ArticlePDF Available

Five-Factor Model of Personality and Job Satisfaction: A Meta-Analysis

July 2002
Journal of Applied Psychology 87(3):530-41

DOI:10.1037//0021-9010.87.3.530

Source
PubMed

Authors:

Daniel Heller

Tel Aviv University

Michael K Mount

University of Iowa

This study reports results of a meta-analysis linking traits from the 5-factor model of personality to overall job satisfaction. Using the model as an organizing framework, 334 correlations from 163 independent samples were classified according to the model. The estimated true score correlations with job satisfaction were -.29 for Neuroticism, .25 for Extraversion, .02 for Openness to Experience, .17 for Agreeableness, and .26 for Conscientiousness. 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.

Comparison of validity of Big Five traits for job satisfaction and life satisfaction. (Life satisfaction correlations are corrected for unreliability based on DeNeve and Cooper's, 1998, uncorrected correlations: [see Footnote 7 for explanation of corrections]. For ease of presentation, Neuroticism is labeled by its opposite pole, Emotional Stability.) Open bars represent job satisfaction; solid bars represent life satisfaction.

…

Figures - uploaded by Daniel Heller

Content may be subject to copyright.

Content uploaded by Daniel Heller

Content may be subject to copyright.

Five-Factor Model of Personality and Job Satisfaction: A Meta-Analysis

Timothy A. Judge

University of Florida Daniel Heller and Michael K. Mount

University of Iowa

This study reports results of a meta-analysis linking traits from the 5-factor model of personality to

overall job satisfaction. Using the model as an organizing framework, 334 correlations from 163

independent samples were classified according to the model. The estimated true score correlations with

job satisfaction were ⫺.29 for Neuroticism, .25 for Extraversion, .02 for Openness to Experience, .17 for

Agreeableness, and .26 for Conscientiousness. 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.

Research on the dispositional source of job satisfaction has had

a spotty history in job satisfaction research. The personological

basis of job satisfaction was considered in the earliest treatments of

job satisfaction. Hoppock (1935), for example, noted a strong

correlation between workers’ emotional adjustment and their lev-

els of job satisfaction. Similarly, Fisher and Hanna (1931) con-

cluded that a large part of dissatisfaction resulted from emotional

maladjustment. With some noteworthy exceptions (P. C. Smith,

1955; Weitz, 1952), these early considerations of the dispositional

source of job satisfaction lay dormant until the 1980s, when a

series of provocative studies (Arvey, Bouchard, Segal, & Abra-

ham, 1989; Staw, Bell, & Clausen, 1986; Staw & Ross, 1985) led

to renewed interest in the relationship. In the past 15 years, an

expanding literature has accumulated, giving general support to the

argument that job satisfaction is, in part, dispositionally based

(House, Shane, & Herold, 1996). Despite this widespread accep-

tance, a broad array of traits has been investigated, and there has

been little integration in the literature. As Spector (1997) noted,

“Although many traits have been shown to correlate significantly

with job satisfaction, most research with personality has done little

more than demonstrate relations without offering much theoretical

explanation” (p. 51).

One factor that has impeded theoretical explanations of the

dispositional source of job satisfaction is the lack of a framework

describing the structure and nature of personality. Thousands of

traits have been invented in the history of personality research, and

scores of traits have been studied in relation to job satisfaction. As

Arvey, Carter, and Buerkley (1991) commented, “There is confu-

sion regarding which person variables should be examined. A

formidable array of person variables have been discussed as pos-

sible determinants of job satisfaction in the research literature” (p.

377). When specific traits have been selected for inclusion in

studies of employee attitudes, it generally has been in a piecemeal

fashion. Advances in personality research, however, provide the

potential for assimilation and integration.

One typology that has been in this research literature is the

positive affectivity (PA)-negative affectivity (NA) taxonomy of

affective temperament (D. Watson, 2000). Research by Watson,

Tellegen, and colleagues suggests that affective disposition is

composed of two facets: PA and NA. High-PA individuals are

predisposed to experience positive emotionality (e.g., joy, excite-

ment, enthusiasm), whereas high-NA individuals are predisposed

to experience negative emotions (e.g., guilt, anger, fear; D.

Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988). In a meta-analysis of the

relation of affectivity to job satisfaction, Connolly and Viswesva-

ran (2000) reported true score correlations of PA and NA with job

satisfaction of .49 (k⫽15) and ⫺.33 (k⫽27), respectively.

