A three-month study examined the effects of personality on role adjustment processes among 102 entering MBA students. Path analysis showed that indirect effects, and the concept of trace effects, of initially measured neuroticism and external locus of control accounted for more variance in later role ambiguity and role-related stress than did a major source of environmental variation. One of the important indirect effects was the path from initial role ambiguity to initial emotional stress to subsequent role ambiguity. However, specific behaviors identified as instrumental to role definition were not predictable from personality variables, raising the possibility that personality effects on role adjustment may be mediated more by cognitive rather than overt behavioral processes.
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