Landmark Study Investigates Arrogance

June 17, 2007

Arrogance is not just an unpleasant personality trait — it can also affect an organization's morale and bottom line.

There also appears to be a strong relationship between arrogance and job performance, according to Stan Silverman, dean of The University of Akron's Summit College and co-author of the study, “Arrogance: A Formula for Failure.”

Until now, there has been very little research on arrogance, Silverman says, even though most people have been exposed to it. In fact, after the study was recently presented, audience members were asked if they ever worked with an arrogant person. “Almost everyone in the room raised their hands,” recalls Silverman.

Silverman, Aarti Shyamsunder of Kronos, Inc. and Russell Johnson of the University of South Florida presented their ground-breaking research in New York City at the 22nd annual conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, a division of the American Psychological Association.

“Accounts of arrogant employees abound, but evidence is predominantly anecdotal,” Silverman continues. “There is little systematic research on arrogance within organizations, and sparse empirical data that verify the alleged negative relationship between arrogance and performance.”

In response, he and his colleagues developed the Workplace Arrogance Scale (WARS) to help obtain empirical data. The results? Among other things, the more arrogant you are, the more self-centered and the less agreeable you're likely to be.

Another portion of the study involved a 360-degree performance feedback survey. As expected, it showed that arrogance was negatively related to performance and cognitive ability.

There might be a competitive advantage in curtailing arrogant behavior in organizations and encouraging positive behaviors such as humility, Silverman says.

Examples are successful entrepreneurs and leaders such as Konosuke Matsushita, founder of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., the largest manufacturer of consumer electric appliances in the world, and Norberto Odebrecht, who founded Construtora Norberto Odebrecht, a Latin America conglomerate in engineering, construction, chemicals, mining and oil. Both made organization-wide efforts to eradicate arrogance and complacency, showing that humility could be critical to the success of their businesses.

The study also showed that measurements of workplace arrogance could be used by managers and coaches to develop interventions to lessen the harmful effects of arrogance and promote the benefits of performance feedback and action planning.

“This is especially true in light of the ‘disconnect' we found between self-perceptions and others' perceptions of behaviors we are calling arrogance,” Silverman says.

“A non-transparent, self-report measure of arrogance might also help us prove — or disprove — the commonly held belief that employees don't leave organizations, they leave managers.”

Source: University of Akron

4.1 /5 (17 votes)  

Rank 4.1 /5 (17 votes)
Tags

Relevant PhysicsForums posts
  • Is Everyday Technology Killing Us?
    createdFeb 08, 2012
  • Exercise and weight loss
    createdFeb 08, 2012
  • Why do we have head aches? Our brains can't feel anything.
    createdFeb 07, 2012
  • "The end of diseases" by David Agus, interview from Daily Show with Jon Stewart
    createdFeb 04, 2012
  • Oncolytic adenovirus
    createdFeb 04, 2012
  • Nutrition label stuffs and diets
    createdFeb 02, 2012
  • More from Physics Forums - Medical Sciences

More news stories

Injured boomers beware: Know when to see doctor

(AP) -- It happened to nurse Jane Byron years after an in-line skating fall, business owner Haralee Weintraub while doing "men's" push-ups, and avid cyclist Gene Wilberg while lifting a heavy box.

Medicine & Health / Health

created 46 minutes ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

FDA-approved drug rapidly clears amyloid from the brain, reverses Alzheimer's symptoms in mice

Neuroscientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have made a dramatic breakthrough in their efforts to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease. The researchers' findings, published in the journal Science, show t ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Feb 09, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (53) | comments 21 | with audio podcast

Green tea found to reduce disability in the elderly

(Medical Xpress) -- A lot of research has been done over the past several years looking into the health benefits of green tea. As a result, scientists have found that regular consumption of the beverage leads ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created Feb 07, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (14) | comments 11 | with audio podcast report

Teen school drop-outs three times as likely to be on benefits in later life

Teen school drop-outs are almost three times as likely to be on benefits in later life as their peers who complete their schooling, indicates research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Medicine & Health / Health

created Feb 06, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 13

To perform with less effort, practice beyond perfection

Whether you are an athlete, a musician or a stroke patient learning to walk again, practice can make perfect, but more practice may make you more efficient, according to a surprising new University of Colorado Boulder study.

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Feb 09, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (15) | comments 6 | with audio podcast


Google might launch Drive for cloud storage soon

(PhysOrg.com) -- Google's next big move, according to the Wall Street Journal, is a cloud storage service called Drive. Hardly first to the plate, Google is simply catching up to introducing its cloud reposi ...

Latin America mining boom clashes with conservation

Latin America is experiencing a mining boom as prices rise fuelled by a hike in global demand, but the region is also being hit by a wave of violent protests, strikes and rallies by environmentalists.

Love a click away in Indonesia's Twitter Republic

He was a geeky kid from Yogyakarta, she a glamorous city girl in Jakarta. In a country with one of the world's most vibrant social networking scenes they fell in love on Twitter.

Europeans protest controversial Internet pact

Tens of thousands of people marched in protests in more than a dozen European cities Saturday against a controversial anti-online piracy pact that critics say could curtail Internet freedom.

Walney offshore wind farm is world's biggest (for now)

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Walney wind farm on the Irish Sea--characterized by high tides, waves and windy weather--officially opened this week. The farm is treated in the press as a very big deal as the Walney ...

Navy to begin tests on electromagnetic railgun prototype launcher

The Office of Naval Research (ONR)'s Electromagnetic (EM) Railgun program will take an important step forward in the coming weeks when the first industry railgun prototype launcher is tested at a facility ...