1

THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS AS PREDICTORS OF JOB

PERFORMANCE

SWATHI VIPPA B.H.Sc. (Home Science)

MASTER OF SCIENCE IN HOME SCIENCE (HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND FAMILY STUDIES)

2012

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THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS AS PREDICTORS OF JOB PERFORMANCE

BY SWATHI VIPPA

B.H.Sc. (Home Science)

THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE

ACHARYA N.G.RANGA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY

IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS

FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF

MASTER OF SCIENCE IN HOME SCIENCE

(HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND FAMILY STUDIES)

CHAIRPERSON: Dr. S. RATNA KUMARI

DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND FAMILY STUDIES COLLEGE OF HOME SCIENCE

ACHARYA N. G. RANGA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY RAJENDRANAGAR, HYDERABAD 500030.

2012

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DECLARATION

I, Ms. SWATHI VIPPA, hereby declare that the thesis entitled “THE BIG FIVE

PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS AS PREDICTORS OF JOB PERFORMANCE” Submitted to

the Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University for the degree of Master of Science

in Home science is the result of original research work done by me. I also declare that

no material contained in the thesis has been published earlier in any manner.

Place : Hyderabad (SWATHI VIPPA)

I. D. No. HHM/2010-013

Date :

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CERTIFICATE

Miss. SWATHI VIPPA has satisfactorily prosecuted the course of research and that

thesis entitled “THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS AS PREDICTORS OF

JOB PERFORMANCE” submitted is the result of original research work and is of

sufficiently high standard to warrant its presentation to the examination. I also certify that

neither the thesis nor its part thereof has been previously submitted by her for a degree of

any university.

Date: Chairperson

(Dr. S. RATNA KUMARI)

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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the thesis entitled “THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY

DIMENSIONS AS PREDICTORS OF JOB PERFORMANCE” submitted in partial

fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN HOME

SCIENCE of the Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University, Hyderabad is a record of

the bonafide original research work carried out by Ms. SWATHI VIPPA under our

guidance and supervision.

No part of the thesis has been submitted by the student for any other degree or

diploma. The published part and all assistance received during the course of investigations

have been duly acknowledged by the author of the thesis.

Thesis approved by the Student Advisory Committee

Chairperson : Dr. (Mrs.) S. RATNA KUMARI ______________ Associate Professor Department of Human Development and Family Studies, ANGRAU College of Home Science, Saifabad,

Hyderabad- 500 004

Member : Dr. (Mrs.) M. SARADA DEVI ______________ Professor Department of Human Development and Family Studies, College of Home Science, Saifabad,

Hyderabad- 500 004

Member : Dr. (Mrs.) V. VIJYALAKSHMI ______________

Professor

Department of Foods and Nutrition College of Home Science, Saifabad,

Hyderabad- 500 004

Date of final viva-voce:

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I express my heartfelt thanks and gratitude to all those people who have helped me in

the successful completion if my research work and making it a rich learning experience for

me.

More words not sufficient to express my sincere appreciation, heartfelt gratitude and

profound thanks to my major advisor Dr. (Mrs.) S. Ratna Kumari, Associate Professor,

Department of Human Development and Family Studies, College of Home Science,

Hyderabad. Her meticulous help, constant encouragement, valuable guidance, kind

treatment and constructive suggestions helped me immensely in the successful completion of

my research work.

My profound thanks are extended to my minor advisor Dr. (Mrs.) M. Sarada Devi,

Professor, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, College of Home

Science, Hyderabad, for her useful suggestions and timely help throughout this study.

I equally owe to Dr. (Mrs.) V. Vijayalakshmi, Professor, Department of Foods and

Nutrition, College of Home Science, Hyderabad, for her valuable suggestions during my

research work.

I would like to express my deep heartfelt appreciation to Dr. (Mrs.) K. Mayuri,

Professor and Head of the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, College

of Home Science, Hyderabad for concrete suggestions and timely help rendered throughout

the study.

My sincere regards to all the staff members of the Department of Human

Development and Family Studies, for their support, suggestions, encouragement and timely

help rendered during the study.

My sincerest gratitude to all the working adults (employers) who formed my sample,

their enthusiastic participation and kind cooperation made every moment of the encounter

pleasurable.

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I take a great pleasure to express my heartfelt regards from my inner core of heart to

my ever beloved parents Sri. V. Venkateshwarlu and Smt. Sridevi for their blessings, moral

and financial support, constant encouragement and dedicated efforts to educate me to this

level, my humble regards to their love and care. I never forget my loving sister Late

Shwetha who provided love, support and affection in my life. I affectionately acknowledge

my loving nephew Varun (Kanna) for being source of inspiration and joy in my life.

I express my deep sense of gratitude to Venkat who stood as a light house of

inspiration and pillar of strength and affection, which was the source of motivation of my

life.

I express my thanks and affectionate gratitude to my dearest friend Sirisha. I

affectionately acknowledge the help received from my senior Haritha and my friends

Shubha, Neha, Janaki and Eunice.

Also express my sincere thanks to Mr. Abdul Hakeem, Assistant Librarian and

Head, college of home science, Hyderabad for providing all the facilities and my thanks

extended to all the library staff for their help in completion of my research.

I would like to express my whole hearted thanks to Acharya N. G. Ranga

Agricultural University for providing the financial assistance.

Thank you one and all....

DATE: (SWATHI VIPPA)

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LIST OF CONTENTS Chapter No.

Title

Page No.

I

INTRODUCTION

13-18

II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

19-39

III

MATERIALS AND METHODS

40-49

IV

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

50-79

V

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

80-86

LITERATURE CITED

87-91

APPENDICES

92-97

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LIST OF TABLES

S. No

Table No.

Title

Page No.

1 3.1 Distribution of respondents based on gender 42

2 3.2 Variables and their empirical measurements 43

3 4.1 Distribution of respondents based on age 52

4 4.2 Distribution of respondents based on education 54

5 4.3 Distribution of respondents based on income 56

6 4.4 Distribution of respondents based on Big Five Personality Dimensions

60

7 4.5 Distribution of respondents based on Job Performance

64

8 4.6 Relationship between personality dimensions and job performance of teachers

68

9 4.7 Relationship between personality dimensions and job performance of engineers

70

10 4.8 Relationship between personality dimensions and job performance of IT Professionals

72

11 4.9 Correlation between the independent and dependent variables

75

12 4.10 Correlation between the independent and dependent variables based on occupation

76

13 4.11 Correlation between the independent and dependent variables based on gender

78

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

S. No

Figure No.

Title

Page No.

1 3.1 Conceptual frame work 47

2 4.1 Distribution of respondents based on age 53

3 4.2 Distribution of respondents based on education 55

4 4.3 Distribution of respondents based on income 58

5 4.4 Distribution of respondents based on Big Five Personality Dimensions

62

6 4.5 Distribution of respondents based on Job Performance

66

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Name : SWATHI VIPPA

ID NO : HHM/2010-13

Title of the thesis : THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS

AS PREDICTORS OF JOB PERFORMANCE.

Degree to which it is submitted : Master of Science in Home Science

Major field : Human Development and Family Studies

Faculty : Home Science

Major advisor : Dr. (Mrs) S. Ratna Kumari

Associate professor, dept. of Human

Development and Family Studies

University : Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University

Year of submission : 2012

ABSTRACT

Personality has been considered as an important factor, specifically for predicting the job performance. Personality is a behaviour which differentiates one person from another and provides insight whether a person will do some specific job in comparison to others. Moreover, the traits relevant to personality are considered to be stable and steady throughout the work life in a big five personality model.

Experts in the field of personality are of the view that the individuals in fact have a stable and long term traits that affects behaviours at work. With reference to research on personality, some scholars captured that personality is the effective tool that predicts job performance. The technique is mostly adopted at the time of personnel selection procedure (Barrick and Mount 2002).

Personality is meaningful to management, because employees' personalities may dictate how well they perform in their jobs. Personality may indicate how hard a person will work, how organized they are, how well they will interact with others and how creative they are. The Big Five personality test gives more insight into how one react in different situations, which can help to choose an occupation. Career professionals and psychologists use this information in a personality career test for recruitment and candidate assessment.

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The relationship between personality and job performance has been a frequently studied topic in industrial psychology in the past century (Barrick, Mount and Judge, 2002). Job performance is a multi-dimensional construct which indicates how well employees perform their tasks, the initiative they take and the resourcefulness they show in solving problems.

Job performance could be affected by situational factors, such as the characteristics of the job, the organisation and co-workers and by dispositional factors (Strumpfer et.al 1998). Dispositional variables can be described as personality characteristics, needs, attitudes, preferences and motives that result in a tendency to react to situations in a predetermined manner (House, Shane & Herrold, 1996). Job performance is influenced by aptitude, need for achievement, self-regard, locus of control, affective temperament and the interaction between these constructs.

Exploratory research design was adopted for the present study. Twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad were purposively selected for conducting the study. The sample of the study was 150 working adults. The only criteria for sample selection was that adults (men and women) working as teachers, engineers and IT professionals. The data was collected by using the Big five personality test available on www.outofservice.com/bigfive/ (web site) and Job performance questionnaire was modified version of Extended Satisfaction with Life Scale by Bernald Gorman (1996). The collected data was scored, tabulated, analyzed and interpreted with appropriate statistical procedures.

Results indicate that there was a significant correlation at 0.01 level between personality dimension and job performance and same level of significance found between income and job performance also. Among all the four independent variables, age of the respondents had no significance with the job performance because most of the respondents belonged to young adulthood, so their job performance may not be influenced by age. Sometimes education also might predict the job performance of the working adults.

Engineers and IT professionals exhibited high satisfaction with job performance compared to teachers. The reasons could be good relation with their colleagues, good working atmosphere and appropriate facilities available in the work place for engineers and IT professionals.

Among three occupations, engineers with extraversion were highly satisfied with their job performance compared to teachers and IT professionals. The reasons could be extraversion personality trait includes characteristics of sociability, outgoing, talkative, assertiveness and good planning, thus might have led to high job performance. Majority of teachers with neuroticism personality dimension were not satisfied with their job performance. The reasons could be typical characteristics of neuroticism such as anxiety, low concentration level and disorganization.

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INTRODUCTION

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Personality psychology, also known as personology, is the study of the person, that

is, the whole human individual. Most people, when they think of personality are actually

thinking of personality differences – types, traits and the like. This is certainly an important

part of personality psychology, since one of the characteristics of persons is that they can

differ from each other quite a bit. But the main part of personality psychology addresses the

broader issue of "what is it to be a person."

Personality is a set of enduring traits and characteristics that relate to a person's

emotions, motivations, interpersonal interactions and attitudes. Personality is different

from ability. Whereas personality may dictate attitudes towards situations or people,

attitudes are transient and personality is enduring.

Research into the human personality has been conducted for many decades and

much of this work has focused on defining personality and understanding how many

dimensions of personality there are. One primary area of agreement about personality is

that it is a trait. That is, personality is enduring and unlikely to change substantially in one's

adult life.