Although the PA-NA typology has proven to be quite useful in

investigating the dispositional source of job satisfaction, several

limitations exist. First, given the higher correlations of PA with job

satisfaction, it is surprising that more research has been focused on

NA, in many cases to the exclusion of PA (e.g., Levin & Stokes,

1989; Necowitz & Roznowski, 1994). Second, the issue of the

independence of PA and NA continues to be debated in the

literature (Russell & Carroll, 1999a, 1999b; D. Watson & Telle-

gen, 1999). Some argue that it is inappropriate to treat PA and NA

as separate concepts: that the traits represent opposite ends of

single bipolar construct or that a circumplex is required to take the

relationships among the concepts into account (Carroll, Yik, Rus-

sell, & Barrett, 1999). Others suggest that PA-NA may assess, at

least in part, current levels of happiness, affect experienced, or life

satisfaction (Judge & Locke, 1993). Finally, the PA-NA taxonomy

includes only two traits. Other traits may exist that are theoretically

and empirically relevant to job satisfaction.

Within the last 20 years, consensus has emerged that a five-

factor model of personality, often termed the Big Five (Goldberg,

1990), can be used to describe the most salient aspects of person-

ality. The five-factor structure has generalized across measures,

cultures, and sources of ratings (McCrae & John, 1992). Although

Timothy A. Judge, Department of Management, University of Florida;

Daniel Heller, Department of Psychology, University of Iowa; Michael K.

Mount, Department of Management and Organizations, University of

Iowa.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Timothy

A. Judge, Department of Management, Warrington College of Business,

University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611. E-mail: tjudge@ufl.edu

2002, Vol. 87, No. 3, 530–541 0021-9010/02/$5.00 DOI: 10.1037//0021-9010.87.3.530

530

the five-factor model has been researched in many areas of

industrial-organizational psychology, most notably with respect to

job performance (Barrick & Mount, 1991), the relationship of the

five-factor model to job satisfaction is much less studied. A num-

ber of studies have investigated relations between an isolated facet

of the five-factor model (especially Neuroticism) and job satisfac-

tion. However, there is a virtual dearth of research that has linked

the complete taxonomy to job satisfaction. Furthermore, unlike job

performance, where more than a half-dozen meta-analyses have

been conducted using the Big Five framework, we are aware of no

prior meta-analysis of the relationship of the Big Five traits to job

satisfaction. This is unfortunate because the five-factor model may

provide needed integration to this literature.

Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to investigate the

relationship between the five-factor model of personality and job

satisfaction. In conducting a meta-analysis of the relationship

between the Big Five traits and job satisfaction, we use the Barrick

and Mount (1991) meta-analysis of the relationship of the Big Five

traits to job performance to guide our investigation. Before de-

scribing the meta-analysis, we discuss potential linkages between

the Big Five traits and job satisfaction.

Relationships of the Big Five Traits With Job Satisfaction

Neuroticism

Because of their essentially negative nature, neurotic individuals

experience more negative life events than other individuals (Mag-

nus, Diener, Fujita, & Pavot, 1993) in part, because they select

themselves into situations that foster negative affect (Emmons,

Diener, & Larsen, 1985). To the extent that such situations occur

on or with respect to the job, they would lead to diminished levels

of job satisfaction. Neuroticism has been described as the primary

source of NA, and the link between NA and job satisfaction was

documented in Connolly and Viswesvaran’s (2000) meta-analysis.

Extraversion

Whereas Neuroticism is related to the experience of negative

life events, extraverts are predisposed to experience positive emo-

tions (Costa & McCrae, 1992), and positive emotionality likely

generalizes to job satisfaction, as demonstrated by Connolly and

Viswesvaran’s (2000) meta-analysis of PA–job satisfaction rela-

tionships. Evidence also indicates that extraverts have more friends

and spend more time in social situations than do introverts and,

because of their social facility, are likely to find interpersonal

interactions (such as those that occur at work) more rewarding (D.

Watson & Clark, 1997).

Openness to Experience

Openness to Experience is related to scientific and artistic

creativity (Feist, 1998), divergent thinking, low religiosity, and

political liberalism (see McCrae, 1996, for a review). None of

these psychological states seem to be closely related to job satis-

faction. Furthermore, DeNeve and Cooper (1998) noted that

“Openness to Experience is a ‘double-edged sword’that predis-

poses individuals to feel both the good and the bad more deeply”

(p. 199), rendering its directional influence on affective reactions

like subjective well-being or job satisfaction unclear.

