Personality states at work: A narrative review of emergent research and an agenda for future development of the field

Abstract Personality has been studied broadly within the work context, typically as a long‐term, stable construct, yet a growing body of literature explores personality as short‐term, dynamic states that interact with the workplace. This research, however, is in its infancy, but it has significant implications for how we understand personality in relation to work outcomes. A thorough narrative review is required to take stock of the literature published thus far, to allow cohesive, constructive and meaningful future research. This review assimilates the work to date, which has explored personality dynamics within the work context, from the first studies of the topic around 2010. Using whole trait theory as a theoretical lens, we identify 33 studies through a systematic search, producing a narrative review of the key findings, methods and approaches for investigating personality states. Specifically, findings are reported by personality dimension (extraversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism, agreeableness, openness, core self‐evaluations, narcissism and personal initiative) and whether assessed as a state expression or state variability. Directions and considerations for future research are presented.