Personality Traits and Motivational Traits as Predictors of Social Competence. Implication for Occupational Selection Process

The paper presents original study and its findings concerning the possibility of using personality traits and motivational traits as predictors of social competence . According to the findings, motivational traits, including social anxiety and managerial and organisational interests, correlate highly with social competence in situations of social exposure and requiring self-assertion . Hence, motivational traits are highly useful predictors of social competence in both types of social situations . Moreover empirical findings point out that in order to increase the accuracy of estimating social competence both personality traits and motivational traits should be considered . Measurement of both traits estimates the level of social competence more accurately than the measurement of personality traits . Implication for occupational selection is discussed .

at the same time (e .g .connected with resisting the influence of others) .As a result, the level of social competence is determined regarding the type of social situation or aims and tasks that a particular person accomplishes in interpersonal contacts 2 .Two of the most significant types of social situations in context of professional work are situations of social exposure and situations requiring self-assertion .Social competence in those types of social situations is connected with two out of eight fundamental professional competences included in the Universal Competence Framework TM by Prof .D .Bartram 3 , namely 'interacting and presenting' (situations of social exposure) and 'leading and deciding' (situations requiring self-assertion) .Estimating the level of this type of social competence should be a standard procedure in occupational selection for a position requiring regular contact with other people, including managing people .The level of social competence is estimated on the basis of behaviour of a given person in a specific social situation or while achieving particular aim in interpersonal contacts .These behaviours are evaluated through the prism of effectiveness and appropriateness, i .e .the ability to fulfil the aim appropriate to the rules and norms operated in a given relation or social situation 4 .The criteria of evaluation change depending on the aim and type of social situation .A socially competent person acts in a way that enables the fulfilment of aims in a particular types of social situations .Presenting social competence in terms of behaviour appropriate to a specific situational context points at the connection between social competence and personality traits, since personality traits describe normal way of behaviour desirable by a person .Some authors strongly emphasise the relation between particular personality traits (temperament) and behaviours or social competence 5 .According to the research, there are numerous and significant connections between personality traits, especially the ones specified in the "Big Five" personality traits, and social behaviour 6 .Personality 2 J .Hayes, Interpersonal skills at work, Routledge, London 2004 . 3D .Bartram, The great eight competencies: A criterion-centric approach to validation, "Journal of Applied Psychology" 2005, No 90, pp . 1185-1203 . 4   pp .56, 4, 586-595 .traits are directly as well as indirectly related to social competence7 .Direct connection between personality traits and social competence, i .e .effective and appropriate behaviour in a particular situation, results from the fact that some social behaviours may be identified with demonstration of a particular feature of personality trait (i .e .a self-assertive behaviour of an extrovert) .However, indirect connection between personality traits and social competence involves choosing a specific type of social situations by people with the intensification of particular personality traits .Hence, the people more often experience such situations and create themselves more opportunities to practice and improve social competence .The aforementioned direct connection is also specific to other substantial traits, for instance motivational traits .These are traits that describe individual differences in tendency to commit oneself to a particular situation or to avoid them8 .In terms of behaviour and social competence important motivational traits are social anxiety and social interest .The former defines the tendency to avoid social situations that cause anxiety in people who are socially apprehensive .The latter defines the tendency to commit oneself into a specific type of social situations owing to the fact that an individual estimates it as positive and interesting .Motivational traits are connected with the index of intensity of social training in particular types of social situations what influences the effectiveness of functioning (the level of social competence) 9 .People who are apprehensive should be, therefore, characterised by relatively low social competence due to avoiding social situations and, at the same time, opportunities to practice and improve social competence .Correlation between personality traits and motivational traits with social competence makes them predictors that are useful in practical occupational selection in case of estimating the level of social competence of candidates for work 10 .Constructing personality profile and knowing the interests of a job applicant may be useful in estimating social competence of the candidate .In occupational selection practice it is common to employ various psychometric tools, like questionnaires, to measure personality traits or motivational traits (i .e .various types of vocational interests inventory) .The knowledge concerning predictive value of personality traits and motivational traits in the context of estimating the level of social competence is helpful in view of the fact that it allows to optimally use the results of psychometric tests-draw conclusions on broader scope of the traits, competence, abilities of a job applicant than it is possible by means of a standard research tools .As a result, the measure of personality traits may serve not only to construct the personality profile of a candidate but also to estimate the level of his or her competence .The use of personality traits and motivational traits as predictors of social competence allows abandoning the use of additional tools to measure social competence, especially during the preselection stage (initial selection/screening) .Therefore, pre-selection research can be less time-consuming, more cost-effective, and at the same time, delivery of all expected information about the potential of a job applicant11 .