Agreeableness

McCrae and Costa (1991) argued that Agreeableness should be

related to happiness because agreeable individuals have greater

motivation to achieve interpersonal intimacy, which should lead to

greater levels of well-being. Indeed, they found that Agreeableness

was positively related to life satisfaction, although at a relatively

low level (mean r⫽.16). Assuming these same communal moti-

vations exist on the job, then the same process should operate with

respect to job satisfaction. Organ and Lingl (1995) apparently

agreed, commenting that Agreeableness “involves getting along

with others in pleasant, satisfying relationships”(p. 340).

Conscientiousness

Organ and Lingl (1995) argued that Conscientiousness should

be related to job satisfaction because it represents a general work-

involvement tendency and thus leads to a greater likelihood of

obtaining satisfying work rewards, both formal (e.g., pay, promo-

tions) and informal (e.g., recognition, respect, feelings of personal

accomplishment). Indirectly, the subjective well-being literature

also suggests a positive relationship between Conscientiousness

and job satisfaction (DeNeve & Cooper, 1998).

Moderators of the Personality–Job

Satisfaction Relationship

Although there is good reason to believe that four of the Big

Five traits are related to job satisfaction across studies (the excep-

tion being Openness), several possible moderators of the relation-

ship exist. First, because the personality–job satisfaction relation-

ship might be stronger in cross-sectional studies, we investigated

whether the relationship varied according to cross-sectional versus

longitudinal research designs. Second, with few exceptions (e.g.,

Eysenck’s measures of Neuroticism and Extraversion; Eysenck &

Eysenck, 1968), there were no direct measures of the Big Five

traits before the revision of the NEO Personality Inventory (Costa

& McCrae, 1992). Accordingly, we analyzed whether the

personality–job satisfaction correlation varied depending on

whether a direct or indirect measure (using Barrick & Mount’s,

1991, coding scheme; see Method section) of the Big Five traits

was used. Finally, because the nature of job satisfaction measures

has been argued to affect their relationships with other variables

(Brief & Roberson, 1989), on an exploratory basis, we also esti-

mated the magnitude of the personality–job satisfaction correlation

by job satisfaction measure.

Method

Rules for Inclusion in the Meta-Analysis

To identify all possible studies of the relationship between the Big Five

traits and job satisfaction, we searched the PsycINFO database (1887–

2000) for studies (articles, book chapters, dissertations, and unpublished

reports) that referenced personality and job satisfaction. In addition to

searching for keywords such as personality, Big Five, Agreeableness,

Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, and Neuroti-

cism, we searched for a list of additional traits and measures that were

included in Barrick and Mount’s (1991) review. These efforts resulted in

the identification of 1,277 abstracts (including doctoral dissertations). Of

these 1,277 abstracts, 737 were obtained by searching for the keywords

531

PERSONALITY AND JOB SATISFACTION

“personality and job satisfaction.”An additional 540 records were obtained

by using names of personality inventories, common specific traits, and the

Big Five traits in combination with job satisfaction. In reviewing these

abstracts, we eliminated most because (a) they did not appear to measure

any discernible personality trait, (b) they assessed a trait that was not

classifiable in terms of the five-factor model, or (c) it was clear that they

did not report data (e.g., as was the case with most book chapters). We also

used several raw data sets that were available to the authors.

For the remaining 430 journal articles and doctoral dissertations, we

examined each study to determine whether it contained the necessary

information. Eighty-two articles and 53 doctoral dissertations met these

criteria. Several studies contained multiple independent samples. Thus, in

all, 163 independent samples and 334 correlations were included in the

analyses. Several exclusionary rules were established. Reasons for exclud-

ing studies at this level fell into several categories. First, many studies

failed to report the data necessary to obtain a correlation (e.g., studies that

reported percentages or proportions or means with no standard deviations,

studies that provided only a narrative summary of the results or reported

other measures of association that could not be converted to correlations;

e.g., analysis of variance results). Second, we excluded studies that in-

cluded traits that did not fall within Barrick and Mount’s (1991) classifi-

cation of existing measures into the Big Five traits. Specifically, we

excluded studies wherein the personality measure was a combination of

more than one trait or could not clearly be identified as a personality trait

subsumed within the five-factor model. Thus, such traits as field depen-

dence, Machiavellianism, Type A, or typologies such as the Myers–Briggs

Type Indicator (MBTI) types were not included (studies that reported

individual MBTI traits, e.g., I/E, rather than types, e.g., ISTP, were includ-

ed). Similarly, traits such as hostility or impulsivity that have been treated

inconsistently by Big Five researchers also were excluded.

