Lumina Spark Development of an Integrated Assessment of Big 5. Personality Factors, Type Theory & Overextension

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1 Lumina Spark Development of an Integrated Assessment of Big 5 Personality Factors, Type Theory & Overextension Stewart Desson, Stephen Benton 1, & John Golding 2 1 Business Psychology Centre, University of Westminster, London, UK 2 Department of Psychology, University of Westminster, London, UK Correspondence: Stewart Desson, Tel: stewart@desson.co.uk Abstract This paper outlines the development of a tool that synergies advances in personality theory using three distinct development methods as outlined by Burisch (1986). Big Five personality theory guided the inductive development of 5 Aspect Pairs in the new measure representing the two poles of each Big 5 factor. Deductive modelling of key components of Jungian Concepts was used to break down each Aspect into 3 or 4 Qualities. Criterion-centric analysis of scale relationships with 16 Leader Capabilities resulted in the development of a universal Professional Capabilities Framework and refinements on the predictor side. Separate facets representing Underlying (personality), Everyday (Behaviour) and Overextended ( Under Pressure ) Personas were developed. Factor Analysis of the 32 Qualities (N=2158) replicates the Big Five Factor nicely. Results show that various supposedly incompatible measures of behavior can be integrated thus advancing scientific understanding of the constructs and their application. Keywords: big five, factor analysis, inductive, deductive, criterion-centric, dark side, bifurcate, Lumina Spark, Spark Mandala, circumplex 1. Introduction 1.1 Overview The purpose of the research is to develop an integrated model of personality through the use of inductive, deductive and criterion-centric methods that enables more effective measurement and prediction of effectiveness at work. The new model aims to integrate the Big Five personality factors approach with concepts drawn from Jungian psychology and the latest thinking in the field of personality measurement to address some of the limitations of other models of personality. This research aims to investigate whether an innovative approach to the Big Five can be synergized with Jungian concepts, creating an enhanced hierarchical measure of personality that can be shown to have robust psychometric properties. In particular, the proposed model incorporates the following elements: 1.2 Theoretical Objectives 1) Separate measurement of both poles of each Big Five personality construct (rather than on one continuous scale with one socially desirable end). 2) Exploring the extent to which there are positive correlations between workplace performance and both poles of each Big Five personality construct. 3) Replacing dark side (Kaiser et al, 2013) constructs and maladaptive traits (Judge et al., 2009) with measures of the extreme ends of normal bright side (Kurz& Chan, 2012) personality traits. These extreme ends are conceptualised in this new approach as the overextended persona. 4) Portray the interplay of dispositional traits and contextual behaviours, researching the validity benefit of measuring both. This involves conceptualising the underlying persona as stable dispositional traits and

2 contrasting this with the everyday persona which is shaped by role demands and the overextended persona which is shaped by role conflicts. This approach considers the impact that context plays when measuring these characteristics. 1.3 Empirical Objectives 1) To test whether the proposed model of personality is compatible with the Big Five structure. 2) To better understand the link between personality predictors and performance as conceptualised by the proposed model. 3) To examine whether this model is a valid predictor of the effectiveness of people at work. 4) And, to examine whether the features of the new measure can demonstrate improved criterion validity over and above the traditional Big Five construct through: Breaking out the Big Five factors to measure both ends independently; Measuring Facets under each Big Five Construct; Differentiating between the Underlying, Everyday and Over-extended personas. 2. Method In a cross-sectional design N=2158 participants from diverse occupational background were administered the Lumina Spark Personality questionnaire through an online system which they self-rated on a five-point rating scale from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree. Lumina Spark scores at the facet level which include the average three sub-facets including Underlying, Everyday and Overextended personas, are averaged to form the 32 Qualities which in turn are averaged to form the 10 Aspects at the top of the hierarchical model. The 32 Qualities were expected to form five factors that resemble the Big Five Factor following Principal Component Analysis with Varimax rotation. 3. Results Five factors were extracted accounting for 16.4%, 15.2%, 14.5%, 13.3% and 12.2% of the variance respectively. Table 1 shows that results of the Principal Components Analysis of the 32 Qualities of the Lumina Spark personality model after varimax rotation. The resulting factor solution replicates the Big Five Factor structure. The first factor is called Hot Reactor/ Cool Reactor and aligns with Big Five Neuroticism factor and comprises of 4 Qualities on opposite ends. The second factor is labelled Introverted/ Extroverted and corresponds with Big Five Extraversion factor and consists of 3 Qualities on each end. The third factor is Discipline Driven/ Inspiration Driven consisting of 3 Qualities each and is matched with the Big Five Conscientiousness factor. While the fourth factor is People Focused/ Outcome Focused also consisting of 3 Qualities on each pole and aligns with Agreeableness Big Five Factor. Finally, the fifth factor is Big Picture Thinking/ Down To Earth that corresponds to Openness to Experience in the Big Five also comprising of 3 Qualities on each side.