Because personality is a trait, this also means that a person is likely to behave

similarly in a variety of situations. This does not mean that a person cannot or will not

adapt to a change in circumstances (e.g., behavior at work versus behavior in social

situations), but that, on average, a person demonstrates similar personality across all

situations and may behave differently from those with dissimilar personality characteristics

(Gardon Allport, 1937).

A major debate in the area of personality research is where personality originates,

which is often described as the "nature verses nurture" argument. Researchers who believe

that individuals are born with a personality that is determined by genetics and remains

unchanged regardless of environment, subscribe to the "nature" theory of the origin of

personality. The "nurture" perspective is that personality is not determined by genetics, but

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rather by a host of environmental forces and personal experiences, such as geography,

socio-economic status and parental upbringing. Most scholars now agree that personality is

determined by a combination of both genetics and environment and that neither is solely

responsible for personality.

There are a number of different ways in which personality has been categorized and

different opinions exist about the number of dimensions of personality. Early tests of

personality were developed to diagnose mental illness and while some of these tests were

used in employment settings, their acceptability and applicability were questionable.

However, there are now tests specifically for use in normal adult populations, each of

which is based on different conceptions of the dimensionality of personality.

The Big Five framework of personality traits from Costa & McCrae (1992) has

emerged as a robust model for understanding the relationship between personality and

various academic behaviors. The Big Five factors are Openness to experience,

Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness And Neuroticism (common acronyms are

OCEAN, NEOAC or CANOE).

1. Conscientiousness is exemplified by being disciplined, organized and achievement

oriented.

2. Extraversion is displayed through a higher degree of sociability, assertiveness and

talkativeness.

3. Openness to experience is reflected in a strong intellectual curiosity and a

preference for novelty and variety.

4. Agreeableness refers to being helpful, cooperative and sympathetic towards others.

5. Neuroticism factor is sometimes referred by its low pole – "emotional stability".

Neuroticism refers to degree of emotional stability, impulse control and anxiety.

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Personality is meaningful to management, because employees' personalities may

dictate how well they perform their jobs. Personality may indicate how hard a person will

work, how organized they are, how well they will interact with others, and how creative

they are.

In recent years, more organizations have been using self-reporting personality tests

to identify personality traits as part of their hiring or management development processes.

Employers recognize that experience, education and intelligence may not be the only

indicators of who the best hire might be. Additionally, understanding one's own personality

characteristics may improve one's ability to develop as an employee and manager.

Therefore, it is important to understand the different facets of personality and the ways in

which they can be measured.

Human resources professionals often use the Big Five personality dimensions to

help place employees. That is because these dimensions are considered to be the

underlying traits that make up an individual’s overall personality. The relationship between

personality and job performance has been a frequently studied topic in industrial

psychology in the past century (Barrick, Mount and Judge, 2002). Job performance is a

multi-dimensional construct which indicates how well employees perform their tasks, the

initiative they take and the resourcefulness they show in solving problems.

Job performance could be affected by situational factors, such as the characteristics

of the job, the organisation and co-workers and by dispositional factors (Strumpfer et.al

1998). Dispositional variables can be described as personality characteristics, needs,

attitudes, preferences and motives that result in a tendency to react to situations in a

predetermined manner (House, Shane & Herrold, 1996). Job performance is influenced by

aptitude, need for achievement, self-regard, locus of control, affective temperament and the

interaction between these constructs.

Job performance and personality (as measured in the five-factor model) are related. It

appears that the relation between job performance and the five factors is more a consequence

of the social aspects of the workplace than of ability. Experts in the field of personality are of

the view that the individuals in fact have a stable and long term traits that affects behaviours

at work. With reference to research on personality, some scholars captured that personality is

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the effective tool that predicts job performance. The technique is mostly adopted at the time

of personnel selection procedure (Barrick and Mount 2002). Many research studies indicate that cognitive ability is more strongly correlated with

task performance than any of the five factors are correlated with task performance. The five

factors are strongly correlated with cooperating with others and enjoying the overall

workplace experience, which are key components of long-term job success. Being absent

from work or working as a team are correlates of personality that directly affect whether one

will succeed in the workplace and they are strongly correlated with the Big Five and not with

cognitive ability.

Rationale of the study

All persons are not equal or same. Every person has some characteristics which

differentiate him from others and forms the basis of different nature of persons. For

measuring these personality differences, so many tests are available and many psychologists

explained about personality. Seibert and Kraimer (2001) examined the relationship between

the “Big Five” personality dimensions and career success. Results showed that, extraversion

was related positively to salary level, promotions and career satisfaction and neuroticism was

related negatively to career satisfaction.

The current review of literature especially in India is not focusing on the dimensions

of personality among working adults. Hence, the present study is taken up in order to find

out the differences of personality dimensions in working adults. This study is useful in

understanding whether their personality dimensions are matching with present careers.

Objectives of the study

• To study Big Five personality dimensions of working men and women.

• To study the job performance of working men and women.

• To study the relationship between Big Five personality dimensions and job

performance.

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Limitations of the study

As in the case of social science research this study also has own limitations.

The present study is limited to only three occupations.

This study is restricted to Hyderabad and Secunderabad cities only.

This study covered only 150 samples and hence, generalization cannot be made.

This study has the limitation of the time and resources available to a single

investigator.

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REVIEW

OF

LITERATURE

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE A comprehensive review of literature is a must in any research endeavor and an

indepth review facilitates in knowing the trend of research already done in the specific area.

The main purpose of the literature is to provide a frame of reference for theoretical insight.

The present chapter represents both the theoretical and empirical studies in the field

of big five personality dimensions and job performance.

2.1. CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION

2.2. HISTORY OF BIG FIVE PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS

2.3. THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES OF BIG FIVE PERSONALITY

DIMENSIONS

2.4. STUDIES RELATED TO BIG FIVE PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS AND

JOB PERFORMANCE

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2.1. CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION

2.1.1. Definition of big five factor personality dimensions

In contemporary psychology, the "Big Five" factors (or Five Factor Model; FFM)

of personality are five broad domains or dimensions of personality that are used to describe

human personality.

The Big Five framework of personality traits from Costa & McCrae (1992), has

emerged as a robust model for understanding the relationship between personality and job

performance. The Big Five factors are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion,

agreeableness and neuroticism.

1. Openness to experience is reflected in a strong intellectual curiosity and a

preference for novelty and variety.

2. Conscientiousness is exemplified by being disciplined, organized and

achievement-oriented.

3. Extraversion is displayed through a higher degree of sociability, assertiveness

and talkativeness.

4. Agreeableness refers to being helpful, cooperative and sympathetic towards

others. There is some evidence that personality and motivation are intricately

tied with individual differences in learning styles, and it is recommended that

educators go beyond the current emphasis on cognition and include these

variables in understanding academic behavior.

5. Neuroticism factor is sometimes referred by its low pole – "emotional

stability". Neuroticism refers to degree of emotional stability, impulse control

and anxiety.

Some disagreement remains about how to interpret the openness factor, which is

sometimes called "intellect" rather than openness to experience. Beneath each factor, a

cluster of correlated specific traits are found; for example, extraversion includes such

related qualities as gregariousness, assertiveness, excitement seeking, warmth, activity and

positive emotions.

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2.1.2. Definition of job performance

Job performance is a commonly used, yet poorly defined concept in industrial and

organizational psychology, the branch of psychology that deals with the workplace. It's also

part of Human Resources Management. Job performance is most commonly refers to

whether a person performs his/her job well. Despite the confusion over how it should be

exactly defined, performance is an extremely important criterion that relates to

organizational outcomes and success. The most commonly accepted theories of job

performance comes from the work of John P. Campbell and colleagues (1990). Coming from

a psychological perspective, Campbell describes job performance as an individual level

variable. That is, performance is something a single person does.

Campbell (1990) also suggested determinants of performance components.

Individual differences on performance are a function of three main determinants:

1. Declarative knowledge: This refers to knowledge about facts, principles, objects, etc.

It represents the knowledge of a given task's requirements. For instance, declarative

knowledge includes knowledge of principles, facts, ideas, etc.

2. Procedural knowledge and skill: It includes cognitive skill, perceptual skill,

interpersonal skill, etc.

3. Motivation: This refers to "a combined effect from three choice behaviors—choice to

expend effort, choice of level of effort to expend, and choice to persist in the

expenditure of that level of effort"

Sackett et al. (1988) did a study on supermarket cashiers and found that there was a

substantial difference between scores reflecting their typical performance and scores

reflecting their maximum performance. This study suggested the distinction between typical

and maximum performance. Regular work situations reflect varying levels of motivation

which result in typical performance. Special circumstances generate maximum employee

motivation which results in maximum performance.

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2.2. HISTORY OF BIG FIVE PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS

A. History

Sir Francis Galton was the first scientist to recognize what is now known as the

Lexical Hypothesis. This is the idea that the most salient and socially relevant personality

differences in people’s lives will eventually become encoded into language. The

hypothesis further suggests that by sampling language, it is possible to derive a

comprehensive taxonomy of human personality traits.

In 1936, Gordon Allport and H. S. Odbert put this hypothesis into practice. They

worked through two of the most comprehensive dictionaries of the english language

available at the time and extracted 17,953 personality-describing words. They then reduced

this gigantic list to 4,504 adjectives which they believed were descriptive of observable

and relatively permanent traits.

Raymond Cattell obtained the Allport-Odbert list in the 1940s; added terms

obtained from psychological research and then eliminated synonyms to reduce the total to

171. He then asked subjects to rate people whom they knew by the adjectives on the list

and analyzed their ratings. Cattell identified 35 major clusters of personality traits which he

referred to as the "personality sphere." He and his associates then constructed personality

tests for these traits. The data they obtained from these tests were analyzed with the

emerging technology of computers combined with the statistical method of factor analysis.

This resulted in sixteen major personality factors, which led to the development of the

16PF Personality Questionnaire.

In 1961, two Air Force researchers, Ernest Tupes and Raymond Christal analyzed

personality data from eight large samples. Using Cattell's trait measures, they found five

recurring factors, which they named "Surgency", "Agreeableness", "Dependability",

"Emotional Stability" and "Culture". This work was replicated by Warren Norman (1963)

who found that these five major factors were sufficient to account for a large set of

personality data. Raymond Cattell viewed these developments as an attack on his 16PF

model and never agreed with the growing Five Factor consensus. He refered to "...the five

factor heresy" which he considered "...is partly directed against the 16PF test". Responding

to Goldberg's article in the American Psychologist, 'The Structure of Phenotypic

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Personality Traits', Cattell stated, "No experienced factorist could agree with Dr Goldberg's

enthusiasm for the five factor personality theory". This determined rejection of the Five

Factor Model challenge to his 16 factor model was presented in an article published

towards the end of his life and entitled 'The fallacy of five factors in the personality

sphere', Cattell (1995).

B. Hiatus in research

In 1980, the pioneering research by Tupes, Christal and Norman had been largely

forgotten by psychologists. Lewis Goldberg (1980) started his own lexical project,

independently found the five factors once again and gradually brought them back to the

attention of psychologists. He later coined the term "Big Five" as a label for the factors.

