The personality of unemployed managers: myths and measurement

The study examines the widely held assertion that unemployed managers will possess the characteristics traditionally associated with managerial ability to a lesser degree than managers in employment. In contrast to conventional wisdom the unemployed appear to possess many of the attributes traditionally associated with managerial ability. These results are discussed in terms of the stability of personality over time, the influence of organisational factors in the causes of job loss and the possibility that the unemployed managers studied had a greater than average preference for risktaking. The implications of these results for personnel management are explored