This paper examines a research study about personality and job performances; comparing the study to two other similar articles, alongside the findings and hypotheses that has been created out of them. This paper also observes the mediating role of job satisfaction and the Big Five relationship. We also used the methods of the Big Five and a work survey to construct the study furthermore. We will test out the predictions on whether neuroticism may most likely influence job performance and whether an extravert may most likely have high job satisfaction. Towards the end, we will understand how personality has an effect on job performance and satisfaction within each individual; and whether our hypotheses have been proven correctly.
Keywords: research, methods, personality, job performances, BIG FIVE
When it comes to personality, you never know how much of an effect it has on different aspects of your life; for example, it can affect your friendships, your relationships, your wardrobe style, clubs you’re interested in, sports you may play, your academic performance and also your school major. Different personality dimensions such as the Big Five Personality Test reveals how your personality is summed up with five traits: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. Openness is defined as people who are not afraid to try new things and enjoy new experiences. Anyone who scores high on the test for this trait is more insightful, imaginative and has varieties of interests. People who score high on the trait of conscientiousness may be highly reliable and punctual; they have traits of being organized and methodic. Extraverts feed off of other people’s energy by being interactive; meanwhile introverts get energy within themselves. Their traits may be being energetic, talkative and assertive. Individuals with the personality trait of agreeableness tend to be friendly, cooperative, and compassionate. Lastly, neuroticism relates to an individual’s emotional stability and degree of negative emotions; traits can be moody and uptight.
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Personality has been intrinsically defined as possessing a particular set of characteristics by people who manipulate their actions and reactions in different situation along with their motivation level to react to difficulties at the workplace. Nevertheless, understanding personality traits and their maturity has been a debatable issue. Nonetheless, various theories have been forwarded to rather contribute to this debatable dispute. For instance, employers set goals and support contribution with the company to have a better employee performance, which would have an effect in higher motivation level later leading to increased competence. Job satisfaction amongst employees is an essential matter in any organization and employer plays a major role to accomplish their wants. Keeping job satisfaction high among workers can be very valuable to any organization, as satisfied employees will be more likely to fabricate work efficiently. It has been assumed that personality traits can play an important role in people’s dealing with the environmental issues such as work situations. One can analyze that this continual discuss over the characterization of personality in relation to job performance has and will cause recurrent tribulations in the using it as an implement to increase better performance. The current study investigated whether the Big Five contributes to motivation and job satisfaction. Recent research has found that the Big Five plays a vital role in how an individual’s job performance may be and how satisfied they are with the job they currently have. Studies regarding the relationship between personality traits of a particular employee and their workplace performance have been conducted on a large scale.
Adrian Furnham, Andreas Eracleous and Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic (2009) conducted a study of how an individual’s job performance and satisfaction can be influenced based off of the Big Five; also personality and demographic variables are tested to see if they show contribution to motivation and job satisfaction. The study consisted of 200 employees from various job fields such as retail, manufacturing and healthcare; none were paid to participate and also was recruited. All participants had to fill out questionnaires through a website; explaining how to report intrinsic and extrinsic detail of their job; alongside a satisfaction scale. Results have shown that between 9 to 15 percent of the variance in motivation is contributed with demographic variables and also the Big Five traits. Each trait of the Big Five was aimed to focus on how much is measured within the motivation of the job and how strong the traits were. For instance, study says that the trait of extraversion may be highly motivated by essential factors such as recognition and positive feedback; being rewarded complies with their sociable character. It also stated that extraverts would respond to rewards more than introverts. Within the study, it was believed that personality may have an effect on work attitudes as well.
Besides Furnham et al (2009), Cynthia Mathieu (2013) study shows mixed results on the relationship between extraversion and narcissism affecting job performances and satisfaction. The current study further explores the relationship between personality dimensions and how it influences employees; also how it can correlate with other personality traits in a workplace. It was also stated in the study that narcissism; an extreme selfishness, with grandiose view of one’s own talents and a craving for admiration, as characterizing a personality type can also influence work attitudes and reflect through the five personality dimensions as well.
Mathieu stated that narcissism may be an attraction in the selection process and can lead to success in a short period of time; however it can lead to destruction within an organization. Coincidentally, neuroticism and narcissism share similarities in the traits within an individual who has scored high on the personality test. The study was conducted by employees from a public organization by completing a sequence of assessments. Overall, it was 224 employees that completed a self-reported measure of job performances; specifically 93 males and 131 females. Students of Lehman College constructed a study of their own between personality and job performances; and also came up with their own hypotheses and findings amongst each participant.