C. Validity of the Big Five

In 1981 symposium at Honolulu, four prominent researchers, Lewis Goldberg,

Naomi Takemoto-Chock, Andrew Comrey and John M. Digman reviewed the available

personality tests of the day. They concluded that the tests which held the most promise

measured a subset of five common factors, just as Norman had discovered in 1963. This

event was followed by widespread acceptance of the five factor model among personality

researchers during the 1980s. In 1984 Peter Saville and his team included the five-factor

“Pentagon” model with the original Occupational Personality Questionnaires (OPQ).

Pentagon was closely followed by the Neuroticism-Extroversion-Openness (NEO) five-

factor personality inventory, published by Costa and McCrae in 1985.

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2.3. THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES OF BIG FIVE PERSONALITY

DIMENSIONS

Personality psychologists view their field of study as being at the top (of course) of a

pyramid of other fields in psychology. Practically speaking, that means personality

psychologists must take into consideration biology (especially neurology), evolution and

genetics, sensation and perception, motivation and emotion, learning and memory,

developmental psychology, psychopathology and psychotherapy.

Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939)

Freud did not exactly invent the idea

of the conscious versus unconscious mind,

but he certainly was responsible for making

it popular. The conscious mind is what you

are aware of at any particular moment, your

present perceptions, memories, thoughts,

fantasies and feelings. Working closely with

the conscious mind is what Freud called the

preconscious, what we might today call

"available memory:" Anything that can

easily be made conscious, the memories you are not at the moment thinking about but can

readily bring to mind. Now no one has a problem with these two layers of mind. But Freud

suggested that these are the smallest parts.

The largest part by far is the unconscious. It includes all the things that are not easily

available to awareness, including many things that have their origins there, such as our

drives or instincts, and things that are put there because we not accept to look at them, such

as the memories and emotions associated with trauma.

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Erik Erikson (1902 - 1994)

Erikson is a Freudian ego-psychologist. This means that he accepts Freud's ideas as

basically correct, including the more debatable ideas such as the Oedipal complex, and

accepts as well the ideas about the ego that were added by other Freudian loyalists such as

Heinz Hartmann and of course, Anna Freud. However, Erikson is much more society and

culture-oriented than most Freudians, as you might expect from someone with his

anthropological interests and he often pushes the instincts and the unconscious practically

out of the picture.

Anna Freud (1895 – 1982)

Anna Freud also influenced research in Freudian psychology. She standardized the

records for children with diagnostic profiles, encouraged the pooling of observations from

multiple analysts, and encouraged long-term studies of development from early childhood

through adolescence. She also led the way in the use of natural experiments, that is, careful

analyses of groups of children who suffered from similar disabilities, such as blindness, or

early traumas, such as war time loss of parents. The common criticism of Freudian

psychology as having no empirical basis is true only if "empirical basis" is restricted to

laboratory experimentation!

Carl Jung (1875 – 1961)

Jung has opened our eyes to the differences between child development and adult

development. Children clearly emphasize differentiation, separating one thing from another

in their learning. "What's this?" “Why is it this way and not that?" "What kinds are there?".

They actively seek diversity. And many people, psychologists included, have been so

impressed by this that they have assumed that all learning is a matter of differentiation, of

learning more and more "things."

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Alfred Adler (1870 – 1937)

Alfred Adler postulated a single "drive" or motivating force behind all our behavior

and experience. By the time his theory had gelled into its most mature form, he called that

motivating force the striving for perfection. It is the desire we all have to fulfill our

potentials, to come closer and closer to our ideal. It is like many of situations were already

seen, very similar to the more popular idea of self-actualization.

Karen Horney (1885 – 1952)

Horney's theory is perhaps the best theory of neurosis we have. First, she offered a

different way of viewing neurosis. She saw it as much more continuous with normal life as

previous theorists. Specifically, she saw neurosis as an attempt to make life bearable, as a

way of "interpersonal control and coping." This is, of course, what we all strive to do on a

day-to-day basis, only most of us seem to be doing alright, while the neurotic seems to be

sinking fast.

The major negative comment about Horney is that her theory is limited to the

neurotic. Besides leaving out psychotics and other problems, she leaves out the truly healthy

person. Nevertheless, since she does put neurosis and health on a single continuum, she does

speak to the neurotic in all of us.

Erich Fromm (1900 - 1980)

Fromm's theory is a rather unique blend of Freud and Marx. Freud of course,

emphasized the unconscious, biological drives, repression and so on. In other words, Freud

postulated that our characters were determined by biology. Marx, on the other hand saw

people as determined by their society, and most especially by their economic systems.

He added to this mix of two deterministic systems, something quite foreign to them: The

idea of freedom. He allows people to transcend the determinisms that Freud and Marx

attribute to them.

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B. F. Skinner (1904 – 1990)

B. F. Skinner’s entire system is based on operant conditioning. The organism is in

the process of “operating” on the environment. During “operating” the organism encounters

a special kind of stimulus, called a reinforcing stimulus, or simply a reinforce. This special

stimulus has the effect of increasing the operant that is, the behavior occurring just before the

reinforce. This is operant conditioning: “The behavior is followed by a consequence and

the nature of the consequence modifies the organism’s tendency to repeat the behavior in the

future.”

Hans Eysenck (1916 - 1997)

Eysenck’s theory is based primarily on physiology and genetics. Although he is a

behaviorist who considers learned habits have great importance, he considers personality

differences as growing out of our genetic inheritance. He is therefore, primarily interested in

what is usually called temperament.

William Sheldon (1899)

William Sheldon became interested in the variety of human bodies. He built upon

earlier work done by Ernst Kretschmer in the 1930's. Kretschmer believed that there was a

relationship between three different physical types and certain psychological

disorders. Specifically, he believed that the short, round pyknic type was more prone to

cyclothymic or bipolar disorders, and that the tall thin asthenic type (a too a lesser degree the

muscular athletic type) was more prone to schizophrenia. His research, although involving

thousands of institutionalized patients, was suspect because he failed to control for age and

the schizophrenics were considerably younger than the bipolar patients and so more likely to

be thinner.

Thirty-five Factors - Raymond Cattell (1905)

Raymond Cattell (b. 1905) is another prolific theorist-researcher like Eysenck who

has made extensive use of the factor-analysis method, although a slightly different

29

version. In his early research, he isolated 16 personality factors, which he composed into a

test called the 16PF!

Later research added seven more factors to the list. Even later research added twelve

“pathological” factors found using items from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality

Inventory (MMPI).

Baby Twins - Arnold Buss (1924) and Robert Plomin (1948)

Arnold Buss and Robert Plomin both working at the University of Colorado, took a

different approach: If some aspect of our behavior or personality supposed to have a genetic,

inborn basis, we should find it more clearly in infants than in adults. They found four

dimensions of temperament i.e emotional stability, neuroticism, extraversion and

introversion.

The PAD Model - Albert Mehrabian (1996)

Albert Mehrabian has a three-dimensional temperament model that has been well

received. It was based on his three-dimensional model of emotions. He theorized that you

can describe just about any emotion with these three dimensions: Pleasure - Displeasure (P),

Arousal - Nonarousal (A) and Dominance - Submissiveness (D).

He reasons that, while we all vary from situation to situation and time to time on

these three emotional dimensions, some of us are more likely to respond one way or another.

we have a temperamental disposition to certain emotional responses. He uses the same PAD

initials for the temperaments: Trait Pleasure-Displeasure, Trait Arousability, and Trait

Dominance-Submisiveness.

Albert Bandura (1925 – Present)

Bandura found this a bit too simplistic for the phenomena he was observing

aggression in adolescents and he suggested that environment causes behavior, true; but

behavior causes environment as well. He labeled this concept reciprocal determinism.

30

Albert Bandura had enormous impact on personality theory and therapy. His

straightforward, behaviorist-like style makes good sense to most people. His action-

oriented, problem-solving approach likewise appeals to those who want to get things done,

rather than philosophize about ids, archetypes, actualization, freedom, and all the many other

mentalistic constructs personologists tend to dwell on.

Gordon Allport (1897 – 1967)

One thing that motivates human beings is the tendency to satisfy biological survival

needs, which Allport referred to as opportunistic functioning. He noted that opportunistic

functioning can be characterized as reactive, past-oriented and of course, biological.

But Allport felt that opportunistic functioning was relatively unimportant for

understanding most of human behavior. He believed, most human behavior was motivated

by something very different functioning in a manner expressive of the self which he called

propriate functioning. Propriate functioning can be characterized as proactive, future-

oriented and psychological.

George Kelly (1905 – 1967)

Kelly's theory begins with what he called as "fruitful metaphor." He had noticed

long before that, scientists and therapists, often displayed a peculiar attitude towards people:

While they thought quite well of themselves, they tended to look down on their subjects or

clients. While they saw themselves as engaged in the fine arts of reason and empiricism, they

tended to see ordinary people as the victims of their sexual energies or conditioning

histories.

Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)

Maslow has been a very inspirational figure in personality theories. In the 1960’s in

particular, people were tired of the reductionistic, mechanistic messages of the behaviorists

and physiological psychologists. They were looking for meaning and purpose in their lives,

31

even a higher, more mystical meaning. Maslow was one of the pioneers in that movement to

bring the human being back into psychology and the person back into personality.

Carl Rogers (1902 – 1987)

Roger’s theory is a clinical one, he was an influential American psychologist and one

among the founders of the humanistic approach to psychology. Rogers is widely considered to be one

of the founding fathers of psychotherapy research.

The person-centered approach, his own unique approach to understanding

personality and human relationships, found wide application in various domains such as

psychotherapy and counseling (client-centered therapy), education (student-centered

learning), organizations and other group settings.

Jean Piaget (1896 – 1980)

Jean Piaget began his career as a biologist specifically, a malacologist! But his

interest in science and the history of science soon overtook his interest in snails and

clams. As he delved deeper into the thought-processes of doing science, he became

interested in the nature of thought itself, especially in the development of thinking. Finding

relatively little work done in the area, he had the opportunity to give it a label. He called it

genetic epistemology, meaning the study of the development of knowledge.

32

2.4. STUDIES RELATED TO BIG FIVE PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS

Crede et al. (2012) measured personality traits due to the convenience and ease of

use as well as the belief that such measures can adequately capture an individual's

personality. Using data from 2 samples (N = 437 employees, N = 355 college students), they

show that this practice, particularly the use of single-item measures can lead researchers to

substantially underestimate the role that personality traits play in influencing important

behaviors and there by overestimate the role played by new constructs.

Bindu (2008) examined the impact of Big Five personality characteristics on

knowledge sharing and knowledge acquisition behavior. The results of analysis of variance

indicated that individuals high on agreeableness and conscientiousness were more involved

in knowledge sharing activities than individuals low on agreeableness and conscientiousness.

McAdams et al. (2006) conducted a study on the most promising empirical and

theoretical trends in personality psychology today to articulate 5 big principles for an

integrative science of the whole person. The 5 principles suggest a framework for integrating

the Big Five model of personality traits with those of self-defining features of psychological

individuality constructed in response to situated social tasks and the human need to make

meaning in culture.

