The interaction of self-monitoring and organizational position on perceived effort

Purpose - This study aims to investigate self-monitoring as a moderator of the relationship between organizational position and perceptions of individual effort.Design methodology approach. - A total of 133 students were randomly assigned to organizations of 12-15 members. Each organization completed three projects in 14 weeks. Each student served in one position: management or non-management. Participants also rated the effort of organizational members and then responded to items on the Self-monitoring Scale.Findings - Persons in management were rated as giving more effort than persons in non-management. Self-monitoring moderated the relationship between organizational position and perceptions of effort. Organizational members perceived high self-monitors (HSMs) in management as giving more effort than HSMs in non-management. In contrast, there was no difference in perceived effort of low self-monitors (LSMs) across positions.Research limitations implications - By using students instead of actual employees working in project teams, the results may not generalize to all organizations. Because job performance is a multidimensional construct, findings may have limited application to very specific aspects of contextual performance.Originality value - These findings provide support for self-monitoring as a moderator of organizational position and performance. This helps to reconcile debate about predicting behavior for cross-situationally consistent LSMs and cross-situationally variable HSMs. Implications for performance appraisals and differential prediction of criteria are discussed.