General versus domain‐specific grit in the work context

Abstract

Researchers have questioned whether grit should be conceptualized and measured as a global (i.e., domain‐general) or domain‐specific construct. Although evidence is beginning to appear that grit in educational and sport contexts may be measured as domain‐specific, it has not yet been explored in the organizational context. The objective of this research was to study the psychometric properties of grit as domain‐specific for subsequently analyzing if such domain‐specific grit (labor grit) improves the predictive validity of different organizational results. A sample of 326 active workers was used (Myears = 37.52; SD = 9.85). Their grit levels in the general domain and specific domain were evaluated, as well as their main personality traits and other organizational results such as work engagement and work performance. The grit instrument as domain‐specific showed excellent reliability (ω = 0.92), and the unidimensionality of the instrument was confirmed. The results point to the fact that giving an organizational connotation to the grit items does not improve the predictability of the results. However, labor grit adds incremental validity over personality traits and work engagement to predict task and contextual performance (Δr2 = 0.13), but not to predict counterproductive behavior.