McCrae and Terracciano (2005) hypothesed about the universality of personality

traits. College students in 50 cultures identified an adult or college-aged man or woman

whom they knew well and rated the 11,985 targets using the 3rd-person version of the

Revised NEO Personality Inventory. Factor analysis within cultures showed that the

normative American self-report structure was clearly replicated in most cultures and was

recognizable in all. Sex differences replicated earlier self-report results, with the most

pronounced differences in Western cultures. Cross-sectional age differences for 3 factors

followed the pattern identified in self-reports, with moderate rates of change during college

age and slower changes after age 40. With a few exceptions, these data support the

hypothesis that features personality traits are common to all human groups.

33

Sharon and Ivan (2005) reported a meta-analysis of the relationship between accident

involvement and the Big Five personality dimensions (extraversion, neuroticism,

conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness to experience). Low conscientiousness and

low agreeableness were found to be valid and generalizable predictors of accident

involvement with corrected mean validities of .27 and .26, respectively.

Paunonen (2003) focused on replicated predictions across two independent samples

of participants ( Ns=276 and 142) with 3 different measures of the Big Five ( NEO Five-

Factor Inventory, the Revised NEO Personality Inventory, and the Five-Factor Nonverbal

Personality Questionnaire, the latter an experimental nonverbal personality inventory). The

results indicated substantial consistency in behavior predictions across the different Big Five

assessments. The data are interpreted as supporting both the construct validity of the

personality measures used and the role of the Big Five factors as determinants of certain

complex behaviors.

Richard et al (2001) examined the relation between self-esteem and the Big Five

personality dimensions. Collectively, the Big Five accounted for 34 percent of the variance

in self-esteem. High self-esteem individuals were emotionally stable, extraverted,

conscientious and were somewhat agreeable and open to experience.

John et al (1998) developed from the battery of questionnaires used in the National

Merit Twin Study: one from trait self-rating scales, one from personality inventory items,

and one from an adjective check list. Behavior-genetic models were fit to what the three

measures had in common and to the variance distinctive to each. The results of the model

fitting agreed with other recent studies in showing the Big Five dimensions to be

substantially and about equally heritable with little or no contribution of shared family

environment. Heritability for males and females did not differ significantly.

Hill et al. (1997) assessed using the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, along

with a measure of the Big Five factor model, in order to describe perfectionism within the set

of constructs provided by the Big Five factor model. Self-oriented perfectionism was

strongly associated with conscientiousness, and with the achievement striving subscale in

34

particular. Self-oriented perfectionism was also modestly associated with facets of

neuroticism and agreeableness. Other-oriented perfectionism was inversely associated with

agreeableness. Socially-prescribed perfectionism was associated only with the depression

subscale of the neuroticism factor. Self-oriented perfectionism appeared predominately

adaptive, while other-oriented and socially-prescribed perfectionism appeared predominately

maladaptive.

2.5. STUDIES RELATED TO BIG FIVE PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS AND JOB

PERFORMANCE

Dudley et al. (2006) suggested that narrow traits do incrementally predict

performance above and beyond global conscientiousness, yet the degree to which they

contribute depends on the particular performance criterion and occupation. Overall, the

results of this study suggest that there are benefits to considering the narrow traits of

conscientiousness in the prediction of performance.

Colbert et al. (2004) found support for the hypothesis that, positive perceptions of the

work situation are negatively related to work place deviance. In addition, consistent with

hypotheses, the personality traits of conscientiousness, emotional stability and agreeableness

moderated this relationship. Specifically, the relationship between perceptions of the

developmental environment and organizational deviance was stronger for employees low in

conscientiousness or emotional stability and the relationship between perceived

organizational support and interpersonal deviance was stronger for employees low in

agreeableness.

Thoresen et al. (2004) extended the literature on personality and job performance

through the use of random coefficient modeling to test the validity of the Big Five

personality traits in predicting overall sales performance and sales performance trajectories

or systematic patterns of performance growth in two samples of pharmaceutical sales

representatives at maintenance and transitional job stages (K. R. Murphy, 1989). In the

maintenance sample, conscientiousness and extraversion were positively associated with

between-person differences in total sales, whereas only conscientiousness predicted

performance growth.

35

Hogan and Holland (2003) used socio analytic theory to understand individual

differences in people's performance at work. Specifically, if predictors and criteria are

aligned by using theory, then the meta-analytic validity of personality measures exceeds that

of a theoretical approach. As performance assessment moved from general to specific job

criteria, all Big Five personality dimensions more precisely predicted relevant criterion

variables, with estimated true validities of .43 (Emotional Stability), .35 (Extraversion-

Ambition), .34 (Agreeableness), .36 (Conscientiousness), and .34 (Intellect-Openness to

Experience).

Rothmann and Coetzer (2003) showed that Emotional stability, Extraversion,

Openness to experience and Conscientiousness were related to task performance and

creativity. Three personality dimensions, namely Emotional stability, Openness to

experience and Agreeableness explained 28 percentage of the variance in participants’

management performance.

Adrian et al. (2002) concluded that personality does not have a strong or consistent

influence either on what individuals perceive as important in their work environment or on

their levels of job satisfaction. They concluded that personality does not have a strong or

consistent influence either on what individuals perceive as important in their work

environment or on their levels of job satisfaction.

Barrick et al. (2002) hypothesized the relationship between conscientiousness and

job performance which, high in agreeableness than for those low in agreeableness. Results

show that highly conscientious workers who lack interpersonal sensitivity may be ineffective

particularly in jobs requiring cooperative inter change with others.

Barrick et al. (2002) showed consistent relations between personality and job

performance. In this study the authors developed and tested a model of job performance that

examines the mediating effects of cognitive-motivational work orientations on the

relationship between personality traits and performance in a sales job ( N=164). Covariance

structural analyses revealed proximal motivational variables to be influential mechanisms

through which distal personality traits affected job performance. Specifically, striving for

status and accomplishment mediate the effects of Extraversion and Conscientiousness on

36

ratings of sales performance. Although Agreeableness was related to striving for

communion, neither Agreeableness nor communion striving was related to success in the

sales job.

Jesus (2002) meta-analysis carried out that conscientiousness predicted deviant

behaviors and turn over, and extroversion, openness, agreeableness and emotional stability

predicted the turn over criterion. However, none of the Big Five personality measures were

found to be predictors of absenteeism or accidents.

Judge et al. (2002) reported results of a meta-analysis linking traits from the 5-factor

model of personality to overall job satisfaction. Results further indicated that only the

relations of Neuroticism and Extraversion with job satisfaction generalized across studies.

As a set, the Big Five traits had a multiple correlation of .41 with job satisfaction, indicating

support for the validity of the dispositional source of job satisfaction when traits are

organized according to the 5-factor model.

Yeo et al. (2002) examined the relationship between motivation and performance

during skill acquisition. The authors used multilevel analysis to investigate relationships at

within- and between-person levels of analysis. Results highlighted the importance of

adopting a multilevel framework to enhance understanding of the link between motivation

and performance.

Deniz and Viswesvaran (2001) focused on personality measures constructed for

prediction of individual differences in particular, work behaviors of interest (e.g., violence at

work, employee theft, customer service). Job performance is summarized as well as relation

with the Big Five personality scales (conscientiousness, emotional stability, openness to

experience, agreeableness and extraversion). Second, they compared the usefulness of

criterion-focused occupational personality scales (COPS) with traditional, general purpose,

adult personality scales.

Erez and Judge (2001) developed personality taxonomy suggests that self-esteem,

locus of control, generalized self-efficacy and neuroticism form a broad personality trait

termed core self-evaluations. Results also revealed that the core self-evaluations trait was

37

related to goal-setting behavior. In addition, when the four core traits were investigated as

one nomological network, they proved to be more consistent predictors of job behaviors than

when used in isolation.

George and Zhou (2001) adopted an interactional approach to understanding how

two of the Five-Factor traits, openness to experience and conscientiousness are related to

creative behavior in the workplace. Openness to experience is theorized to result in high

levels of creative behavior and conscientiousness is theorized to result in low levels of

creative behavior when the situation allows for the manifestation of the trait influences. The

authors also hypothesized that conscientiousness would result in low levels of creative

behavior if supervisors engaged in close monitoring and coworkers were unsupportive. The

authors tested their hypotheses in a sample of office workers.

John et al. (2001) extended prior career success models by incorporating traits from

the five-factor model of personality (often termed the “Big Five”) and several dimensions of

extrinsic (remuneration, ascendancy, job level, employability) and intrinsic (job, life, and

career satisfaction) career success. The model examined both direct effects and the

mediating effects of an array of human capital and motivation variables derived from prior

research. Data were collected from two large samples of American and European executives.

Some results supported prior research: Extroversion related positively, and neuroticism

negatively, to intrinsic career success across both the U.S. and the European samples.

Lim and Ployhart (2001) found that neuroticism and agreeableness were negatively

related to transformational leadership ratings. Team performance ratings correlated at only

.18 across the typical and maximum contexts. Furthermore, transformational leadership

related more strongly to team performance in the maximum rather than the typical context.

Finally, transformational leadership fully mediated the relationship between leader

personality and team performance in the maximum context but only partially mediated the

relationship between leader personality and team performance in the typical context. The

Discussion section focuses on how these findings, although interesting, need to be replicated

with different designs, contexts, and measures.

38

Maxine and Meena (2001) reported on the relationship of the Five-Factor Model of

personality to job performance for a group of Middle Eastern expatriate (emigration)

managers. Job performance ratings from the expatriate’s host- and home-country bosses

indicate that agreeableness and conscientiousness were related to home-country ratings of

job performance, but not host-country ratings.

Seibert et al. (2001) examined the relationship between the “Big Five” personality

dimensions and career success. Results showed that, extraversion was related positively to

salary level, promotions and career satisfaction and neuroticism was related negatively to

career satisfaction. Agreeableness was related negatively only to career satisfaction and

openness was related negatively to salary level.

Judge et al. (2000) hypothesized that both subjective (perceived) job characteristics

and job complexity mediate the relationship between core self-evaluations and job

satisfaction. Two studies were conducted to test the model. Results from Study 1 supported

the hypothesized model but also suggested that alternative models fit the data well. Results

from Study 2 revealed that core self-evaluations measured in childhood and in early

adulthood were linked to job satisfaction measured in middle adulthood. Furthermore, in

Study 2 job complexity mediated part of the relationship between both assessments of core

self-evaluations and job satisfaction.

Hochwarter et al. (2000) hypothesized that perceptions of organizational politics

would moderate the relationship between conscientiousness and job performance. Data

collected from 234 male and 579 female workers in 4 organizations indicated that

conscientiousness was related to job performance among workers perceiving average to high

levels of organizational politics but unrelated to performance among workers perceiving low

levels of organizational politics.

Hurtz and Donovan (2000) provided a meta-analytic estimate of the criterion-related

validity of explicit Big 5 measures for predicting job performance and contextual

performance. The results for job performance closely paralleled to previous meta-analyses,

that is single factor of conscientiousness is the most predictive of job performance.

