Personal Characteristics and Performance Expectations

Abstract

Status generalization is a process whereby personal, evaluated characteristics of individuals are imported into task situations and provide a basis for the formation of performance expectations at the outset of task interaction. The Theory of Status Characteristics and Expectation States has focused on the effects of status generalization in structuring task interaction, and this process is well substantiated. Less is known about the generalization effect of characteristics other than status. This research is designed to extend the theory to include a crucial aspect of interaction that is now outside its scope: the functioning of personal characteristics in expectation formation. The primary steps in this process include (1) the definition of Valued Personal Characteristics in relation to status characteristics, (2) a theoretical extension to include the functioning of Valued Personal Characteristics, and (3) an empirical test of the revised formulation. Experimental results confirm the usefulness of this extension and suggest that, under specified conditions, personal characteristics do function in the generalization process to produce task expectations.