title: General job performance of first-line supervisors: the role of conscientiousness in determining its effects on subordinate exhaustion.
abstract: In an integrated test of the job demands-resources model and trait activation theory, we predicted that the general job performance of employees who also hold supervisory roles may act as a demand to subordinates, depending on levels of subordinate conscientiousness. In a sample of 313 customer service call centre employees, we found that high-conscientiousness individuals were more likely to experience emotional exhaustion, and low-conscientiousness individuals were less likely as the general job performance of their supervisor improved. The results were curvilinear, such that high-conscientiousness individuals' exhaustion levelled off with very high supervisor performance (two standard deviations above the mean), and low-conscientiousness individuals' exhaustion levelled off as supervisor performance improved from moderate to high. These findings suggest high-conscientiousness employees may efficiently handle demands presented by a low-performing coworker who is their boss, but when performance expectations are high (i.e. high-performing boss), these achievement-oriented employees may direct their resources (i.e. energy and time) towards performance-related efforts at the expense of their well-being. Conversely, low-conscientiousness employees suffer when paired with a low-performing boss, but benefit from a supervisor who demonstrates at least moderate job performance.
authors.affiliation: College of Business, Department of Management, Marketing, and Business Administration, University of Houston-Downtown, Houston, TX, USA. perrys@uhd.edu
authors.forename: Sara Jansen
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Perry
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rubino
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Witt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003242:Conscience; D004644:Emotions; D004651:Employment / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009934:Organization and Administration; D010551:Personality; D000066477:Work Performance