39

Paula (2000) 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 emigration job success: (a) desire to

prematurely terminate the emigration job and (b) supervisor-rated performance on the

emigration job. The participants were 143 emigration 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 emigration employees desire to terminate their assignment.

Conscientiousness is positively related to the supervisor-rated performance on the

emigration job.

Robertson et al. (2000) provided clear evidence that personality factors are associated

with job performance. The construct of conscientiousness has been shown to be a

particularly promising predictor of overall job performance. Some authors have proposed

that conscientiousness might be the ‘g’ (predictor) of personality and predict performance in

most occupational areas. The nature of the construct of conscientiousness is reviewed and

consideration given to the likely behaviour associated with high conscientiousness. The

results suggest that there may be limits to the range of occupational areas in which

conscientiousness is closely linked with job performance.

40

MATERIALS

AND

METHODS

41

CHAPTER- III

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The present study was undertaken with an objective to study the big five personality

dimensions as predictors of job performance. This chapter elucidates the materials and

methods used for the investigation under the following sub headings.

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

3.2 LOCALE OF THE STUDY

3.3 SAMPLE AND SAMPLING PROCEDURE

3.4 VARIABLES AND THEIR EMPIRICAL MEASUREMENT

3.5 CONCEPTUAL FRAME WORK

3.6 MEASUREMENT TOOLS

3.7 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE

3.8 ANALYSIS PATTERN

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

The design of research is the most important and crucial aspect of research methodology. In

a broad sense, “Research Design” is the entire process of planning and carrying out the

research or investigation.

Exploratory research design was adopted to study the big five personality dimensions as

predictors of job performance.

3.2 LOCALE OF THE STUDY

Twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad from the state of Andhra Pradesh were

purposively selected for conducting the study.

42

3.3 SAMPLE AND SAMPLING PROCEDURE

Purposive sampling procedure was used to select sample for the present study. The

total size of the sample was 150 working adults. The only criteria for sample selection was

that adults (men and women) working as teachers, engineers and IT professionals.

Size of the sample:

Fifty Teachers, fifty Engineers and fifty IT professionals were observed and the total

sample was 150 working adults.

Table 3.1 Distribution of respondents based on gender

Sample Men Women Total

Teachers 25 25 50

Engineers 25 25 50

IT Professionals 25 25 50

Total 75 75 150

3.4 VARIABLES AND THEIR EMPIRICAL MEASUREMENT

Based on the available literature related to the research study and the experts’ advice,

the relevant independent variables were selected for the purpose of the study. The

relationship between independent variables and dependent variable was studied in the

present investigation.

The dependent variable i.e. job performance of the working adults was measured.

The independent variables were grouped into two categories i.e. (1) self variables (2)

personality related variables. Details of the independent and dependent variables and the

measurement tools are given in Table 3.2.

43

Table 3.2 Variables and their empirical measurements

S.No Objectives of the study

Variables under study Measurement tools Analysis pattern

1. To study Big Five personality dimensions of working men and women.

A. Self variables • Age • Gender • Occupation • Education • Income

B. Personality dimensions

• Extraversion • Agreeableness • Conscientiousness • Neuroticism • Openness to

Experience

Interview schedule developed by the investigator The Big Five factor Personality test

Frequencies, percentages Frequencies, percentages

2. To study the job performance of working men and women.

C. Job performance

Job performance questionnaire modified version of Extended Satisfaction with Life Scale (ESWLS) by Bernald Gorman (1996)

Frequencies, percentages

3. To study the relationship between Big Five personality dimensions and job performance.

A. Self variables

B. Personality dimensions

C. Job performance

Interview schedule Developed by the investigator The Big Five factor Personality test Job performance questionnaire

correlation coefficient

44

3.4.1 Operational definitions of dependent and independent variables of the study

Operational definitions are defined concepts in terms of operations or process. An

operational definition assigns meaning to construct or variable by specifying the activities or

operations necessary to measure it. Alternatively, an operational definition is a specification

of the activities of the researcher in measuring a variable or in manipulating it. In short, it

gives or defines meaning to a variable by spelling out what the investigator must measure

(kerlinger, 1995).

3.4.2 Independent variables

Independent variable is the presumed cause and dependent variable is the presumed

effect. The independent variable is the antecedent, the dependent variable is the consequent

(kerlinger, 1995).

Age: Age is the number of years completed by the respondent at the time of investigation.

Gender: It is a scheme for the categorization of individuals based on biological differences

for assigning social differences as male and female.

Education: Education level was taken on a qualification as graduation and post graduation.

Occupation: It is the job undertaken by individuals and the job holders were classified as

teachers, engineers and IT professionals.

Income: It is the amount of money the working adult is earning per month.

Big five Personality dimensions: Personality can be defined as a unique pattern of

relatively stable behaviours and mental processes that characterize an individual and how he

or she interacts with their environment.

In contemporary psychology, the "Big Five" factors or Five Factor Model (FFM) of

personality are five broad domains or dimensions of personality that are used to describe

human personality.

45

1. Openness to Experience: Includes traits like having wide interests, being

imaginative and insightful. Sometimes called Intellect or Intellect/Imagination.

2. Conscientiousness: Includes traits like organized, thorough and planful.

3. Extraversion: The broad dimension of Extraversion encompasses more specific

traits such as talkative, energetic, and assertive dimensions of personality.

Sometimes called Surgency.

4. Agreeableness: Includes traits like sympathetic, kind and affectionate.

5. Neuroticism: Includes traits like tense, moody and anxious. Sometimes reversed

and called Emotional Stability.

3.4.3 Dependent variable

Dependent variable is the factor that is measured to determine the effect of

independent variables. In the present study job performance of working adults was

considered as dependent variable.

Job Performance: Job performance is a commonly used, yet poorly defined concept in

industrial and organizational psychology, the branch of psychology that deals with the

workplace. Job performance is most commonly refers to whether a person performs his/her

job well. Despite the confusion over how it should be exactly defined, performance is an

extremely important criterion that relates to organizational outcomes and success. Among

the most commonly accepted theories of job performance comes from the work of John P.

Campbell and colleagues (1990). Coming from a psychological perspective, Campbell

describes job performance as an individual level variable. That is, performance is something

a single person does.

46

3.5 CONCEPTUAL FRAME WORK

A conceptual model is a diagrammatic representation outlining the dominant element

of a system and their interrelationship with respect of a critical variable.

Conceptual framework was developed for the study, which diagrammatically

represents the important dimensions and postulated relationship among the variables. The

relationship was presented diagrammatically in Fig 3.1.

47

Figure 3.1 Conceptual frame work

48

3.6 MEASUREMENT TOOLS

Interview shedule was developed by the investigator for the study which includes

general profile of the working adults which is given in Appendix -A. Big five personality

dimensions scale available on www.outofservice.com/bigfive/ which is given in Appendix –

B.

Job performance questionnaire was measured using a modified version of Extended

Satisfaction with Life Scale (ESWLS) by Bernald Gorman (1996) which is given in

Appendix- C.

3.6.1 Scoring pattern:

Personality scale: This scale is the online scale and respondent answers were entered in to

the website (www.outofservice.com/bigfive/). Once submission of the answers was done,

the website projects the scores of the respondent in which dimension they scored in that

personality dimension’ Respondent may fall (Extraversion, Agreeableness,

Conscientiousness, Neuroticism and Openness to Experience). Based on Hurtz and

Donovan (2000) results, investigator gave the following scoring.

Personality Dimensions score

Extraversion 5

Conscientiousness 4

Agreeableness 3

Openness to Experience 2

Neuroticism 1

* Hurtz, G. M. and Donovan, J. J. (2000). Personality and job performance: The Big

Five revisited. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 869-879.

49

Job performance scale:

Response category score

Not Satisfied (NS) 1-15

Satisfied (S) 16-30

Highly Satisfied (HS) 31-45

1-15 indicates Low job satisfaction, 16-30indicates Average job satisfaction and

31-45 indicates High job satisfaction.

3.7 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE

For the present study, the required information was collected by using the general

information questionnaire, big five factor personality test and job performance scale. This

scale was available in English version and it was convenient to all the respondents because

all are literates. The respondents were contacted by investigator personally for collecting

information. Data was collected from 150 working adults of three occupations i.e Teachers,

Engineers, IT professionals. From each category 25 female and 25 male employees were

selected.

3.8 ANALYSIS PATTERN

Frequencies, percentages and correlation coefficient were used to analyze the collected data.

50

RESULTS

AND

DISCUSSION

51

CHAPTER – IV

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The present chapter deals with the detailed description of the results of the study. The data

was collected on the big five personality dimensions as predictors of job performance.

Keeping the objectives of the research study, the data was analyzed and discussed under the

following sections.

SECTION – I

4.1 This section deals with the profiles of the working adults which includes information on

self related variables.

4.2 This section deals with the big five personality dimensions of working adults.

SECTION – II

4.3 This section deals with the job performance of the working adults.

SECTION – III

4.4 This section gives details about the relationship between the big five personality

dimensions and the job performance

SECTION – IV

4.5 This section gives details about the correlation between independent variables and

dependent variable.

52

SECTION – I

4.1 GENERAL PROFILE OF THE RESPONDENTS This section deals with the general profiles of the respondents. Self related factors

include age, gender, education and income. The general profile of the working adults is

presented in below.

Table 4.1 Distribution of respondents based on age

N: 150

Age (in years)

Teachers

Engineers

IT Professionals

TOTAL

Men

Women

Men

Women

Men

Women

No % No % No % No % No % No % No %

26-30

11 44 12 48 9 36 15 60 15 60 17 68

79

52.6

31-35

9 36 10 40 12 48 10 40 10 40 8 32

59

39.3

36-40

5 20 3 12 4 16

-

-

- -

-

-

12

8

A total of 150 working adults i.e., fifty teachers, fifty engineers and fifty IT

professionals were studied in the present study. Among them, forty eight percent of women

teachers were young and belonged to 26 – 30 years age group. Sixty percent of women

engineers belonged to 26 – 30 years age group and forty eight percent of male engineers also

belonged to 31 – 35 years age group. Sixty eight percent of women IT professionals

belonged to 26 – 30 years age group and sixty percent of men IT professionals belonged to

26 – 30 years age group. Totally fifty three percent of working adults belonged to 26 – 30

years age group. Only eight percent of total sample fell under 36-40 years age group.

53

Figure 4.1 Distribution of respondents based on age

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Male Female Male Female Male Female

Teachers Engineers IT Professionals

4448

36

60 60

68

3640

48

40 40

32

20

1216

26-30 years 31-35 years 36-40 years

54

Table 4.2 Distribution of respondents based on education

N: 150

Education status

Teachers

Engineers

IT Professionals

TOTAL

Men

Women

Men

Women

Men

Women

No % No % No % No % No % No % No % Graduation

8 32 12 48 16 64 17 68 21 84 19 76

93

62

Graduation with other qualification

7 28 6 24 - - - - - - - -

13

8.6

Post Graduation 5 20 7 28 9 36

8

32 4 16

6

24

39

26

Post Graduation with other qualification 5 20 - - - -

-

- - -

-

-

5

3.3

The education satus of respondents was divided into four categories i.e.

graduation, graduation with other qualification (teachers having graduation with B.Ed),

post graduation and post graduation with other qualification (teachers having post

graduation with B.Ed/M.Ed).

