Personality as a predictor of work performance has had a rocky ride over the last thirty years. In the early days of Eysenck and Cattell personality theory and research was bounding with optimism. Personality research was full to the brim of psychometricians who were interested in defining what personality was and how it could be measured.
But then came applied researchers, people who asked whether or not personality made any difference to the real world, such as the world of work. This was in the early eighties and the research was not promising. Most of it showed that personality made very little difference in predicting work performance. So much so that HR practitioners became disillusioned with personality assessment as an HR mechanism.
Then came the nineties and the dawn of large scale meta-analyses and personality as a useful work based variable was back on track.
Meta-Analyses
Most of the studies through the seventies and eighties were done on small samples. This caused problems associated with a restriction in the range of subjects being used in the studies. They were not sufficiently representative of the working population.
Meta-Analyses is a technique for combining all of the smaller studies into a single large study which better represents the working population.
When researchers starting doing meta-analyses on decades of small scale, existing studies they got much better results on personality as a predictor of work performance.
They were also able to show that personality itself could be better defined. The research showed that personality was really a combination of five personality factors and they called it The Big Five.
The Big Five
A five-dimensional framework for the structure of personality has emerged from research that has been conducted since the early half of the 20th Century using meta-analyses. This “Big Five” model provides a useful framework for measuring personality by focusing the following five factors:
- Extraversion - Introversion
- Emotional Stability
- Agreeableness
- Conscientiousness
- Openness to Experience
The Big Five model has received support from a number of large meta-analyses, showing its predictive value across a range of behaviours.
In personnel selection, the aim of a personality inventory is to provide information that can be used to form predictions of subsequent work behaviour. This is based on the rationale that if factors such as extraversion and emotional stability have strong influences over our everyday behaviour, they are likely to affect our performance at work.
Results from empirical research into the use of personality measures in selection have included the following key findings:
- Conscientiousness shows consistent relations with all performance criteria for all occupational groups. A meta-analysis of 21 studies involving 4,106 individuals revealed a predictive validity of .31 for overall job performance (3)
- Extraversion is a valid predictor for occupations such as management and sales which involve social interaction (4)
- Extraversion and Openness to Experience are valid predictors of trainability (4)
- The inclusion of personality measures alongside General Mental Ability tests further improved predictive validity (5)
Studies and meta-analyses have led to the general consensus that personality tests do have a place in selection, though their use must be controlled, and the constructs being measured must be linked to competencies that are linked to work performance. For example, high Conscientiousness can be linked with a higher tendency to set goals, which can be linked to greater sales volume. The practitioner should also consider the interaction between behavioural disposition and the demands of the situation. For example, those high in Agreeableness, with a tendency to be courteous and trusting, perform less well in roles that involve a lot of autonomy.
1. Ryckman, R. (2004). Theories of Personality. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth
2. Saulsman, L. M. & Page, A. C. (2004). The five-factor model and personality disorder empirical literature: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 23, 1055-1085
3. Mount, M. K. & Barrick, M. R. (1995). The Big Five personality dimensions: Implications for research and practice in human resources management.(In G. R. Ferris (Ed.), Research in personnel and human resources management (Vol. 13, pp. 153—200).
4. Barrick, M. R., & Mount M. K. (1991). The Big Five Personality Dimensions and Job Performance: A Meta-Analysis. Personnel Psychology, 44, 1-26
5. Schmidt, F. L. & Hunter, J. E. (1998). The validity and utility of selection methods in personnel psychology: practical and theoretical implications of 85 years of research findings. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 262-274
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