Why grit requires perseverance and passion to positively predict performance.

Prior studies linking grit-defined as perseverance and passion for long-term goals-to performance are beset by contradictory evidence. As a result, commentators have increasingly declared that grit has limited effects. We propose that this inconsistent evidence has occurred because prior research has emphasized perseverance and ignored, both theoretically and empirically, the critical role of passion, which we define as a strong feeling toward a personally important value/preference that motivates intentions and behaviors to express that value/preference. We suggest that combining the grit scale-which only captures perseverance-with a measure that assesses whether individuals attain desired levels of passion will predict performance. We first metaanalyzed 127 studies (n = 45,485) that used the grit scale and assessed performance, and found that effect sizes are larger in studies where participants were more passionate for the performance domain. Second, in a survey of employees matched to supervisor-rated job performance (n = 422), we found that the combination of perseverance, measured through the grit scale, and passion attainment, measured through a new scale, predicted higher performance. A final study measured perseverance and passion attainment in a sample of students (n = 248) and linked these to their grade-point average (GPA), finding that the combination of perseverance and passion attainment predicted higher GPAs in part through increased immersion. The present results help resolve the mixed evidence of grit's relationship with performance by highlighting the important role that passion plays in predicting performance. By adequately measuring both perseverance and passion, the present research uncovers grit's true predictive power.

Refining the Openness-Performance Relationship: Construct Specificity, Contextualization, Social Skill, and the Combination of Trait Self- and Other-Ratings.

Scholars have raised concerns that openness to experience has ambiguous relationships with performance. In this study, we examine both openness and one of its more narrow dimensions, learning approach. In addition, the research context was made narrow (i.e., higher education academic performance in science), and social skill was interactively combined with peer- and self-rated personality in the prediction of academic performance (i.e., grades). We found that those high on learning approach, but not openness, 1 year later performed better academically than those lower on learning approach. Furthermore, for those high and average on social skill, increased peer-rated learning approach was associated with higher performance. Finally, the combination of self- and other-ratings of learning approach was a better predictor of academic performance than the combination of self- and other-ratings of openness. The relationship of openness with academic performance benefits from narrowing predictors and criteria, framing the study within a relevant context, accounting for social skill, and combining self- and other trait ratings.