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Kevin R. Murphy (Editor). Individual Differences and Behavior in Organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996, 606 pages, $43.95.
Reviewed by Anthony E Buono, Professor of Management, Bentley College, Waltham, MA.
Although I/0 psychology has long recognized the existence of differences across individuals, the field's focus on such differences has been relatively narrow. Traditionally, I/O psychologists have emphasized differences in cognitive and, to a lesser extent, psychomotor abilities across individuals and their implications for organizations. Indeed, much of the literature on testing and selection has focused on the contribution and utility that general cognitive ability (often referred to as g the general factor) has in helping us explain and understand performance variation (cf., Ackerman & Humphreys, 1990; Ree, Earles, & Teachout, 1994). Yet, although other key variables-personality attributes, interests, values, outlook, affective states-also exert a profound affect on our behavior, they have received far less attention. As Kevin Murphy and an impressive array of 23 collaborators underscore, however, it is time for I/O psychology to take a broader view of how individual differences might affect our experiences in organizations.
The book, which is the ninth volume in the Frontiers of Industrial and Organizational Psychology series initiated in 1982, clearly shows that there is much to be gained by taking a broader view of individual differences. The volume is divided into three parts. The first two parts, which constitute the heart of the book, examine four main individual difference domains-cognitive ability, personality, orientation, (e.g., values, interests) and affective disposition (e.g., mood, affect, temperament) and the role they play in an array of organizational outcomes. The third and final section consists of two essays that comment on the issues raised in the preceding chapters.
The first section contains four chapters that examine the domain of individual differences. Murphy's introductory chapter sets the stage for the volume, laying out the opportunities and challenges that a broader view of individual differences creates and how future research in this area might be shaped. In the next essay, Leaetta Hough and Robert Schneider examine the advantages and disadvantages...