Behavioral compliance is an overarching dimension that summarizes the five dimensions of personality based on the Big Five model (McCrae & Costa, 1987). Behavioral compliance is therefore a general factor of personality (Musek, 2007). It describes a person's tendency to be more socially compliant and to behave in accordance with a social ideal, rather than unconventional, reacting inappropriately and swimming against the tide (Van Der Linden et al., 2010).
Previously, it was assumed that the unconventional and socially compliant forms of behavioral compliance formed a pair of opposites, and that a person could be clearly assigned to one of the two categories. Today, however, unconventional and socially compliant are understood as two poles of a continuum along the behavioral compliance dimension. The value of each person can therefore be located at one point on the following scale:
Unconventional
For people who show rather unconventional behavior and even deviate from the socially defined standard image, the following characteristics, for example, are typical:
- skeptical
- sorrowful
- based on facts
More unconventional people can, due to their tendency to challenge conventions once in a while and to cross borders, bring in a new perspective. They can do this in particular in activities in which many different perspectives are beneficial and can therefore avoid problems such as groupthink, for example in science.
Socially compliant
People who show more socially compliant behavior and almost always conform to the socially defined standard image can be described with the following characteristics:
- open-minded
- not to disturb
- sympathetic
People who are more socially compliant are very good at behaving in accordance with social ideals. Especially for jobs involving customer contact or representing the company to the outside world — such as in sales or as a press spokesperson — this is desirable, as they give a good impression and will only rarely be annoying.
Benefits in a professional context
The best fit for a vacancy depends not only on a person's behavioral compliance, but also on the characteristics of the vacancy. However, applicants who are more socially compliant often have an advantage in traditional testing methods. Due to their adaptability, they are particularly effective in social interactions (e.g. Dunkel & Van Der Linden, 2014). This can lead to mis-hires in jobs for which a more unconventional person with their unique perspectives would be far more suitable. With personality assessments, you can therefore reduce the risk of mis-hires while at the same time achieving greater diversity in the workplace!
How do you record behavioral compliance?
Do you want to assess the behavioral compliance of your applicants? Aivy is happy to help you with this!
Our mini-game “Self-Knowledge” offers users a brief self-assessment to find out their individual value. This not only covers behavioral compliance, but also the five dimensions of the Big Five:
Sources
- Dunkel, C.S., & Van Der Linden, D. (2014). Evidence for the general factor of personality as social effectiveness. Personality and Individual Differences, 64, 147—151.
- McCrae, R.R., & Costa, P.T. (1987). Validation of the five-factor model of personality across instruments and observers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52 (1), 81.
- Musek, J. (2007). A general factor of personality: Evidence for the big one in the five-factor model. Journal of Research in Personality, 41 (6), 1213—1233.
- Van Der Linden, D., Te Nijenhuis, J., & Bakker, A.B. (2010). The General Factor of Personality: A Meta-Analysis of Big Five Intercorrelations and a Criterion-Related Validity Study. Journal of Research in Personality, 44 (3), 315—327.
Behavioral compliance is one of the traits Aivy captures in its personality assessment.
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