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Chapter 1
THE SELF-CONCEPT IN
ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY:
CLARIFYING AND DIFFERENTIATING
THE CONSTRUCTS
John Schaubroeck
Department of Psychology and Eli Broad Graduate School of Management,
Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824
You Jin Kim and Ann Chunyan Peng
Eli Broad Graduate School of Management, Michigan State University,
East Lansing, MI 48824
Organizational psychologists and scholars representing other organizational
disciplines have in recent years become increasingly interested in self-concept
constructs. Scholars have applied the root constructs of self-efficacy, self-
esteem, and identity to a wide range of topics. Research examining these
constructs has also spawned other organizational research examining cognate
constructs such as self-uncertainty (Thau, Aquino, & Wittek, 2007), self-
concept clarity (Bechtoldt, De Dreu, Nijstad et al., 2010), and self-complexity
(Hannah, Woolfolk, & Lord, 2009). These add to the suite of constructs which
researchers must come to understand if they seek to extend the literature con-
cerning the influence of self-concept on how people interact with their work
environments.
Self-concept variables have significant motivational implications because
they may predict effort and performance in ways that are unaccounted for by es-
tablished motivation models (e.g., expectancy theory, equity theory) (Leonard,
Beauvais, & Scholl, 1999).The self-concept is also an “interpersonal being”
(Baumeister, 1998) that arises from and influences one’s social interactions
(Gecas, 1982). How one views oneself affects one’s interpretations, attitudes,
and behavior toward others (Fiske & Taylor, 1991).
International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 2012, Volume 27.
Edited by G. P. Hodgkinson and J. K. Ford.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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