Willingness to take responsibility is a dimension of personality. It describes the tendency of a person to make decisions independently and to assume responsibility rather than to make decisions obediently after consultation in order to protect themselves and not be solely responsible (Edelson et al., 2018).
In doing so, a person's individual willingness to take responsibility can be classified on a continuum between the two poles obedient and independent. The value of each person can therefore be located at one point on the following scale:
Obedient
Rather obedient people feel most comfortable in situations in which they are not responsible for and have to make decisions alone.
In some jobs, it can be very beneficial not to make decisions over others' heads. Especially in areas of activity where individual employees are required to work more as a team and autonomy takes a back seat, it pays off to include everyone.
Self-employed
Rather self-employed people feel most comfortable in situations in which they can make decisions independently and take responsibility for them.
Independent decision-making is particularly required in jobs that allow a lot of autonomy.
Particularly in management positions, it is often necessary to make difficult decisions alone and also to take responsibility for the resulting consequences.
Benefits in a professional context
As you can see, the best fit for a vacancy depends not only on the person's willingness to take responsibility, but also on the characteristics of the vacancy.
As already mentioned, willingness to take responsibility goes hand in hand with autonomy (Kalbers & Cenker, 2008). Self-employed people are the best choice for positions with a lot of autonomy, where employees are often confronted with tricky decisions that they have to make alone. More obedient people flourish in situations where making decisions over others' heads is a great risk.
With a personality diagnosis, you can therefore reduce the risk of mis-hires and at the same time ensure higher diversity in the workplace!
How do you measure willingness to take responsibility?
Do you want to record the willingness to take responsibility of your applicants? Aivy is happy to help you with this!
Our mini-game “Delegation” offers users the opportunity to find out more about their individual decision-making behavior in no time at all. You will be faced with difficult decisions in high-risk situations and should master them in the best possible way.
Sources
- Edelson, M.G., Polania, R., Ruff, C.C., Fehr, E., & Hare, T.A. (2018). Computational and neurobiological foundations of leadership decisions. Science, 361(6401).
- Kalbers, L.P., & Cenker, W.J. (2008). The Impact of Exercised Responsibility, Experience, Autonomy, and Role Ambiguity on Job Performance in Public Accounting. Journal of Managerial Issues, 327-347.
Aivy captures willingness to take responsibility in its decision-behaviour assessment.
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