Not only correlations: a different approach for investigating the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and job performance based on workers and employees’ perception

Abstract

The paper presents the results of a study on the relationship between the Big Five of personality and job performance carried out by surveying workers and employees’ perception on the matter instead of passing through the computation of possibly faked (and biased) correlation coefficients between them. This in order to both fill a void in the literature and explore different approaches for such an investigation. The study was carried out by means of three methods: a semi-structured interview; the request to assess the relative importance of each Big Five for job performance (further investigation was carried out with 21 human resource managers and recruiters); the request to fill in the Big Five Questionnaire having in mind a best performer. Results show that the way workers and employees are asked to report on which Big Five makes the difference in job performance affects their answers. Some regularities emerge though: in workers and employees’ perception, to make the difference in job performance is mainly a behavioral trait (Conscientiousness or Extraversion). Emotional Stability is recognized to be the second most important Big Five. Agreeableness and Openness do not seem to make much difference in job performance. These results are partially consistent with results of research carried out by making use of correlation coefficients.