Jon Magnus Frostad Haakonsen

Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology 41(3) p. 129-134 Doi: https://doi.org/10.5093/jwop2025a15

The objective of this study was to examine the incremental validity of measures of Organisational Disenchantment and Enchantment over demographic, personality, burnout and workaholism factors in explaining Counterproductive Work Behaviours (CWB). Four hundred adults participated in an online survey to assess their Big Five personality traits, job burnout, disenchantment, enchantment, workaholism (considering both facet and domain levels), and self-reported CWBs. Our analysis revealed that participant sex, along with the personality traits of Agreeableness and Neuroticism, were significantly associated with job disenchantment and enchantment. Further, a regression analysis with CWB as the criterion variable indicated that sex, age, job disenchantment, and low levels of Conscientiousness accounted for approximately 27 % of the variance in these behaviours. Implications are considered.

Mental Health, Religion & Culture 27(6) p. 545-556 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2024.2440487

Buddhist teachings describe five hindrances to meditation and personal development: Sensory Desire, Ill-Will, Sloth and Torpor, Restlessness and Worry, and Sceptical Doubt. We developed a new 25-item measure for these hindrances and examined their relationships with demographics and personality traits. A sample of 263 adults completed the measure, a six-factor personality assessment, and provided demographic information. The hindrances demonstrated satisfactory internal reliability, but results showed only modest support for the measure's factor structure. Our analyses revealed minimal gender differences and no significant educational effects, but suggested that older participants were less affected by the hindrances. The personality factors showed a strong correlation with the hindrances, particularly in the domains of Adjustment and Risk Approach (Courage), where all relationships were negatively correlated. While the new scale offers practitioners insights into mental states affecting mindfulness, further refinement is needed. This pilot study encourages continued research into these hindrances and their broader implications.

Psychology of Leaders and Leadership Doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/mgr0000149

From an attachment-theoretical perspective, one would expect insecure attachment styles to have a negative impact on leader–follower relationships. However, a recent review of the literature on attachment style and leader–member exchange (LMX) yielded mixed results. Examining this discrepancy, we applied the principle of attachment-system activation, proposing that when insecurely attached leaders or followers experience more distress at work, attachment style will be a stronger predictor of LMX. Data were gathered from 192 independent leader–follower dyads and analyzed using the actor–partner interdependence model. Like in other studies, investigating the direct link between attachment style and LMX yielded mixed results. However, the link between anxious style and LMX did get stronger when including attachment-system activation in our model, highlighting the relevance of applying key principles from the original theory when studying leadership through the lens of attachment.

BI Leadership Magazine

Journal of Individual Differences Doi: https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-0001/a000380

Is work engagement, like job satisfaction, primarily a function of personality? In total, 397 working adults completed a short, reliable, three-facet model of work engagement, a short IQ test, various self-ratings, a Big Five (bright-side) personality scale, and a measure of the personality disorders (dark-side). Work engagement was related to age, intelligence, positive self-ratings, and all the personality variables. A regression analysis revealed six variables significantly related to total work engagement: sex, age, IQ, ratings of personal ambitiousness, trait Neuroticism and Cluster A personality disorders. Regressions onto each of the three facets of work engagement showed slightly different findings, yet in each, older people with lower Cluster A scores and who rated themselves as ambitious scored higher on all facets. Over a third of the variance was explained in each regression. In every analysis, the rating of ambitiousness was most strongly related to work engagement. Implications and limitations are acknowledged.