Approach or avoidance (or both?) : integrating core self-evaluations within an approach/avoidance framework

Core self-evaluations (CSE) represent a new personality construct that, despite an accumulation of evidence regarding its predictive validity, provokes debate regarding the fundamental approach or avoidance na- ture of the construct. This set of studies sought to clarify the ap- proach/avoidance nature of CSE by examining its relation with ap- proach/avoidance personality traits and motivation constructs (Study 1); we subsequently examined approach/avoidance motivational mecha- nisms as mediators of the relation between CSE and job performance (Study 2). Overall, the studies demonstrate that CSE is best concep- tualized as representing both (high) approach tendencies and (low) avoidance tendencies; implications of these findings for CSE theory are discussed.