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The Relation Between Job Satisfaction and Personality Similarity in Supervisors and Subordinates
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by Leann D. Rhodes and Elizabeth Yost Hammer* - Belmont University
Categories: Personality | Social
Organizational behavior has become an extensively researched area of psychology (e.g., Bauer & Green, 1996; Day & Bedeian, 1995; Jain, Lall, McLaughlin, & Johnson, 1996), and research shows that personality plays a large part in the underlying components of behavior in the workplace. The purpose of this study was to determine whether personality similarity also plays a role in organizational behavior. The present study examined the variables of locus of control and agreeableness similarity between supervisors and subordinates and the relation of these variables to job satisfaction. A total of 37 participants from the administrative staff of a southeastern private university completed questionnaires measuring agreeableness, work locus of control, and job satisfaction. Personality similarity scores were obtained from supervisors' and subordinates' individual scores. Results support the hypothesis that supervisors and subordinates with a high level of agreeableness similarity have an increased level of job satisfaction. However, we found no relation between similarity of work locus of control and job satisfaction. Implications for the workplace, as well as future research, are discussed.