Leadership: Leaders, Followers, Environments

Core self-evaluations

Recent work has also focused on core self-evaluations (CSE), a broad, integrative personality trait composed of self-esteem, locus of control, generalized self-efficiency, and low neuroticism. These core self-evaluations are fundamental, basic evaluations that people make about themselves and about their selfworth. In a sense, they capture one's identity. While two of the components of the CSE—locus of control and neuroticism—are discussed elsewhere in this chapter, the other two require further explanation. Self-esteem reflects the extent that individuals like themselves and consider themselves worthy and valuable. People with low self-esteem are more susceptible to or dependent upon external influences and are more likely to seek approval from others and to conform to the dictates and suggestions of others. Generalized self-efficacy, or efficiency, is an important psychological concept that reflects confidence in our ability to succeed in specific situations.²⁴ A person's sense about their self-efficacy can greatly influence how one approaches and completes goals, tasks, and challenges.

One useful instrument or scale to measure core self-evaluations is the following relatively short, 12-item survey. Adding up the total points for all 12 items and dividing by 12 yields your average score per item. The mean score is around 3.8 to 3.9. Higher scores are associated ...