Browsing by Author "Lonka, Suvi"

Previous studies show that personality can affect success at work. However, there have been relatively few prior studies on the relationship between success at work and certain personality traits, such as optimism and self-directedness. Current study examined the relationship between optimism, self-directedness and success at work in 3 to 10 years follow-up. Success at work was measured by unemployment status, income and occupational status. Women and men were analyzed separately as previous studies have reported gender differences in personality-success at work relationship. Furthermore, the results were examined after controlling the level of education. The hypothesis was that optimism and self-directedness would predict lower unemployment, higher income and higher occupational status. Participants were from the Young Finns study that began in 1980. There were in total 3596 participants aged 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 at the study baseline in 1980. In this current study 1576 participants (993 women, 583 men) were followed from 1997 to 2011 when they all were adults. Self-directedness was measured in 1997 and optimism in 2001. Unemployment and occupational status were reported in 2001, 2007 and 2011. Income was reported in 2007 and 2011. Results showed that optimism and self-directedness were associated with success at work. Low optimism predicted unemployment, especially in women. High optimism and high self-directedness predicted higher income and higher occupational status. However, the associations between self-directedness with income and occupational status weakened after the level of education was controlled. High optimism also predicted changes in income. When analyzing changes in income separately in women and men, the result was significant only in men. Thus it seems that optimism affects the career of an individual positively as optimists continuously find new opportunities to advance in their career and earn more money. In practice the results suggest to reflect that objective success at work might be improved by interventions that lead to improving skills in goal making and mindfulness.