Personality and Social Psychology The relationship between performance-based self-esteem and self-reported work and health behaviors among Danish knowledge workers ROGER PERSSON, KAREN ALBERTSEN, ANNE HELENE GARDE and REINER RUGULIES National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark Persson, R., Albertsen, K., Garde, A.H. & Rugulies, R. (2012). The relationship between performance-based self-esteem and self-reported work and health behaviors among Danish knowledge workers. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 53, 71–79. Since knowledge intensive work often requires self-management, one might fear that persons who are dependent on work success for self-esteem will have difficulties in finding a healthful and sustainable balance between internal needs and external demands. Accordingly, we examined to what degree work- related performance-based self-esteem (PBS) was linked to work and health behaviors in 392 knowledge workers (226 women, 166 men). In the women group, multiple binary logistic regression analyses with repeated measurements showed that the PBS score was associated with 10 of the 17 examined work and health behaviors. For men the corresponding figure was 3 of 17. In both men and women, higher PBS scores were positively associated with reports of efforts and strivings for work as well as attending work while ill. In conclusion, statistically significant relationships between PBS and work and health behaviors were more clearly visible among women than men. Whether this gender difference is dependent on the study design, or on true inherent differences between women and men, cannot be concluded with any certainty. However, persons who described themselves as being relatively more depen- dent on work accomplishments for a high self-esteem, as expressed by the PBS score, seem to display work behaviors that may lessen their restitution time. In addition, they also seem to be more prone to work while sick. Key words: Self-esteem, personality traits, work, health behaviors. Roger Persson, National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Lersø Parkalle 105, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. E-mail: rpe@nrcwe.dk INTRODUCTION Today many occupations entail administrative and knowledge intensive work, which to a large extent depends on information and communication technologies and the intellectual capabilities of the workers (Powell & Snellman, 2004). Indeed, a well-func- tioning human mind is many times considered more critical to business success than a well-functioning machine (Kalimo, 1999). In addition, the globally emerging 24-hour knowledge-economy has produced changes in production patterns, economic zones, and increased the pressure toward more flexible and more variable working time arrangements that encompass temporal and geo- graphical flexibility (Costa, Åkerstedt, Nachreiner et al., 2001; Knauth, 1998; Powell & Snellman, 2004). Following this devel- opment is a more dynamic and individualized labour market that at times appears unpredictable and turbulent, and it is assumed that individual commitment, human and social skills will be important factors to develop in order to increase the employability of the individuals (Allvin & Aronsson, 2003; Smith, 2010). Since knowledge-intensive work with high temporal and geo- graphical flexibility often requires people to plan and organize their own work and engage in self-management, there is reason to believe that individual variations in motivation (i.e. preferences, willingness, ambitions etc.) are more easily expressed as well as more important to manage (Drucker, 1999; Frost, Osterloh & Weibel, 2010; Kalimo, 1999). From an occupational health per- spective, these circumstances raise concern about the possibilities for new health hazards that may arise in the transactions between the individual and the environment. One personality trait that might be considered potentially troublesome under these condi- tions is work-related performance-based self-esteem (Dahlin, Joneborg & Runeson, 2007; Hallsten, 2005). Performance-based self-esteem (PBS) has conceptually been defined as ‘‘…a pattern of intimately linked cognitions, emotions and motives that gener- ate behaviors and strivings with the aim of maintaining or raising self-esteem’’ (Hallsten, Josephson & Torge ´n, 2005, p. 6). Self- esteem is, however, a many-sided concept. Self-esteem may be viewed either as a trait or as a state as well as refer to both global and domain specific judgments of the self (Crocker & Wolfe, 2001). The idea is traceable to the writings of William James who viewed self-esteem, or self-worth, as a ratio between personal suc- cess and personal ambitions in the domain(s) that we experience as meaningful (James, 1890). While it is beyond the scope of this article to account for the general and debated topic of self-esteem (for an overview see, Pierce & Gardner, 2004; Swann, Chang- Schneider & McClarty, 2007), it should be noted that PBS is a form for contingent self-esteem that is considered to be a trait (Hallsten, 2005). Furthermore, the PBS concept follows a tradition that questions whether high self-esteem is always beneficial (Crocker & Park, 2004). Given that knowledge-intensive work often requires self-man- agement, one might assume that persons who are contingent on work success for self-esteem will have difficulties in finding a healthful and sustainable balance between internal needs and external demands. Hence, it is a compelling question whether work-related personal strivings for raising or maintaining self- esteem may lead to behaviors that affect work performance and social relationships and health. Indeed, the few studies that so far have addressed the topic of work-related PBS suggest this possi- bility. For example, work-related PBS has been associated with Ó 2011 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology Ó 2011 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. ISSN 0036-5564. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 2012, 53, 71–79 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9450.2011.00906.x