Research problem and hypotheses
Personality traits described in the "Big Five" personality traits are correlates of numerous social behaviour and allow to predict the level of effectiveness of functioning (of social competence) in various types of social situations 12 .The accuracy in estimating the level of social competence on the grounds of personality predictors is the highest, if the result is based on the set of (at least) two personality variables .For example, the set of extraversion and neuroticism are good predictors of social competence in the situations of social exposure, but social competence in the situations requiring self-assertion may be best assessed using the set that includes extraversion and agreeableness 13 .Thus, personality questionnaires can be used not only to construct the personality profile of a job applicant but also to estimate the level of his or her social competence .Personality traits in terms of individual differences psychology are part of preference scope, as they describe habitual way of thinking, feeling and acting preferred by a particular person 14 .Important elements of preference scope, next to personality traits, are also motivational traits that illustrate the tendency to avoid or engage into a specific type of experience, including the social ones .A strong correlation of motivational traits with the level of social competence in particular type of social situations is a necessary condition to make use of motivational traits as helpful predictors of social competence in occupational selection practice .It is assumed that motivational traits indicate strong preference to avoid social competence (in case of social anxiety) or to become involved into social situations (in case of social interests) and i .e .indirectly connected with the opportunity (or its lack) to improve specific social competence .According to the above, the first research hypothesis reads as follows: H1: Motivational traits, such as social anxiety and social interests are correlates of social competence in the situations of social exposure, as well as in the situations involving self-assertion.Social anxiety, as responsible for the tendency to avoid social situation, correlates negatively with the level of social competence in both types of social situations.However, social interests, responsible for the tendency to involve oneself into social situations, correlate positively with the level of social competence in both types of social situations.Even if motivational traits correlate with social competence, the measure of motivational traits in occupational selection practice must be supported with further arguments .For instance, the data showing that motivational traits as predictors of social competence are at least as accurate as personality traits .In such case, the recruiter could have a choice when estimating the level of social competence of a job applicant-he or she could choose between personality questionnaire or, for example, social interests questionnaire .The data indicating the incremental validity provided by the process of estimating the level of social competence on the basis of both motivational traits and personality traits, will constitute a stronger argument .The research reveals that personality traits correlate moderately with motivational traits (i .e .social interests) 15 .Moderate correlation indicates that, except from being related, they are still separate constructs .It follows that incremental validity, that results from taking various (separate) predictors into account, such as motivational traits and personality traits, can be concluded in the process of estimating social competence .As a result, the next hypothesis reads as follows: H2: Considering motivational traits, in addition to personality traits, in the process of estimating the level of social competence, both social exposure and situations involving self-assertion, ensure incremental validity.
In practice, it means hoping that the index of multiple correlation of both motivational traits and personality traits with social competence will be higher than the index of multiple correlation of personality traits together with social competence 16 .

Research method
208 first year students of psychology and sociology took part in the research which was divided into stages according to lecture groups and practical classes .The respondents were asked to fill out a set of questionnaires, including NEO-FFI personality questionnaire (NEO-Five Factor Model), WKP preferences questionnaire (Multidimensional Preferences Questionnaire), KKS questionnaire of social competence (Questionnaire of Social Competence) and SKNS questionnaire (The Self-Consciousness Scale) .The questionnaires were filled out in the following order: NEO-FFI questionnaire as the first one, then WKP questionnaire followed by KKS questionnaire, and SKNS questionnaire at the end .
NEO-FFI personality questionnaire17 is based on the "Big Five" personality traits, according to which five main personality traits are distinguished, namely: extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness .In pursuance of this model, the five traits illustrate all key individual differences in personality .NEO-FFI questionnaire allows to obtain reliable results from all five traits .It is composed of 60 questions in five-category answer format and takes maximum 15 minutes to fill out the questionnaire .
WKP questionnaire18 estimates the level of vocational interest, also in social area (care and service interest scale and managerial and organisational interest scale) .The questionnaire includes 133 questions in five-category answer format .The time needed to fill out the questionnaire should not exceed 20 minutes .
KKS questionnaire19 is used to examine social competence as acquired ability determining the effectiveness of functioning in various social situations .
It includes 90 questions in four-category answer format, where 60 of them have a diagnostic character and are used to estimate a general level of social competence and level of social competence in three main types of social situations, i .e .: intimate situations (involving close interpersonal contact), situations of social exposure and situations requiring self-assertion (i .e .having influence on somebody and falling under influence) .The time required to fill out the questionnaire amounts to 20 minutes .
SKNS questionnaire20 is used in assessing concentration on oneself .It comprises three scales: the public self-consciousness scale, the private selfconsciousness scale and the scale of social anxiety i .e .used to estimate the intensity of social anxiety .The questionnaire includes 23 questions in fourcategory answer format .It takes average 10 minutes to fill it out .
In statistical analysis, the results from all four questionnaires were taken into consideration, including the results from five factor scales of NEO-FFI questionnaire, two scales of WKP questionnaire (both connected with social interest), two out of three factor scales of KKS questionnaire (i .e .scale of social competence in situations of social exposure and scale of social competence in situations requiring self-assertion) and one scale of SKNS questionnaire (i .e .scale of social anxiety) .Two types of statistical analyses have been employed, i .e ., correlation (Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) has been used and multiple regression (stepwise forward selection) .As a result, it became possible to estimate incremental validity that results from considering motivational traits and personality traits as predictors of the level of social competence 21 .

