Self-Esteem

Self-Esteem

People attempt to understand themselves. They form self-concept. Self is an important concept in personality theory. The self is a unique product of many interacting parts and may be thought of as the personality viewed from within. 

The concepts of self and self-concept are particularly relevant to the widely recognized constructs, self-esteem and the emerging self-variables of multiple intelligences, emotion, optimism, and, especially, efficacy. All these concepts are relevant to the field of organizational behavior and performance of roles in organizations. 

Self-esteem has to do with people’s self-perceived competence and self-image. One study found that people with high self-esteem handle failure better than those with low self-esteem.However, an earlier study found that those with high self-esteem tended to become egotistical when faced with pressure situations and may result in aggressive and even violent behavior when threatened. After reviewing the research literature, Kreitner and Kinicki conclude, “High self esteem can be a good thing, but only if it is nurtured and channeled in constructive and ethical ways. Otherwise, it can become antisocial and destructive.”

There are attempts to conceptualize organization-based self-esteem (OBSE), it is defined as the “self-perceived value that individuals have of themselves as organization members acting within an organization context.” Those who score high on OBSE view themselves positively, and a meta-analysis found a significant positive relationship with performance and satisfaction on the job. Also, studies indicate that self-esteem plays at least an important moderating role in areas such as emotional and behavioral responses and stress of organizational members. Research confirm that employees with high self-esteem feel unique, competent, secure, empowered, and connected to the people around them.” One study found that leaders can overcome such self-esteem problems of their people by practicing procedural fairness and rewarding for a job well done.

Self-esteem is more of a global, relatively fixed trait, whereas other self-variables, such as self-efficacy, are more situation and context specific.

Source: Fred Luthans, OB

Personality Chapter

Thine Own Self: True Self-Concept Accessibility and Meaning in Life

Rebecca J. Schlegel, Joshua A. Hicks, Jamie Arndt, and Laura A. King

Psychol. 2009 Feb; 96(2): 473–490.  doi: 10.1037/a0014060

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4714566/

The Cognitive Self: The Self-Concept

https://opentextbc.ca/socialpsychology/chapter/the-cognitive-self-the-self-concept/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-concept