BUS272 TB

Chapter 2 Perception, Personality, and Emotions 51
RESEARCH FINDINGS: The Big Five
Research on the Big Five has found a relationship between the personality
dimensions and job performance. 46 As the authors of the most-cited review
observed, “The preponderance of evidence shows that individuals who are dependable,
reliable, careful, thorough, able to plan, organized, hardworking, persistent, and
achievement-oriented tend to have higher job performance in most if not all occupations.”
47 Employees who are more conscientious provide better service. 48 Employees
who score higher in conscientiousness develop higher levels of job knowledge,
probably because highly conscientious people learn more (a review of 138 studies
revealed that conscientiousness was related to grade point average). 49 Higher levels of
job knowledge then contribute to higher levels of job performance. 50 Conscientious
individuals who are more interested in learning than in just performing on the job
are also exceptionally good at maintaining performance in the face of negative feedback.
51 There can be “too much of a good thing,” however, as extremely conscientious
individuals typically do not perform better than those who are simply above average
in conscientiousness. 52
Interestingly, conscientious people live longer; they take better care of themselves
and engage in fewer risky behaviours such as smoking, drinking, drugs, and risky
sexual or driving behaviour. 53 They don’t adapt as well to changing contexts, however.
They are generally performance oriented and may have trouble learning complex skills
early in the training process because their focus is on performing well rather than on
learning. Finally, they are often less creative than less conscientious people, especially
artistically. 54
The Big Five have also been found to be related to characteristics needed for specific
jobs. This is illustrated in Exhibit 2-5 .
Although conscientiousness is the trait most consistently related to job performance,
the other Big Five personality traits also have some bearing. Let’s look at the implications
of these traits, one at a time. ( Exhibit 2-6 summarizes the discussion.)
Emotional stability. People who score high on emotional stability are happier than
those who score low. Of the Big Five personality traits, emotional stability is most
strongly related to life satisfaction, job satisfaction, and low stress levels. This is
probably true because high scorers are more likely to be positive and optimistic in their
6 Demonstrate how the
Big Five personality
traits predict behaviour
at work.
EXHIBIT 2-5 Jobs in Which Certain Big Five Personality Traits Are More Relevant
Detail
Orientation
Required
Social Skills
Required
Competitive
Work
Innovation
Required
Dealing with
Angry People
Time Pressure
(Deadlines)
Jobs scoring high (the traits listed below should predict behaviour in these jobs)
Air traffic controller Clergy Coach/scout Actor Correctional officer Broadcast news
analyst
Accountant Therapist Financial manager Systems analyst Telemarketer Editor
Legal secretary Concierge Sales representative Advertising writer Flight attendant Airline pilot
Jobs that score high make these traits more relevant to predicting behaviour
Conscientiousness (+) Extraversion (+) Extraversion (+) Openness (+) Extraversion (+) Conscientiousness (+)
Agreeableness (+) Agreeableness (−) Agreeableness (+) Neuroticism (−)
Neuroticism (−)
Note: A plus (+) sign means individuals who score high on this trait should do better in this job. A minus (–) sign means individuals who
score low on this trait should do better in this job.