Personality trait inferences about organizations and organizational attraction: An organizational-level analysis based on a multi-cultural sample
Marc H Anderson
Department of Management, College of Business, Iowa State University, Ames IA, United States of America
Jarrod M Haar
Department of Strategy and Human Resource Management, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
Jenny L Gibb
Department of Strategy and Human Resource Management, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
PP: 140 - 150
Abstract
Research has shown that people make inferences about the personality traits organizations possess, and that these inferences affect their perceptions of organizational attraction. The nature of the relationship between personality trait inferences and organizational attraction is unclear, however, as the results of prior studies have been somewhat inconsistent, have had several distinct limitations, and have only been conducted using US samples.
We present new evidence regarding the nature of this relationship, with data on a much larger number of firms, using a multi-cultural sample. Our exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses find a seven-factor structure of personality trait inferences that includes the five factors identified by previous researchers, suggesting that while the five factors have some generalizability outside the US, there may also be important differences.
Our results also provide additional support that personality trait inferences are related to perceptions of organizational attraction.
Keywords
personality trait inferences about organizations, organization personality perceptions, organizational attraction, organizational attractiveness, organizational image, organizational reputation
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