A Study on the Relationship Between Personality Traits and Unethical Pro-organizational Behaviors of Sales Staff: The Mediation of Performance Pressure

Abstract

: Objective: To explore the causes of unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) of sales staff and the influence mechanism of personality traits on UPB. Methods: The questionnaire method was used to obtain the sample data. The personality traits scale, performance pressure scale and UPB scale were adapted and questionnaires were designed based on the previous mature scales. The questionnaires were distributed to the sales staff by random sampling and a total of 600 valid questionnaires were obtained in the end. And the data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, regression analysis and mediated effects analysis using SPSS 26.0. Results: The mean value of personality traits of the sales staff was 3.683 with a standard deviation of 0.503; the mean value of performance pressure was 3.367 with a standard deviation of 0.475; and the mean value of UPB was 3.658 with a standard deviation of 0.523. Personality traits of sales staff had significant positive effects on performance pressure and UPB (P<0.05). Performance pressure had a significant positive effect on UPB (P<0.05). Performance pressure partially mediated the relationship between personality traits and UPB. Conclusions: The adoption of UPB by sales staff is not only directly influenced by personality traits, but also indirectly influenced by performance pressure. Therefore, organizations should guide employees to form positive personality traits, and give them more support and care to alleviate the negative emotions caused by performance pressure, so as to avoid the occurrence of bad behavior.