Employees’ personality development goals (PDGs) at work: a contextual assessment and examination of origins

Despite the growing emphasis on "soft skills" development in organizations, employees' personality development goals (PDGs) at work remain understudied. This study brings PDGs to the work context, aiming to (1) develop a contextualized assessment instrument for PDGs and evaluate key characteristics - prevalence, temporal stability, self-other agreement, and hierarchical structure - and (2) propose and test a conceptual framework for understanding their origins. A 2-month longitudinal study with 325 employees revealed a high prevalence of PDGs, with 73% directed towards "normative" changes (i.e. increase agreeableness, extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness to experience; decrease neuroticism), and 27% pursuing changes in non-normative directions. Informant ratings from 97 managers uncovered moderate self-other agreement, with disagreement primarily on goals that employees reported but managers did not. Moreover, PDGs demonstrated moderate temporal stability across two months. Lastly, current personality trait levels of conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and openness to experience were significantly negatively related to PDGs, while job role trait requirements were positively linked to PDGs for openness only. No trait-requirement interactions were found. In conclusion, our contextualized approach to PDG assessment provides a valuable lens for better understanding PDGs relative to specific contextual requirements, paving the way for innovative directions in future research.