Results of the research
The analysis of the correlation showed significant statistical relations between particular personality traits from the "Big Five" personality traits examined by NEO-FFI questionnaire and the level of social competence in situations of social exposure and situations requiring self-assertion examined by KKS questionnaire .Detailed results are presented in Table 1 .Correlates of social competence in situations of social exposure are extraversion and conscientiousness (positive correlation), and neuroticism (negative correlation) .Correlates of social competence in situations requiring self-assertion are extraversion (positive correlate), neuroticism and agreeableness (negative correlation in both cases) .Furthermore, the analysis of correlation indicated statistical relations between particular motivational traits examined by WKP and SKNS questionnaires and the level of social competence in situations of social exposure and situations requiring self-assertion examined by KKS questionnaire .Detailed results are presented in Table 2 .Correlates of social competence in situations of social exposure are managerial and organisational interests (positive correlation) and social anxiety (negative correlation) .An interesting fact is that social interests in the area of care and service do not correlate with the level of social competence in both examined types of social situations .It is worth mentioning that the level of statistically significant correlation of motivational traits with social competence reached or exceeded the level of the highest correlation of personality traits with social competence .As a result, managerial and organisational interests and social anxiety are illustrated as predictors of social competence and are at least as valid as the most valid personality predictors .The results of multiple regression analysis show that taking into account three traits from the "Big Five" personality traits, i .e .extraversion, neuroticism and agreeableness, may increase the accuracy of the estimation of social competence in situations of social exposure to the level r = 0 .57(in comparison with the highest correlation coefficient of a single trait, extraversion, at a level of 0 .45) .Detailed results are illustrated in Table 3 .The results of multiple regression analysis show that taking into consideration the same three personality traits from big five personality traits, i .e .extraversion, neuroticism and agreeableness, may increase the accuracy of the estimation of social competence in situations requiring self-assertion to the level r = 0 .50(in comparison with the highest correlation coefficient of a single trait, neuroticism, at a level of <absolute value> 0 .36) .Detailed results are shown in Table 4 .On the basis of the results of regression analysis that present motivational traits as predictors of social competence in situations of social exposure and situations requiring self-assertion, a conclusion may be drawn that motivational traits are as valid predictors of social competence as personality traits from the "Big Five" personality traits (applies to the estimation of social competence in situations requiring self-assertion; the same level of multiple correlation coefficient r = 0 .50as in the case of personality predictors) or even significantly more valid (applies to the estimation of social competence in situations of social exposure; in case of motivational traits the level of multiple correlation coefficient amounts right up to r = 0 .76 in comparison with r = 0 .57in personality traits) .Detailed results are presented in Tables 5 and 6 .In order to test if presenting motivational traits together with personality traits will increase the validity of estimation of social competence, the regression analysis has been used .Both types of traits have been introduced separately with personality traits prior to motivational traits .Detailed results of the analysis are presented in Tables 7 and 8 .On the basis of them, it can be stated that measuring personality traits and motivational traits at the same time helps to increase validity index of social competence in situations of social exposure from r = 0 .57to r = 0 .77 .Moreover, presenting both types of traits improves validity index of social competence in social situations requiring self-assertion from r = 0 .50 to r = 0 .55 .It indicates that presenting motivational traits next to personality traits provides incremental validity in case of estimating the level of social competence in situations of social exposure as well as in situations requiring self-assertion .

