A Longitudinal Study of the Predictors of Contextual Performance

Abstract

The current study extends previous research on contextual performance by comparing data at two points in time to assess the temporal stability of contextual performance and the stability of the predictors of contextual performance. Subjects were undergraduate students that worked in teams over the course of one semester. Personality, motivation orientation and perceived similarity to one’s team were explored as variables that may differentially predict individual contextual performance at time one and time two. Contextual performance was found to be a stable, unidimensional construct and individual contextual performance behaviors were shown to decrease significantly between time 1 and time 2. Conscientiousness and agreeableness were found to be stable predictors of contextual performance and extraversion, intrinsic motivation orientation and perceived similarity were found to be unstable predictors of contextual performance. Implications and limitations are discussed.