After reviewing both of these articles in class, I’ve created two hypotheses that might correlate to each of them. The first hypothesis is whether the more likely a person is extraverted, the more satisfaction they have with their job; and the second one elaborates whether the more neurotic an individual may be, the less likely they show great job performance. Being that the traits of an extravert are energetic, talkative and self-confidence, their personality can reflect on their job satisfaction. Extraverts are willing to make sure people around them are pleased with any outcome and can be a great asset when applying customer service at work. Unlike a neurotic person; who immediately shows their demeanor in their job performance. The evidences within each article will show whether both of these hypotheses are proven or has failed by the information that has been given.
Method
Participants
The participants were a total of 24 people; specifically, 7 males and 17 females combined, with an age range of 19 to 42; with the mean age of 29 years, mode age of 21 years, and the median of 24 years. The participants were students enrolled at Lehman College, CUNY; with the range of ethnicities from 25% African American, 17% Hispanic, 2% Asian and 5% Caucasian. Some of the participants included were students who are currently taking an Experimental Psychology course also. Most of these students were Psychology majors; meanwhile some are majoring in Business, Economics, Accounting, Social Work and Public Health. Each participant had the highest level of education with some college or 2-year of college; majority of the participants are enrolled into different programs going towards their Bachelor’s.
Materials
Work Survey. A survey complied with demographic questions about an individual’s career choice, their job information and satisfaction, work ethic and more. This measure has not been tested for reliability and validity.
Big Five Personality Scale. A psychological assessment which measures the five dimensions of personality: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. This measure was used for reliability and validity; specifically taken on Truity.com
Procedure
Each student from the Experimental Psychology course completed the Big Five Personality Scale individually on desktops within the school’s computer lab. The students also took the time in class to set up different questions to construct the work survey and hypotheses to compare with each article for the study. As for the other participants, they were given the site to do the Big Five testing on their own electronic devices; alongside handed a sheet of the work survey to fill out at home, at work, on campus and any other setting. On the survey, participants were specifically asked to fill out their career plans, recent job history, current job history, age they acquired their first job, their majors if they are enrolled in school, alongside demographic questions on their race, gender, and education history.
Results
In the Furnham study, a Pearson correlation was run to examine the relationship between the personality dimension openness and people’s work ethic. Results show that there was a significant moderate positive correlation between openness and work ethic (r = .371, n = 21, p = .048). Study also says that once the Big Five was used; between 8 to 13 percent of the variance in job satisfaction was explained by personality factors. Additionally, within the study at Lehman, a Pearson correlation showed a moderate, negative correlation between neuroticism and job performance (r= -.289, n= 24, p= .181) nevertheless, this correlation was not significant. A third Pearson correlation showed a moderate positive correlation between extraversion and job satisfaction (r= .163, n=24, p=.492). Apparently, there was no significance or relationship within the correlation. In the Mathieu’s study, it was stated that narcissism was positively correlated with extraversion however negatively correlated with neuroticism.
Discussion
The first goal of our study was to test how personality dimensions may relate job performance and satisfaction. We found that the relationship between neuroticism and job performance had a negative correlation; which proves that the relationship of an employee working based off of their personality is not true. We also found that the relationship between extraversion and job satisfaction was positively correlated; confirming that a person who mainly has an extraverted personality actually can show decent results when satisfied with their job. In Furnham et al (2009), there were also findings that extraversion positively correlated with motivation factors. Unlike the Mathieu study, the findings showed that narcissism was positively correlated with openness and extraversion; but had no relation to conscientiousness. Also, there was a negative correlation between neuroticism and narcissism. Out of two hypotheses, only one was supported to be true; whether extraverts are most likely to be very satisfied with their jobs. With the trait of an extravert, they are highly motivated to continue showing excellent work ethic due to the reward that may come their way.
Within the Lehman study, there could’ve been more testing added in for more correlation within the personality dimensions. There were some limitations to the study since we were only able to test out two hypotheses when more information could’ve formulated from testing each personality to job satisfaction and performance; to see whether there was some correlation amongst each other.
This study has proven in many ways how personality does affect an individual’s work ethic and also job satisfaction; personality can influence how much effort we put into our jobs and may show how much we may care or not for it. An employee needs to execute well in the position and actions listed in the job description. Also for a better performance, an employee needs to have the skills, understanding and the right approach needed for the job. In order to get the best performance from an employee, personality assessment has been conceded during the recruitment procedure. The Big Five personality test calculates the personality type we may have by each dimension and how high we score for each. It is imperative to know that there is a close relationship between job performance and personality. This correlation between both job performance and personality depends on the quality of the job, the business and co-workers. It is also imperative to keep in mind that the success of a business would depend on the performance by the employee.
Each study examined has proven how each personality trait may affect their careers differently; and other studies might disagree however depending on how an individual decides on living and acting with personality behaviors, it can make or break their work ethics in reality.
