- Grit shows a better predictive validity of success over IQ and conscientiousness
- One personal quality is shared by the most prominent leaders in every field: grit.
It was found that grittier individuals had attained higher levels of education than less gritty individuals of the same age. Older individuals tended to be higher in grit than younger individuals, hinting towards that the quality of grit may increase over the lifespan.
In another study, undergraduates at an elite university who scored higher in grit also earned higher GPAs than their peers, despite having lower SAT scores. Participants were 139 undergraduate students majoring in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. The average SAT score of this participant pool was 1,415. Gritty students outperformed their less gritty peers: Grit scores were associated with higher GPAs, a relationship that was even stronger when SAT scores were held constant. SAT scores were also related to GPA. It is interesting to note that grit was associated with lower SAT scores, suggesting that among elite undergraduates, smarter students may be slightly less gritty than their peers.
- Research Example: A study shows that grit has a positive direct effect on organizational citizen behavior (and that job involvement does not mediate the influence of grit on organizational citizenship behavior). The relation here means that improving/having more grit would directly increase organizational citizenship behavior (the behaviors that contribute to organizational goals by improving the context in which work takes place). OCBs are relevant in any job, and research suggests that they can boost organizational effectiveness, influence the bottom line, and because research indicates that OCBs relate strongly to supervisor evaluations of job performance, OCBs have been found to influence the salary and promotion recommendations people receive, over and above their task performance. Caring about grit pays off, literally.