Personality measures were classified according to the coding procedure

developed and used by Barrick and Mount (1991). Specifically, in their

meta-analysis, they classified personality measures based on an examina-

tion of the measures and decisions made by six expert judges (see pp. 8–9

of Barrick & Mount, 1991, for a detailed description of the classification

procedures). For example, the Dominance and Sociability scales from the

California Psychological Inventory (see Gough, 1988) were classified by

the experts as measures of Extraversion, and the Warm and Suspicious

(reverse-scored) scales from the 16 P-F were classified as measures of

Agreeableness. We followed their classification closely, with the following

exceptions: (a) Obviously, direct measures of the Big Five traits, such as

those using the NEO Personality Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992) or

other direct measures of the Big Five traits, were included

; (b) two studies

using measures of dispositional optimism were included because research

suggests such measures assess Neuroticism (T. W. Smith, Pope, Rhode-

walt, & Poulton, 1989); (c) four studies using measures of trait anxiety

were included because, again, research indicates that these measures assess

Neuroticism (Zuckerman, Joireman, Kraft, & Kuhlman, 1999); (d) three

studies were included because the traits assessed appeared to closely

correspond to Openness: rigidity (rigid is an adjective descriptor of low

openness; Digman, 1989, p. 202), flexibility (measures of flexibility cor-

relate significantly with Openness to Experience; Costa & McCrae, 1992,

p. 47), and adaptation-innovation (adaptive [Digman, 1989, p. 203] and

innovative [Goldberg, 1992, p. 35] are trait markers of Openness to

Experience).

In terms of job satisfaction, consistent with the recommendations of

meta-analytic researchers (Matt & Cook, 1994), we defined the population

to which we wished to generalize a priori as consisting of normal employed

adults. Accordingly, satisfaction in primary studies needed to be measured

at the individual (as opposed to group) level, and satisfaction needed to

occur in a natural job setting. Thus, consistent with Barrick and Mount

(1991), studies involving military or laboratory participants were excluded.

Satisfaction needed to be assessed with global or overall measures (general

perceptions of one’s job). If satisfaction was measured with reference to

specific facets of the job situation (as is the case with the Job Descriptive

Index; P. C. Smith, Kendall, & Hulin, 1969), we computed an equally

weighted composite of overall satisfaction using the Spearman-Brown

prophecy formula (Hunter & Schmidt, 1990).

Meta-Analytic Procedures

We used the meta-analytic procedures of Hunter and Schmidt (1990) to

correct observed correlations for sampling error and unreliability in mea-

sures of personality and job satisfaction. Correlations were corrected indi-

vidually. When authors of original studies reported an overall internal

consistency reliability for personality or job satisfaction, we used this value

to correct the observed correlation for attenuation. When reliabilities for

personality or job satisfaction measures were not reported, we used the

mean reliability for job satisfaction or the relevant Big Five trait for those

studies that did report a reliability estimate.

Finally, three original studies

used single-item measures of job satisfaction; consequently, no internal

consistency reliabilities were reported. In these cases, we used meta-

analytically derived estimates of the reliability of single-item measures of

job satisfaction (Wanous, Reichers, & Hudy, 1997). Hence, we assumed a

reliability of .68 for single-item satisfaction scales.

In addition to reporting estimates of the mean true score correlations, it

is also important in meta-analysis to describe variability in the correlations.

Accordingly, we report 80% credibility intervals and 90% confidence

intervals around the estimated population correlations. Although some

meta-analyses report only confidence intervals (e.g., Ernst Kossek &

Ozeki, 1998) whereas others report only credibility intervals (e.g., Vinchur,

Schippmann, Switzer, & Roth, 1998), it is important to report both because

each tells us different things about the nature of the correlations. Confi-

dence intervals provide an estimate of the variability around the estimated

mean correlation; a 90% confidence interval excluding zero indicates that

we can be 95% confident that the average true correlation is nonzero (5%

of average correlations would lie beyond the upper limit of the distribu-

tion). Credibility intervals provide an estimate of the variability of indi-

vidual correlations across studies; an 80% credibility interval excluding

zero indicates that 90% of the individual correlations in the meta-analysis

excluded zero (for positive correlations, 10% are zero or less and 10% lie

at or beyond the upper bound of the interval). Thus, confidence intervals

estimate variability in the mean correlation, whereas credibility intervals

estimate variability in the individual correlations across the studies.