The above table shows the educational status of the working adults. Forty eight

percent of women teachers were graduates and thirty two percent of men teachers were

graduates. Sixty eight percent of women engineers and sixty four percent of men

engineers were graduates. Eighty four percent of men IT professionals were graduates.

Among 150 working adults, on average sixty two percent of respondents were graduates

and twenty six percent of respondents were post graduates. High percent (84%) of

graduates were IT professional men, thirty six percent of post graduates were engineers

and only 5 percent of male teachers had the post graduation with other qualification.

55

Figure 4.2 Distribution of respondents based on education

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Male Female Male Female Male Female

Teachers Engineers IT Professionals

32

48

6468

84

76

20

28

3632

16

2420

Graduation Graduation with other qualification Post Graduation Post Graduation with other qualification

56

Table 4.3 Distribution of respondents based on income

N: 150

The income variable is classified into three categories based on the salary range i.e.

A- (Rs. 10,000-12,000 for teacher/ Rs. 31,000-40,000 for engineers and IT Professionals),

B- (Rs.8,000-10,000 for teacher/ Rs.26,000-31,000 for engineers and IT Professionals) and

C- (Rs.6,000-8,000 for teacher/ Rs.22,000-26,000 for engineers and IT Professionals).

The above Table 4.3 indicates the income range of the respondents. Fifty two percent

of women teachers were getting income between Rs. 8,000 – 10,000 and thirty six percent

of male teachers were getting income between Rs. 6,000 – 8,000 and same percent of men

teachers were getting income between Rs. 8,000 – 10,000 only. Sixty four percent of

women engineers were getting income between Rs. 31,000 – 40,000 and forty percent of

male engineers were getting Rs. 26,000 – 31,000. Fifty six percent of women IT

professionals were getting income between Rs. 22,000 – 26,000 and sixty percent of male

IT professionals were getting income between Rs. 22,000 – 26,000.

IT professionals and engineers were getting higher salary compared to teachers

because it could be based on profession, educational qualification and nature of job of

respondents and sometimes age and experience also influence the respondents income.

Income(in Rupees)

Teachers

Engineers

IT Professionals

TOTAL

Men

Women

Men

Women

Men

Women

No % No % No % No % No % No % No %

Category -A

7

28

1

4

9

36

16

64

10

40

6

24

49

32.6

Category -B

9

36

13

52

10

40

9

36

-

-

5

20

46

30.6

Category -C

9

36

11

44

6

24

-

-

15

60

14

56

55

36.6

57

Compared to men teachers women teachers were getting low salary as they are young

and less educated compared to male teachers. High percent of women engineers and men

IT professionals were getting high salary.

58

A- 6,000-8,000 Rs. (for teacher)/ 22,000-26,000 Rs. (for engineers and IT Professionals), B- 8,000-10,000 Rs. (for teacher)/ 26,000-31,000 Rs. (for engineers and IT Professionals) and C- 10,000-12,000 Rs. (for teacher)/ 31,000-40,000 Rs. (for engineers and IT Professionals).

Figure 4.3 Distribution of respondents based on income

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Male Female Male Female Male Female

Teachers Engineers IT Professionals

36

44

24

6056

36

52

4036

20

28

4

36

64

40

24

A B C

59

4.2 BIG FIVE PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS INFORMATION OF

THE RESPONDENTS In contemporary psychology, the "Big Five" factors of personality are five broad

domains or dimensions of personality that are used to describe human personality. The

Big Five factors are Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion,

Agreeableness and Neuroticism (OCEAN). Conscientiousness is exemplified by being

disciplined, organized, achievement-oriented and dependable. Neuroticism refers to

degree of emotional stability, impulse control, aggressiveness and anxiety. Extraversion is

displayed through a higher degree of sociability, assertiveness and talkativeness.

Openness is reflected in a strong intellectual curiosity, creativity and a preference for

novelty and variety. Finally, agreeableness refers to being helpful, cooperative and

sympathetic towards others. The neuroticism factor is sometimes referred by its low

pole – "emotional stability". Some disagreement remains about how to interpret the

openness factor, which is sometimes called "intellect" rather than openness to experience.

Beneath each factor, a cluster of correlated specific traits are found; for example,

extraversion includes such related qualities as gregariousness, assertiveness, excitement

seeking, warmth, activity and positive emotions.

Big five personality dimensions scale developed by

www.outofservice.com/bigfive/ which is given in Appendix –A.

60

Table 4.4 Distribution of respondents based on Big Five Personality Dimensions

N: 150

Big Five Personality Dimensions

Teachers

Engineers

IT Professionals

TOTAL

Men

Women

Men

Women

Men

Women

No % No % No % No % No % No % No % Openness to Experience

2 8 3 12 5 20

3

12 1 4

-

-

14

9.3

Conscientiousness

4 16 2 8 2 8

4

16 5 20

5

20

22

14.6

Extraversion

6 24 5 20 9 36 11 44 9 36 9 36

49

32.6

Agreeableness

3 12 8 32 5 20 6 24 7 28 7 28

36

24

Neuroticism

10 40 7 28 4 16

1

4 3 12

4

16

29

19.3

It is evident from the above table that forty percent of male teachers exhibited the

dimension of neuroticism and thirty two percent of women teachers exhibited the

dimension of agreeableness. Forty four percent of women engineers and thirty six

percent of male engineers exhibited the dimension of extraversion. Thirty six percent of

men and women IT professionals exhibited the dimension of extraversion. Twenty

percent of men and women IT professionals exhibited the dimension of conscientiousness

and same twenty percent of men engineers exhibited the dimension of openness to

experience.

High percent of teacher respondents exhibited the dimension of neuroticism which

may be due to work pressure, difficulties in handling children etc. High percent of

engineers and IT professionals exhibited the dimension of extraversion, which might be

due to sociable, outgoing, talkative and good planning characteristics of these two

61

professionals. In total 33 percent of working adults exhibited the dimension of

extraversion and only 9 percent of working adults exhibited the dimension of openness to

experience.

It can be observed from the above table that low percent of engineers exhibited the

dimension of neuroticism. Less percent of IT professionals and teachers exhibited the

dimension of openness to experience. None of the women IT professionals exhibited the

dimension of openness to experience, which might be because IT professionals are busy with

routine work.

The findings were also in accordance with the study of John et al. (2001) which revealed

that extroversion related positively and neuroticism negatively to intrinsic career success

across both the U.S. and the European samples. Judge et al. (2002) replicated

correlations among the factors of neuroticism and extraversion, with extraversion being

positively correlated with job satisfaction and neuroticism being negatively correlated.

This could be due to the social nature of the workplace

62

Figure 4.4 Distribution of respondents based on Big Five Personality Dimensions

24

20

36

44

36 36

12

32

20

24

28 28

16

8 8

16

20 20

8

12

20

12

4

40

28

16

4

12

16

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Male Female Male Female Male Female

Teachers Engineers IT Professionals

Extraversion Agreeableness Conscientiousness Openness to Experience Neuroticism

63

4.3 JOB PERFORMANCE OF THE WORKING ADULTS

SECTION II

Job performance scale included questions to rate oneself on a 45 point self rating

scale to indicate their own job performance. The score obtained on this scale was

categorized into three levels. One is highly satisfied with a score between 31- 45, second

one is satisfied with a score between 16- 30 and third one is not satisfied with a score

between 1- 15. The maximum score possible is 45 and minimum score possible is 15.

Job performance questionnaire was measured using a modified version of

Extended Satisfaction with Life Scale (ESWLS) by Bernald Gorman (1996).

64

Table 4.5 Distribution of respondents based on Job Performance

N: 150

Level of Job Performance

Teachers

Engineers

IT Professionals

TOTAL

Men

Women

Men

Women

Men

Women

No % No % No % No % No % No % No % Not Satisfied 1-15 score

14 56 11 44 7 28 5 20 6 24 8 32

51

34

Satisfied 16-30 score

9 36 8 32 6 24 7 28 6 24 8 32

44

29.3

Highly Satisfied 31-45 score

2 8 6 24 12 48

13

52 13 52

9

36

55

36.6

The Table 4.5 and figure 4.5 gives information regarding job performance of the

men and women working adults. Interestingly it was found that 37 percent of the sample

were highly satisfied with job performance and thirty four percent of respondents were

not satisfied with job performance.

Fifty six percent of male teachers were not satisfied with their job performance

while only eight percent of men teachers were highly satisfied with their job performance.

Fifty two percent of women engineers were highly satisfied with job and similar results

were found regarding men IT professionals.

Low percentage of engineers were not satisfied with their job performance and

high percent of teachers were not satisfied in job performance. The reasons could be less

income, unavailability of appropriate facilities and nature of job was not matching to their

job criteria.

65

Most of the respondents who were getting low salary expressed dissatisfaction

with their job performance. Respondents who were highly satisfied might be having good

relation with their colleagues, good working atmosphere and appropriate facilities

available in the work place. Seibert and Kraimer (2001) showed that, extraversion was

related positively to salary level, promotions and career satisfaction and neuroticism was

related negatively to career satisfaction.

66

Figure 4.5 Distribution of respondents based on Job Performance

56

44

28

2024

3236

32

2428

24

32

8

24

4852 52

36

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Male Female Male Female Male Female

Teachers Engineers IT Professionals

Not Satisfied 1-15 Satisfied 16-30 Highly Satisfied 31-45

67

SECTION III

4.4 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS AND JOB PERFORMANCE

Cross checking was carried out to see the relationship between personality dimensions and job performance based on occupations.

4.4.1 Relationship between personality dimensions and job performance of teachers

4.4.2 Relationship between personality dimensions and job performance of engineers

4.4.3 Relationship between personality dimensions and job performance of IT professionals

68

Table 4.6 Relationship between personality dimensions and job performance of teachers

(N=50)

Big Five Personality Dimensions

Highly Satisfied (31-45 score)

Satisfied (16-30 score)

Not Satisfied (1-15 score)

Men

Women

Total

Men

Women

Total

Men

Women

Total

No % No % No % No % No % No % No % No % No % Openness to Experience

- - - -

-

- - -

-

-

-

- 2 8

2

8

4

8

Conscientiousness - - - -

-

-

1 4

1

4

2

4

3 12

2

8

5

10

Extraversion

- - 3 12

3

6 4 16 1 4

5

10 2 8 1 4

3

6

Agreeableness

1 4 3 12

4

8 1 4 3 12

4

8 1 4 2 8

3

6

Neuroticism

1 4 - -

1

2 3 12

3

12

6

12 6 24

4

16

10

20

69

It is evident from the above table that 20 percent of teachers who exhibited

neuroticism as a main trait were not satisfied and only 12 percent of teachers expressing

neuroticism behaviour were satisfied with job performance. Eight percent of teachers with

dimension of agreeableness showed high job satisfaction and 10 percent of teachers with

conscientiousness were not satisfied in their job performance.