3 Table 1. Rotated components of PCA factor analysis of the Lumina Spark personality measure (N= 2158) Note. Component loadings <.20 omitted; Component loadings >.40 in bold. The results support the new proposed model of personality that bifurcates the Big Five Factors into 10 Aspects that are in turn measured by 32 Qualities. The factor solution shows that the 10 Aspects although highly correlated can be distinct and that both ends of personality measurement should be valued as in the case of Introversion and Extroversion. So, instead of being high or low on Extraversion, this measure is proposing that people can be high and low on the opposite ends of the construct. Scale refinements are currently underway showing promising levels of reliability and criterion-related validity. 4. Discussion This paper proposes a new innovative measure of personality that measure both ends of the Big Five Factors separately in order to better understand the personality-performance relationship and hence improve predictive validity of personality measure. The integration of the underlying, everyday and overextended persona which is aligned to stable trait and situationally-based behaviours respectively, into one dynamic personality measure captures the individual s natural preference, his everyday behavior and how he responds under pressure. Moreover, overextended persona addresses the personality research literature on the dark-side aspect of

4 personality (Hogan & Hogan, 2001). The understanding of the dynamic ways that personality interacts together to impact on performance is crucial for the practitioner to improve prediction of work performance. Figure 1 shows the Spark Mandala that has been designed to represent four of the Big 5 factors which are typically covered in developmental tools. The factors are ordered to form a circumplex where People Focused through to Discipline Driven broadly represent Digman s (1997) Alpha Factor while Inspiration Driven to Outcome Focus represent the Beta factor. Emotional Stability (Cool Reactor) and Neuroticism (Hot Reactor) is covered through optional extra questions and report sections using bar charts. Figure 1. Spark mandala showing four bi-polar factors in circumplex order Acknowledgments This paper is being presented at the 1stInternational Conference on Psychotechnology (ICOP) 1 st September 2014 and the authors acknowledge the invitation and sponsorship provided by the Psychology Department in the Faculty of Humanities at Bina Nusantara University in Jakarta, Indonesia.

5 References Burisch, M. (1986). Methods of personality inventory development - A comparative analysis. In A. Angleitner& J. S. Wiggins (Eds.), Personality assessment via questionnaires (pp ). Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag. Digman, J. M. (1997). Higher-order factors of the Big Five. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, Hogan, R. & Hogan, J. (2001). Assessing leadership: A view from the dark side. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 9, Judge, T.A., Piccolo, R.F., &Kosalka, T. (2009). The bright and dark sides of leader traits: A review and theoretical extension of the leader trait paradigm. Leadership Quarterly, 20, Kaiser, R.B., LeBreton, J.M., & Hogan, J. (2013). The Dark Side of Personality and Extreme Leader Behavior. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 2013doi: /apps Kurz, R. & Chan, S. (2012). The bright side (and dark side): Effectiveness of people at work - Measurement and prediction of proficiency and potential for promotion. BPS DOP Conference, 13 January Overview. (n.d.). Retrieved from Luminalearning: Copyrights Copyright for this articleis retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the journal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (