Self-monitoring personality trait at work: An integrative narrative review and future research directions

Abstract

In this narrative review, we provide an overview of the self-monitoring literature as it applies to the workplace context. Our starting point to the review is a meta-analysis of self-monitoring literature published in by Day, Schleicher, Unckless, and Hiller. After providing an overview of the theoretical basis of self-monitoring and its measurement, we present a summary of the broad literature on self-monitoring to examine the implications of self-monitoring for employees and organizations. Based on our review, we identify the main outcomes of self-monitoring as well as findings of the literature treating self-monitoring as a moderator. We provide evidence that self-monitoring has potential downsides, which would benefit from further investigation. We conclude our review by identifying important potential future research directions.