Twenty percent of men teachers and 16 percent of women teachers with

neuroticism exhibited non satisfaction in their job performance and the same percent

(16%) of women teachers with extraversion were satisfied with the job performance.

None of the men teachers with extraversion were highly satisfied with their job

performance.

Teachers with high level of extraversion were satisfied with their job performance.

Equal percent (12%) of teachers with agreeableness were highly satisfied and satisfied

with job performance. Respondents with conscientiousness personality dimension were

not satisfied with their job performance.

From the above table it is evident that high percentage of teachers with

neuroticism personality dimension exhibited dissatisfaction in job performance because it

could be due to the typical characteristics of neuroticism such as anxiety, low

concentration, disorganized and shyness. In openness to experience personality

dimension, no one exhibited high satisfaction and satisfaction. Similar results were found

by Hurtz and Donovan (2000) who pointed that openness to experience is a negligible

factor in predicting the job performance.

This table clearly indicated that extraversion and agreeableness was related

positively and neuroticism, openness to experience and conscientiousness was related

negatively to job performance.

70

Table 4.7 Relationship between personality dimensions and job performance of engineers

(N=50)

Big Five Personality Dimensions

Highly Satisfied (31-45 score)

Satisfied (16-30 score)

Not Satisfied (1-15 score)

Men

Women

Total

Men

Women

Total

Men

Women

Total

No % No % No % No % No % No % No % No % No % Openness to Experience

- - - -

-

- 1 4

2

8

3

6 1 4

1

4

2

4

Conscientiousness 1 4 1 4

2

4 3 12

1

4

4

8 1 4

2

8

3

6

Extraversion

6 24 8 32

14

28 1 4 3 12

4

8 1 4 - -

1

2

Agreeableness

4 16 4 16

8

16 - - 1 4

1

2 2 8 1 4

3

6

Neuroticism

1 4 - -

1

2 1 4

-

-

1

2 2 8

1

4

3

6

71

It is evident from the above table that 28 percent of engineers who exhibited

extraversion and 16 percent of engineers with personality dimension of agreeableness

were highly satisfied in their job performance. Eight percent of engineers with

extraversion and same percent of engineers with conscientiousness were satisfied with

their job performance and six percent of engineers who exhibited equally in three

personality dimensions i.e agreeableness, conscientiousness and neuroticism were not

satisfied with job performance. Only 2 percent of engineers with neuroticism personality

dimension were highly satisfied and similar percent (2%) of engineers with extraversion

were not satisfied with their job performance

Twenty four percent of men engineers exhibited extraversion as a main trait were

highly satisfied with their job performance. Equal percent (16%) of women engineers

with neuroticism expressed dissatisfaction and women engineers with extraversion

exhibited satisfaction in their job performance. None of the men engineers with

extraversion expressed dissatisfaction and all the women engineers with neuroticism were

not satisfied in their job performance.

Engineers with high level of extraversion were highly satisfied in their job

performance, because it could be extraversion personality trait includes characteristics

such as sociability, outgoing, talkative, assertiveness and good planning and hence, led to

high satisfaction on job performance. Those with neuroticism as main trait were not

satisfied in their job performance. Engineers with agreeableness were highly satisfied and

engineers with conscientiousness were satisfied with their job performance and those with

openness to experience as main trait were satisfied with their job performance. The

reasons could be that extraversion includes abilities such as organized, disciplined, strong

intellectual curiosity, cooperative and unselfish with others. Bindu (2008) research

results indicated that individuals with agreeableness and conscientiousness were more

involved in knowledge sharing activities than individuals with agreeableness and

conscientiousness.

This table clearly indicated that extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness

were related positively and neuroticism and openness to experience was related

negatively to job performance.

72

Table 4.8 Relationship between personality dimensions and job performance of IT Professionals

(N=50)

Big Five Personality Dimensions

Highly Satisfied (31-45 score)

Satisfied (16-30 score)

Not Satisfied (1-15 score)

Men

Women

Total

Men

Women

Total

Men

Women

Total

No % No % No % No % No % No % No % No % No % Openness to Experience

- - - -

-

- 1 4

-

-

1

2 - -

-

-

-

-

Conscientiousness 3 12 1 4

4

8 1 4

1

4

2

4 2 8

3

12

5

10

Extraversion

6 24 5 20

11

22 1 4 3 12

4

8 1 4 1 4

2

4

Agreeableness

3 12 2 8

5

10 3 12 4 16

7

14 1 4 1 4

2

4

Neuroticism

1 4 1 4

2

4 - -

-

-

-

- 2 8

3

12

5

10

73

It can be observed from the above table that 22 percent of IT professionals with

dimension of extraversion were highly satisfied with job performance and 14 percent of

IT professionals with agreeableness were satisfied with job performance. Equal percent

(10%) of IT professionals with conscientiousness and neuroticism personality dimension

expressed dissatisfaction in job performance. Only 2 percent of IT professionals with

openness to experience expressed satisfaction in their job performance.

Twenty four percent of male and 20 percent of female IT professionals with

extraversion were highly satisfied with their job performance. Sixteen percent of women

and 12 percent of men IT professionals with dimension of agreeableness were satisfied

with job performance. Less percent (4%) of respondents with openness to experience

were satisfied with job performance.

Those with neuroticism as main trait were not satisfied in their job performance

and respondents with agreeableness were satisfied with their job performance.

Respondents with conscientiousness personality dimension were not satisfied with their

job performance and only one respondent with openness to experience as main trait

exhibited satisfaction in job performance. IT professionals with extraversion were highly

satisfied with their job performance. The results were accordance with the John et.al

(2001) which revealed that extraversion related positively and neuroticism negatively to

career success.

This table clearly indicated that neuroticism is negatively related with job

performance, whereas conscientiousness, extraversion and agreeableness were positively

related with job performance. Openness to experience has a negligible impact on job

performance of IT professionals.

74

SECTION IV

4.5 CORRELATION BETWEEN THE INDEPENDENT VARIABLES AND DEPENDENT VARIABLE

Correlation coefficient was carried out to see the relationship between the independent and depen dent variables. The test correlation coefficient was done in three ways, that has been explained below.

4.1 Correlation between the independent and dependent variables

4.2 Correlation between the independent and dependent variables based on occupation

4.3 Correlation between the independent and dependent variables based on gender

75

Table 4.9 Correlation between the independent and dependent variables

N: 150

Variables

Correlation with job performance

Age

0.0363 NS

Education

-0.0308 NS

Income

0.4601**

Big five Personality dimensions

0.4582**

** P< 0.01 level of significance and NS- Not Significant

Table 4.6 illustrates the correlation between the independent and dependent

variables. It is noteworthy that there is significant and positive correlation between the big

five personality dimensions and job performance among the working adults and also

between the income and job performance of the working adults at 0.01 level of

significance. It means that higher the income, higher the job performance.

Personality characteristics are important part of individuals life, so job

performance of individual will be influenced by the personality traits. Personality traits

help the individuals to become social, outgoing and easily adopting to situations. Hence,

personality traits are related with job performance of working adults.

The big five personality dimensions and income strongly predicts the job

performance of the working adults, because most of the working adults expressed income

was there main criteria to motivate the job performance.

The findings were also in accordance with the study of the Seibert and Kraimer

(2001) which revealed that, extraversion was related positively to salary level, promotions

and career satisfaction and neuroticism was related negatively to career satisfaction.

Agreeableness was related negatively only to career satisfaction and openness was related

negatively to salary level.

76

Table 4.10 Correlation between the independent and dependent variables based on occupation

N: 150

Variable

Occupation Correlation with job

performance

Age

Teachers 0.0266 NS

Engineers 0.0702 NS

IT Professionals 0.2417 NS

Education

Teachers 0.2545 NS

Engineers 0.3364*

IT Professionals 0.1465 NS

Income

Teachers 0.2826*

Engineers 0.5141**

IT Professionals 0.4579**

Big five Personality dimensions

Teachers 0.3241*

Engineers 0.5090**

IT Professionals 0.4029**

** P< 0.01 level of significance, * P< 0.05 level of significance and NS- Not Significant

It is evident from the above table that there was a positive significant relationship at

0.01 level of significance between big five personality dimensions and job performance

of engineers and IT professionals but teachers have the positive relationship only at 0.05

level of significance. From the above table it can be noted that respondents income also

had the positive relationship with the job performance as similar to the relationship

observed between the big five personality dimensions with job performance. Here

engineers and IT professionals also had positive relationship at 0.01 level of significance

and teachers had positive relationship at 0.05 level of significance. Interestingly it was

found that education of the engineers had positive relationship with the job performance

at 0.05 level of significance.

77

Among all the four independent variables, age of the respondents had no

significance with the job performance because most of the respondents belonged to young

adulthood, so their job performance may not be influenced by age. Education of the

engineers had positive relationship to the job performance as good qualification of the

respondenst, would provide higher income and high position, thus leading to higher job

performance in respect of education of working adults.

This table clearly indicated that big five personality dimensions and income

strongly predicted the job performance of all the three categories of working adults.

Sometimes education also might predict the job performance of the working adults.

Robertson et al. (2000) work provided clear evidence that personality factors are

associated with job performance.

78

Table 4.11 Correlation between the independent and dependent variables based on gender

N: 150

Variable

Occupation

Correlation with job performance

Men Women

Age

Teachers -0.2382 NS 0.2534 NS

Engineers 0.0282 NS 0.1699 NS

IT Professionals 0.3505 NS 0.0824 NS

Education

Teachers 0.1040 NS 0.5827*

Engineers 0.4160* 0.2467 NS

IT Professionals 0.1299 NS 0.2148 NS

Income

Teachers 0.1579 NS 0.6096**

Engineers 0.7625** 0.2046 NS

IT Professionals 0.3741 NS 0.5627**

Big five Personality dimensions

Teachers 0.0865 NS 0.4778*

Engineers 0.4846** 0.5644**

IT Professionals 0.3907* 0.4440*

**P< 0.01 level of significance, * P< 0.05 level of significance and NS- Not Significant

Age did not predict the job performance of working adults in all the three

occupations, because it might be due to dependence of job performance on psychological

parameters of emotions, motivations, interpersonal interactions, abilities and attitudes but

not dependent on physical parameters. The result revealed that education was also not

significant with job performance for IT professionals but women teachers and men

engineers had positive relationship at 0.05 level of significance.

79

From the above table it can be noted that income of women teachers, men

engineers and women IT professionals had positive relationship with the job performance

at 0.01 level of significance. Income of men teachers, women engineers and male IT

professionals had the negative correlation with the job performance. Sometimes income

did not predict the job performance because nature of job, availability of facilities and

healthy work environment would lead to satisfaction with job performance.

