The five-factor model of personality traits and organizational citizenship behaviors: a meta-analysis

Using meta-analytic tests based on 87 statistically independent samples, we investigated the relationships between the five-factor model (FFM) of personality traits and organizational citizenship behaviors in both the aggregate and specific forms, including individual-directed, organization-directed, and change-oriented citizenship. We found that Emotional Stability, Extraversion, and Openness/Intellect have incremental validity for citizenship over and above Conscientiousness and Agreeableness, 2 well-established FFM predictors of citizenship. In addition, FFM personality traits predict citizenship over and above job satisfaction. Finally, we compared the effect sizes obtained in the current meta-analysis with the comparable effect sizes predicting task performance from previous meta-analyses. As a result, we found that Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Extraversion have similar magnitudes of relationships with citizenship and task performance, whereas Openness and Agreeableness have stronger relationships with citizenship than with task performance. This lends some support to the idea that personality traits are (slightly) more important determinants of citizenship than of task performance. We conclude with proposed directions for future research on the relationships between FFM personality traits and specific forms of citizenship, based on the current findings.     

UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT OF PERSONALITY TRAITS ON INDIVIDUALS' TURNOVER DECISIONS: A META-ANALYTIC PATH MODEL

Historically, researchers have sought to identify environmental causes of employee turnover. This paradigm has led to the underemphasis of individual differences as being an important cause of individuals' turnover decisions. The results of the meta-analysis show that personality traits do have an impact on individuals' turnover intentions and behaviors. The trait of Emotional Stability best predicted (negatively) employees' intentions to quit, whereas the traits of Conscientiousness and Agreeableness best predicted (negatively) actual turnover decisions. A theoretically developed path model showed important direct effects from personality to intentions to quit and turnover behaviors that were not captured through job satisfaction or job performance. These direct effects indicate that employees who are low on Emotional Stability may intend to quit for reasons other than dissatisfaction with their jobs or not being able to perform their jobs well. The direct effects on turnover suggest that individuals who are low on Agreeableness or high on Openness may engage in unplanned quitting. Personality traits had stronger relationships with outcomes than did non-self-report measures of job complexity/job characteristics.     

Why people harm the organization and its members: Relationships among personality,organizational commitment,and workplace deviance

Based on the five-factor model of personality traits and social exchange theory, this study examines the relationships of personality traits, organizational commitment, and two target-based factors of workplace deviance (organizational deviance and interpersonal deviance), using a sample of 113 South Korean employees. By the use of path-analysis, we first found that Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability were meaningfully related to organizational commitment. In addition, both the effect of Conscientiousness on organizational deviance and the effect of Agreeableness on interpersonal deviance were partially mediated by organizational commitment. In sum, results clearly show that the personality traits of Conscientiousness (impersonal) and Agreeableness (interpersonal) function differently in predicting workplace deviance.     

THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS AS PREDICTORS OF EXPATRIATE'S DESIRE TO TERMINATE THE ASSIGNMENT AND SUPERVISOR-RATED PERFORMANCE

Applying the evolutionary theory of personality, this study proposed and tested the hypotheses that each of the Big Five personality characteristics (Extroversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Openness or Intellect) predict two criteria of expatriate success: (a) desire to prematurely terminate the expatriate assignment, and (b) supervisor-rated performance on the expatriate assignment. The participants were 143 expatriate employees (and 94 supervisors) from a U.S.-based information technology company. Results from correlation and regression analyses suggest that Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Emotional Stability are negatively related to whether expatriates desire to terminate their assignment. Conscientiousness is positively related to the supervisor-rated performance on the expatriate assignment. Practical implications for expatriate management (e.g., self-selection) are given.     

Avoiding the issue: Disengagement coping style and the personality–CWB link

The current study positions coping as a motivational framework to understand why Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Agreeableness are related to the performance of organization- and person-directed counterproductive work behavior (CWB) when employees experience constraints at work. In particular, we hypothesized a moderated meditational model wherein individuals low in Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability engage in CWB because these traits contribute to a preferred style of coping with stressors (disengagement coping style) that is particularly likely to be triggered when one’s coping preferences are consistent with the coping demands of the situation. Our hypotheses were supported and point to the joint importance of personality-based coping predispositions and situational demands in determining the use of CWB as a coping strategy.     

