Core self-evaluations interact with cognitive ability to predict academic achievement

Extant research suggests that core self-evaluations (CSE) is associated with various work-related criteria, but such research often focuses on main effects when predicting subjective outcomes. Drawing upon psychological theories involving self-concept and motivation, we investigated both the main and interactive effects of CSE and cognitive ability when predicting an objective outcome. Specifically, results indicated that high CSE strengthened the positive relation between cognitive ability and academic achievement. Study contributions and limitations are discussed.