Table 4.7 indicates that big five personality dimensions of all the men and women

working adults have strong correlation with the job performance, but men teachers were

having negative correlation with job performance,so here personality traits did not

influence the job performance. The results of the Judge et al. (2002) suggested that

extraverted individuals are more satisfied in the workplace, because work gives them an

opportunity to experience an optimal level of arousal, whereas introverted individuals are

less satisfied in the workplace due to too much stimulation.

From the previous two tables (table 4.6 and table 4.7) it can be inferred that big

five personality dimensions have positive correlation with job performance. This means

big five personality dimensions are strong predictors of job performance.

80

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSION

81

CHAPTER V

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION Personality psychology also known as personology, is the study of the person, that

is, the whole human individual. Most people, when they think of personality are actually

thinking of personality differences – types, traits and the like. This is certainly an

important part of personality psychology, since one of the characteristics of persons is

that they can differ from each other quite a bit. But the main part of personality

psychology addresses the broader issue of "what is it to be a person."

Personality explains the stability in a person’s behaviour over time and across

situations (consistency) and the behavioural differences among individuals reacting to the

same situation (distinctiveness).

A major debate in the area of personality research is where personality originates,

which is often described as the "nature vs. nurture" argument. Researchers who believe

that individuals are born with a personality that is determined by genetics and remains

unchanged regardless of environment, subscribe to the "nature" theory of the origin of

personality.

Personality is a set of enduring traits and characteristics that relate to a person's

emotions, motivations, interpersonal interactions and attitudes. Personality is different

from ability. Whereas personality may dictate attitudes towards situations or people,

attitudes are transient and personality is enduring.

Job performance is a multi-dimensional construct which indicates how well

employees perform their tasks, the initiative they take and the resourcefulness they show

in solving problems. Furthermore, it indicates the extent to which they complete tasks, the

way they utilize their available resources and the time and energy they spend on their

tasks.

Personality is meaningful to management, because employees' personalities may

dictate how well they perform in their jobs. Personality may indicate how hard a person

will work, how organized they are, how well they will interact with others and how

creative they are.

82

The Big Five personality test gives more insight into how one react in different

situations, which can help to choose an occupation. Career professionals and

psychologists use this information in a personality career test for recruitment and

candidate assessment.

Human resource professionals often use the Big Five personality dimensions to help

place employees. That is because these dimensions are considered to be the underlying

traits that make up an individual’s overall personality. The Big Five traits are Openness to

experience, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism (OCEAN).

The purpose of the present study is to see whether there is any significant

relationship between the big five personality dimensions and job performance of the

working adults. Exploratory research design was adopted for the present study. Twin

cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad were purposively selected for conducting the

study. The sample of the study was 150 working adults. The only criteria for sample

selection was that adults (men and women) working as teachers, engineers and IT

professionals. The data was collected by using the Big five personality dimensions scale

available on www.outofservice.com/bigfive/ (website) and Job performance questionnaire

i.e modified version of Extended Satisfaction with Life Scale (ESWLS) by Bernald

Gorman in 1996. The collected data was scored, tabulated, analyzed and interpreted with

appropriate statistical procedures.

The present study on “The Big Five Personality Dimensions as predictors of

Job Performance” was carried out with the following objectives.

Objectives of the study

• To study Big Five personality dimensions of working men and women.

• To study the job performance of working men and women.

• To study the relationship between Big Five personality dimensions and job

performance.

Major findings of the study

83

A. Profile of the working adults

• The general profiles of the working adults include information on age, gender,

education and income of the respondents.

• Majority of the working adults belonged to 26-30 years age group. Majority of the

women belonged to 26-30 years age group only.

• Sixty two percent of working adults were graduates. Compared to engineers and

IT professionals, less percent of teachers were graduates. Forty eight percent of

male teachers were having the B.Ed or M.Ed qualification with graduation and

post graduation.

• Sixty four percent of women engineers were getting high salary that is income

between Rs. 26,000 – 31,000 and sixty percent of male IT professionals were

getting income between Rs.22,000-26,000. Four percent of women teachers were

getting income between Rs. 6,000 – 8,000. Men teachers and IT professionals

were getting good salary compared to women respondents.

B. Big Five Personality Dimensions of working adults

• Forty four percent of women engineers exhibited extraversion and forty percent of

men teachers exhibited neuroticism. Thirty six percent of men and women IT

professionals exhibited extraversion.

• Thirty two percent of women teachers exhibited personality dimension of

agreeableness and twenty percent of men and women IT professionals exhibited

conscientiousness. Twenty percent of men engineers expressed dimension of

openness to experience.

• Sixty eight percent of teacher respondents fell under the dimension of neuroticism,

76 percent of engineers and IT professionals fell under the extraversion. In total,

33 percent of working adults exhibited personality dimension of extraversion and

only 9 percent of working adults exhibited personality dimension of openness to

experience.

C. Job Performance of working adults

84

• Interestingly it was found that 37 percent of the respondents were highly satisfied

with job performance, thirty four percent of respondents were not satisfied with

job performance and 29 percent of the respondents were satisfied with their job

performance.

• Fifty six percent of men teachers were not satisfied with job performance and only

eight percent of men teacher respondents were highly satisfied with their job

performance.

• Forty four percent of women teachers were not satisfied with job performance and

only twenty four percent of women teachers were highly satisfied with job

performance.

• Forty eight percent of men engineers were highly satisfied with job performance

and twenty eight percent of men engineers were not satisfied with their job

performance.

• Fifty two percent of women engineers were highly satisfied and only twenty

percent of women engineers were not satisfied with their job performance.

• Fifty two percent of men IT professionals and thirty six percent of women IT

professionals were highly satisfied with their job performance.

• Among three occupations engineers were highly satisfied with their job

performance and most of the teachers were not satisfied with their job

performance.

D. Relationship between the personality dimensions and job performance of the

working adults

• Big five personality dimensions strongly predicted the job performance of all the

working adults.

• Engineers and IT professionals had correlation at 0.01 level of significance and

only teachers had correlation at 0.05 level of significance between big five

personality dimensions and job performance.

• Engineers and IT professionals expressing extraversion as major trait were highly

satisfied with their job performance.

85

• Teachers expressing neuroticism as a main personality dimension were not

satisfied with their job performance.

• In openness to experience personality dimension, no one expressed highly job

satisfaction with their job performance.

• From the three occupations, extraversion personality dimension was positively

related to job performance and neuroticism personality dimension was negatively

related to job performance. E. Relationship between the general profile and job performance of the working

adults

• From the 4 independent variables age not correlated with job performance.

Income and big five personality dimensions of working adults had correlation

with job performance at 1% level of significance.

• Income of the working adults had positive relationship with job performance. So

income did predict the job performance.

• From the three occupations, female teachers and female engineers education have

positive correlation with job performance at 5% level of significance.

CONCLUSION

From this research study on “the Big Five Personality Dimensions as predictors of job

performance”, it can be concluded that all five personality dimensions are the strong

predictors of job performance. Most of the working adults personality dimensions had

positive relation with the job performance because Personality characteristics are

important part of individuals life so job performance of individual would be influenced by

the personality traits.

Personality traits would help the individuals to become social, outgoing and

easily adopting to situations. Hence, personality traits are related with job performance of

working adults. From this study it is evident that respondents income also positively

correlated with the job performance, may be income is one main criterion to perform job

satisfaction.

86

Implications of the study

• The present study helped to understand the relationship between the big five

personality dimensions and job performance of working adults.

• This study brought out the relationship between personal variables and job

performance of respondents.

• This study gave empirical evidence to the working adults to know about their

personality dimension and job performance.

Suggestions for future research

• Similar study can be conducted on different occupations.

• A similar study can be conducted on a large sample which will facilitate to draw

generalizations.

87

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APPENDICES

93

APPENDICES All persons are not equal or same. Every person has some characteristics which

differentiate him from others and forms the basis of different nature of persons. Here are some statements regarding these characteristics. You might have these qualities in varying quantities. I want to know how these qualities affect different aspects of your life. The success of this objective depends on your cooperation.

In the following pages there are some statements and the possible range of responses. You read each statement carefully and mark the tick ( ) in any one of the alternative response modes to indicate your level of agreement with the particular content of the statement. You have to mark only one answer there is no time limit for it but you should answer.

This is not an examination. These are no right or wrong answer. Please respond in a way you believe. I assure you that your answers would be kept secret. I request you to answer unhesitatingly.

APPENDIX-A: GENERAL PROFILE

Name:

Age:

Gender:

Education:

Occupation:

Income:

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APPENDIX-B: PERSONALITY TEST

I see myself as someone who...

S. No.

Statements Strongly agree (SA)

Agree (A)

Undecided(U)

Disagree(DA)

Strongly disagree (SD)

1 ...Is talkative

2 ...Tends to find fault with others

3 ...Does a thorough job

4 ...Is depressed, blue

5 ...Is original, comes up with new ideas

6 ...Is reserved

7 ...Is helpful and unselfish with others

8 ...Can be somewhat careless

9 ...Is relaxed, handles stress well

10 ...Is curious about many different things

11 ...Is full of energy

12 ...Starts quarrels with others

13 ...Is a reliable worker

14 ...Can be tense

15 ...Is ingenious, a deep thinker

16 ...Generates a lot of enthusiasm

17 ...Has a forgiving nature

95

S. No.

Statements Strongly agree (SA)

Agree (A)

Undecided(U)

Disagree(DA)

Strongly disagree (SD)

18 ...Tends to be disorganized

19 ...Worries a lot

20 ...Has an active imagination

21 ...Tends to be quiet

22 ...Is generally trusting

23 ...Tends to be lazy

24 ...Is emotionally stable, not easily upset

25 ...Is inventive

26 ...Has an assertive personality

27 ...Can be cold and aloof

28 ...Perseveres until the task is finished

29 ...Can be moody

30 ...Values artistic, aesthetic experiences

31 ...Is sometimes shy, inhibited

32 ...Is considerate and kind to almost everyone

33 ...Does things efficiently

34 ...Remains calm in tense situations

35 ...Prefers work that is routine

36 ...Is outgoing, sociable

37 ...Is sometimes rude to others

96

S. No.

Statements Strongly agree (SA)

Agree (A)

Undecided(U)

Disagree(DA)

Strongly disagree (SD)

38 ...Makes plans and follows through with them

39 ...Gets nervous easily

40 ...Likes to reflect, play with ideas

41 ...Has few artistic interests

42 ...Likes to cooperate with others

43 ...Is easily distracted

44 ...Is sophisticated in art, music, or literature

45 ...Is politically liberal

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APPENDIX-C

JOB PERFORMANCE QUESTIONNAIRE

S. No.

Statements Highly Satisfied(HS)

Satisfied (S)

Not Satisfied(NS)

1. Nature of job / work attending

2. Amount of salary paid for your work

3. Performing challenging tasks at work

4. Coping up between works & home

5. Status acquired due to job

6. Cooperation provided by family members

7. Working atmosphere

8. Fulfilling atmosphere

9. Opportunity to get to know others

10. Relations with colleagues

11. Feeling of accomplishment

12. Fringe benefits

13. Opinions seem to count at work

14. Adequate working facilities to do job

15. Recognition by superiors / authority

Thanking you.