Loving, hating, vacillating: Agreeableness, implicit self-esteem, and neurotic conflict

An implicit preference for the self over others may be beneficial when pursuing one's own desires but costly when adjusting the self to the desires of others. On the basis of this reasoning, the authors hypothesized that Agreeableness and implicit self-esteem would interact in predicting measures of neurotic distress. Three studies and one meta-analysis, involving 235 undergraduate participants, confirmed that high levels of implicit self-esteem were beneficial (i.e., less neurotic distress) within the context of low levels of Agreeableness but costly (i.e., more neurotic distress) within the context of high levels of Agreeableness. Because findings were robust across various measures of Agreeableness, implicit self-esteem, and neurotic distress, the interpersonal principles examined here appear to have broad relevance for understanding this particular form of intrapsychic conflict and its manifestation in neurotic distress. Results therefore support Horney's (1945) theory concerning the consequences of intrapsychic conflicts related to interpersonal motivation and cognition.     

The Relationship Between Ability-Based Emotional Intelligence and Contextual Performance and Counterproductive Work Behaviors: A Test of the Mediating Effects of Job Satisfaction

This article investigated the mediating role of job satisfaction between four ability-based emotional intelligence (EI) dimensions and contextual performance and counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs), and controlled for Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Agreeableness. Based on data collected from 222 employees, results supported the hypothesized partial mediation model. Job satisfaction partially mediated the relationship between (a) the ability-based EI dimension, regulation of emotion, and contextual performance, and CWB-I and CWB-O; (b) the ability-based EI dimension, selfemotion appraisal, and CWB-I and CWB-O; (c) the ability-based EI dimension, use of emotion and contextual performance; and (d) between Agreeableness, Emotional Stability, and Conscientiousness and contextual performance and CWBs. Implications, limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

INTERACTION AND INTERSECTION: THE CONSTELLATION OF EMOTIONAL STABILITY AND EXTRAVERSION IN PREDICTING PERFORMANCE

This study investigated the constellation of 2 Big 5 traits—Emotional Stability and Extraversion—in predicting job performance. Two forms of the constellation, one indirect (a statistical interaction) and the other direct (a measure of the intersection between the traits from the Big 5 circumplex), were used to predict job performance. Data were collected from employees and their supervisors at a regional health and fitness center. Results indicated that both measures predicted performance, even when controlling for the "main effects" of Emotional Stability and Extraversion, as well as 2 other relevant Big 5 traits (Agreeableness and Conscientiousness). These results suggest that the combination of Emotional Stability and Extraversion—reflecting a "happy" or "buoyant" personality—may be more important to performance than either trait in isolation.     

The interactive effects of conscientiousness and agreeableness on job performance

The authors hypothesized that the relationship between conscientiousness and job performance would be stronger for persons high in agreeableness than for those low in agreeableness. Results of hierarchical moderated regression analyses for 7 independent samples of employees across diverse occupations provided support for the hypothesis in 5 of the samples. In samples supporting the hypothesis, among the highly conscientious workers, those low in agreeableness were found to receive lower ratings of job performance than workers high in agreeableness. One explanation for lack of an interaction between conscientiousness and agreeableness in the other 2 samples is that those jobs were not characterized by frequent, cooperative interactions with others. Overall, the results show that highly conscientious workers who lack interpersonal sensitivity may be ineffective, particularly in jobs requiring cooperative interchange with others.     