Discussion on the results
The results of the research provide empirical support for both research hypotheses .Motivational traits, including social anxiety and managerial and organisational interests, correlate with social competence in both types of social situations mentioned in the research, i .e . in situations of social exposure and requiring self-assertion .The level of all statistically significant correlation of motivational traits with social competence (the lowest absolute value found in the research amounts to r = 0 .45) is at least equal or exceeds the highest correlation of personality traits from the "Big Five" personality traits with social competence (the highest value found in the research amounts to r = 0 .45) .Furthermore, the level of statistically significant correlation of motivational traits with social competence greatly exceeds the value of r = 0 .35that constitutes the criterion for considering particular correlation as useful predictor in vocational selection practice 22 .From that point of view, motivational traits, such as social anxiety or managerial and organisational interests are regarded as highly useful predictors of social competence in both types of social situations which are extremely important considering professional work, i .e .situation of social exposure (various types of public speech, conducting meetings, lectures and trainings) and situations requiring self-assertion (persuasion, having influence on somebody and withstanding pressure or demonstrating managerial courage) .
Empirical support for research hypothesis on incremental validity following the role of personality traits and motivational traits in process of estimating social competence proves that motivational traits play an important part as predictors of social competence .Motivational traits, such as social anxiety and managerial and organisational interests strongly correlate with social competence in situations of social exposure as well as in situations requiring self-assertion .Therefore, when estimating social competence by means of psychometric tools we can use, for instance, questionnaires of social interests instead of personality questionnaires .The research shows that a recruiter, in order to increase the accuracy of estimating social competence of a job applicant should consider both, personality traits and motivational traits .Measurement of both traits estimates the level of social competence more accurately than the measurement of personality traits .Measurement of personality traits and motivational traits contributes to the increase in accuracy index of social competence in situations of social exposure from r = 0 .57to r = 0 .77 and from r = 0 .50 to r = 0 .55 in estimating social competence in situations requiring self-assertion .It is worth noticing that although managerial and organisational interests highly correlate with social competence in both types of social situations mentioned in the research, the second type of social interests, i .e .care and service interests, do not correlate significantly with social competence in situations of social exposure or requiring self-assertion .Apparently, this type of social interest is connected with preference for other social situations than, for example, public speech or having influence on somebody .It is presumably related to social situations involving close interpersonal contact, establishing relation and providing help .This type of interest requires further research and analysis 23 .
The results of the conducted research have significant practical implications .However, the restrictions are worth paying attention to .First of all, a relatively inconsiderable group of 280 first year students of social science was examined in the research .The research results should be carefully applied to other age and vocational categories .On that account, conducting further research on a chosen group is recommended .Psychometrical tools used in the research are worth noticing .Questionnaire of social competence is one of many methods that measure such a type of competence .Higher accuracy of social competence can be obtained using test methods, such as situational judgement tests or simulations . 24Further research should test if, on the basis of the measurement of motivational traits or combined measure of motivational traits with personality traits, it is possible to estimate social competence measured by test methods as accurately as by methods based on questionnaire .

Summary and practical implications
which are extremely important considering professional work, i .e .situation of social exposure (various types of public speech, conducting meetings, lectures and trainings) and situations requiring self-assertion (persuasion, having influence on somebody and withstanding pressure or demonstrating managerial courage) .Moreover, the research shows that a recruiter, in order to increase the accuracy of estimating social competence of a job applicant should consider both, personality traits and motivational traits .Measurement of both traits estimates the level of social competence more accurately than the measurement of personality traits .
Ключевые слова: общественная компетенция, личностные качества, мотивационные черты характера, отбор сотрудников.Paweł Smółka, Ph.D. Assistant Professor at the Institute of Applied Psychology, the Academy of Special Education, Warsaw .Academic teacher and consultant/trainer in human resource management projects .He specializes in social competence assessment and development, including psychometrics and coaching .
Michał Szulawski, M.A. Research-and-teaching fellow at the Institute of Applied Psychology, the Academy of Special Education, Warsaw .Social psychologist, coach, trainer with a degree in psychology and English philology .Currently teaching social psychology and coaching at the department of social psychology at APS in Warsaw .Works as personal and business coach in Coach Wise model .His scientific interests are: achievement of goals, individual differences and methods of enhancing development .
6 M .R .Leary, R .H . Hoyle Ed ., Handbook of individual differences in social behavior, The Guilford Press, London 2009; R .R .McCrae, P .T .Costa Jr .,The structure of interpersonal traits: Wiggins's Circumplex and the Five-Factor Model, "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology",

Table 1 .
Traits of the "Big Five" personality traits examined by NEO-FFI questionnaire compared with the level of social competence in situations of social exposure and situations requiring self-assertion examined by KKS questionnaire ** p < 0 .01ns -(statistically) not significant result Source: the author's own analysis

Table 2 .
Traits of the "Big Five" personality traits examined by NEO-FFI questionnaire compared with social competence in situations of social exposure and situations requiring self-assertion examined by KKS questionnaire

Table 3 .
The results of multiple regression analysis.

Table 5 .
The results of multiple regression analysis.

Table 7 .
The result of multiple regression analysis.Incremental validity resulted from presenting motivational traits together with personality traits as predictors of social competence in situations of social exposure F(3.165)= 81.994 p < 0.0001 R= 0.77 R²= 0.60 corrected R²= 0.59