A theoretical basis for the major dimensions of personality

We argue that lexical studies of personality structure suggest the existence of six major dimensions of personality: (I) Surgency, (II) Agreeableness, (III) Conscientiousness, (IV) Emotional Stability, (V) Intellect/Imagination, and (VI) Honesty. We then propose a two‐part theoretical basis for these dimensions. First, Honesty and rotated variants of Agreeableness and Emotional Stability are interpreted in terms of three traits—fairness/non‐exploitation, forgiveness/non‐retaliation, and empathy/attachment—that underlie prosocial versus antisocial tendencies. Second, the Surgency, Conscientiousness, and Intellect/Imagination factors are interpreted as traits that involve active engagement within three domains of endeavour—social, task‐related, and idea‐related endeavour. Predictions that follow from these interpretations are tested and found to be supported. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Team Personality–Team Performance Relationship Revisited: The Impact of Criterion Choice,Pattern of Workflow,and Method of Aggregation

Using meta-analytic evidence, this study tested trait- and task-based theoretical approaches to team personality management, using both team behaviors and team outcomes as criteria. Trait theories state that maximization of the team trait is harmful for Extroversion (complementary team fit) but beneficial for Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and Emotional Stability (supplementary fit). Task-based theories state that tasks with few work exchanges are best reflected by mean trait scores, whereas tasks with frequent work exchanges are best represented by other types of scores (e.g., minimum score). Correlations between different aggregations of team personality and team performance were coded, as well as the study criterion choice and the pattern of workflow (as moderators). Partial support for both trait and task theories were found. Team Conscientiousness and Agreeableness provided supplementary fit primarily with team behaviors, but there was mixed evidence that Extroversion provided complementary fit. Furthermore, minimum and variance measures of the team trait related to team performance in tasks with frequent work exchanges, but not in tasks with few work exchanges. Results suggest several limitations with existing measurement methods, which are discussed.     

SELF-MONITORING AS A MODERATOR OF THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PERSONALITY TRAITS AND PERFORMANCE

This study examined the hypothesis that self-monitoring moderates the relationship between Big Five personality traits and interpersonal performance. The findings from a sample of 102 employed Executive MBA students reveal that when self-monitoring was high the relationships between 3 of the Big Five personality traits (Extraversion, Emotional Stability, and Openness to Experience) and supervisory ratings of interpersonal performance were attenuated. These effects were replicated using peer ratings of interpersonal performance for Extraversion and Emotional Stability but not for Openness to Experience. Further, as expected, self-monitoring did not moderate the relationships between personality traits and supervisory or peer ratings of task performance. Implications for future research in the area of personality and other motivational theories are discussed.     

Honesty-humility, the big five, and the five-factor model

This study investigated the relations of the proposed sixth factor of personality, Honesty-Humility, with the dimensions of the classic English lexical Big Five and the closely related Five-Factor Model (FFM). Results showed that although Honesty-Humility was largely unrelated to markers of the Big Five factors, it was substantially correlated with the FFM Agreeableness domain. This relation was largely due to the Straightforwardness and Modesty facets of FFM Agreeableness, which were only weakly correlated with the Big Five version of Agreeableness. A realignment of FFM facets to produce separate Honesty-Humility and Agreeableness factors provided better prediction of personality variables that involve deceit without hostility, such as Social Adroitness and Self-Monitoring. Results indicate the importance of assessing Honesty-Humility as a separate factor.     

Predicting adult involvement in crime: Personality measures are significant,socio-economic measures are not

Comprehensive research into criminal careers along with the growing consensus around the Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality traits have re-established personality measures as important predictors of criminal activity. A number of studies of specialist groups have concluded that agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and extraversion are linked to crime. Data were drawn from the National Child Development Study. Experiencing a criminal justice sanction in mid-adulthood was regressed on FFM traits, Agreeableness, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Intellect and Emotional Stability (Neuroticism), as well as socio-economic variables linked by criminologists to crime. Results indicated that significant predictors in this representative sample of 7205 adults, were four of the five personality traits (but not Intellect), gender, experience of school problems, but none of the socio-economic measures. This is consistent with the evidence that social class has only a minor role in predicting criminality, contrary to previous assumptions.     

Pancultural Gender Stereotypes Revisited: The Five Factor Model

Williams and Best's (1982, 1990a) cross-culturalgender stereotype data from 25 countries, previouslyanalyzed in terms of affective meanings, ego states, andpsychological needs, were re-analyzed in terms of the Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality.In each country, participants were approximately 100university students, equally divided by gender. Withresults averaged across all countries, it was found that the pancultural male stereotype was higherthan the pancultural female stereotype on Extraversion,Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Openness toExperience while the pancultural female stereotype was higher on Agreeableness. Re-analysis of thestereotype data from Japan and Pakistan, which had beenfound relatively atypical in previous analyses, revealedFFM profiles generally similar to the pancultural profiles. The evaluative nature of each factoris discussed and related to the stereotypes associalization models.     

Can Basic Individual Differences Shed Light on the Construct Meaning of Assessment Center Evaluations?

The construct meaning of assessment center evaluations is an important unresolved issue in I/O psychology. This study hypothesized that Cognitive Ability and personality traits are primary correlates of evaluators’ overall assessment ratings (OARs). Meta–analysis results based on 65 correlations indicate the following mean construct–level correlations with OARs: .67 for Cognitive Ability, .50 for Extraversion, .35 for Emotional Stability, .25 for Openness, and .17 for Agreeableness; yielding a multiple R of .84. These findings support our hypothesis and cast light on the construct meaning of assessment center evaluations.     

Fatigue: relationships with basic personality and temperament dimensions

This study examined the relationships between the Five-Factor-Model (FFM) personality dimensions (Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, Openness/Autonomy), the Pavlovian temperament variables (Strength of Excitation, Strength of Inhibition, Mobility), and fatigue. We expected that all these person characteristics would be negatively associated with fatigue. In a survey among persons working at least 20 h a week (N=765), respondents completed a personality questionnaire (the Five-Factor Personality Inventory), a temperament scale (the Pavlov Temperament Survey), and two fatigue questionnaires (the Checklist Individual Strength-20 and the Emotional Exhaustion scale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory). Results indicated that high scores on Autonomy, and low scores on Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Strength of Excitation were, in various combinations, predictors of higher fatigue scores. Agreeableness, Strength of Inhibition, and Mobility did not play a role in the prediction of any fatigue score. In conclusion, personality and temperament dimensions explained significant proportions of the variance in fatigue. It is stated that there is an urgent need for longitudinal studies in order to examine the predictive value of the personality dimensions over time.     

Big Five personality development in adolescence and adulthood

The present article examines Big Five personality development across adolescence and middle adulthood. Two adolescents and their fathers and mothers from 285 Dutch families rated their own and their family members' personality. Using accelerated longitudinal growth curve analyses, mean level change in Big Five factors was estimated. For boys, Extraversion and Openness decreased and for girls, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness increased. Whereas mothers' Emotional Stability and Conscientiousness increased, fathers' Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Emotional Stability decreased. Differences in self‐ and other‐reported personality change were found, as well as interindividual differences in personality change. Results confirm that personality change is possible across the life course but these changes are not similar for all individuals and depend on the type of observer. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

SELECTING INDIVIDUALS IN TEAM SETTINGS: THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL SKILLS, PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS, AND TEAMWORK KNOWLEDGE

Although work is commonly organized around teams, there is relatively little empirical research on how to select individuals in team-based settings. The goal of this investigation was to examine whether 3 of the most commonly used selection techniques for hiring into traditional settings (a structured interview, a personality test, and a situational judgment test) would be effective for hiring into team settings. In a manufacturing organization with highly interdependent teams, we examined the relationships between social skills, several personality characteristics (Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Emotional Stability), teamwork knowledge, and contextual performance. Results indicate that each of these constructs is bivariately related to contextual performance in a team setting, with social skills, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and teamwork knowledge incrementally predicting contextual performance (with a multiple correlation of .48). Implications of these results for selection in team and traditional settings are discussed.     

Relationships between personality and time-related strains

Using data from a Dutch representative national sample of 1,249 respondents (40% women and 60% men), all engaged in paid labor, the relationships between Big Five personality traits and time-related strains (i.e., Time Pressure and Work Pressure) were examined. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that Emotional Stability was negatively and Openness to Experience was positively related to both types of time-related strains. Emotional Stability and Agreeableness were more strongly negatively associated with generalized Time Pressure than with context-specific Work Pressure. This supports the Strong versus Weak Situations Hypothesis of Mischel.