The moderators were determined by examining the articles and coding

the necessary information. For most of the moderators, this information

was easily obtained (e.g., longitudinal vs. cross-sectional design). In terms

of measures, most articles reported the measure of personality and job

satisfaction. Thirty-eight percent of correlations involved a “direct”(ex-

plicitly labeled) measure of the Big Five traits. This percentage varied

Barrick and Mount (1991) included few direct measures of the Big

Five traits because, at that time, few were available. The situation has

changed appreciably since then, although still only a minority of the

correlations in our study used direct measures of the Big Five traits.

Although some scholars have argued that PA and NA can be integrated

into the five-factor model, such that PA is synonymous with Extraversion

and NA is synonymous with Neuroticism (Brief, 1998; D. Watson, 2000),

we did not include PA and NA in our analysis for several reasons. First,

although there is evidence supporting Brief’s and Watson’s assertions

regarding PA and NA, direct tests are lacking. Second, because other

reviews have discussed these variables extensively, we believe they war-

rant separate consideration from the Big Five traits included here.

The mean reliability for measures of job satisfaction was .83. The mean

reliabilities for measures of each of the Big Five traits were as follows:

Neuroticism ⫽.82; Extraversion ⫽.72; Openness to Experience ⫽.67;

Agreeableness ⫽.66; Conscientiousness ⫽.71.

532 JUDGE, HELLER, AND MOUNT

across the traits, from 52% direct measures for Extraversion to 20% direct

measures for Conscientiousness. This is to be expected because no direct

measures of Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness existed be-

fore the revised NEO Personality Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992),

which is why Barrick and Mount (1991) included only indirect measures in

their meta-analysis and why we followed their coding scheme. Measures of

job satisfaction were classified into the following categories: the Brayfield

and Rothe (1951) measure (17%), the Hoppock (1935) Job Satisfaction

Blank (8%), the Job Descriptive Index (P. C. Smith et al., 1969) (13%),

Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (Weiss, Dawis, England, & Lofquist,

1967) (17%), other validated measures (21%), and ad hoc (previously

unvalidated) measures (24%).

Results

Results of the meta-analyses relating the Big Five traits to job

satisfaction are provided in Table 1. Neuroticism (

␳

⫽⫺.29) was

the strongest correlate of job satisfaction, followed closely by

Conscientiousness (

␳

⫽.26) and Extraversion (

␳

⫽.25). Both the

confidence intervals and credibility intervals excluded zero for two

traits: Neuroticism and Extraversion. For two other traits—Con-

scientiousness and Agreeableness—the confidence intervals ex-

cluded zero, indicating that we can be confident that these average

correlations are distinguishable from zero. However, the 80%

credibility interval included zero for these traits, suggesting that

the relationship of Conscientiousness and Agreeableness with job

satisfaction does not fully generalize across studies (e.g., in about

10% of studies, the relationship between Conscientiousness and

job satisfaction was zero or negative). Finally, Openness to Expe-

rience showed a weak correlation with job satisfaction (

␳

⫽.02)

that was indistinguishable from zero.

Although not reported in Table 1, results also revealed that

sampling error and other statistical artifacts explained only a small

percentage of the variability in the correlations across studies.

Across the five traits, only 16.1% of the variability in the corre-

lations was explained by sampling error and other statistical arti-

facts (26.5% of the variability was explained using the alternative

weighting procedure described later).

In the meta-analyses, the sample sizes varied dramatically,

from 5 to 2,900. As Huffcutt, Roth, and McDaniel (1996) noted, a

concern with weighting studies by the sample size (Nweighting) in

meta-analysis is that a handful of studies may dominate the anal-

ysis. Accordingly, they developed an alternative weighting proce-

dure that assigned a weight of 1 to a study with a the sample size

was 75 or less, 2 if the sample size was between 75 and 200, and 3

if the sample size was 200 or more. We used this weighting

procedure to determine whether it would yield a different result

from N-weighted analyses. This alternative weighting procedure

did change some of the results, although not dramatically. The

results were as follows: Neuroticism,

␳

⫽⫺.31; Extraversion,

␳

⫽

.25; Openness to Experience,

␳

⫽.02; Agreeableness,

␳

⫽.19;

Conscientiousness,

␳

⫽.28. Thus, the Huffcutt et al. (1996)

weighting procedure produced similar, although slightly higher,

correlations.

As Brief (1998) noted, it is important to investigate the dispo-

sitional correlates of job satisfaction in an integrated framework.

Accordingly, we sought to determine the multivariate relationship

of the set of Big Five traits to job satisfaction. Using Hunter’s

(1992) regression program, we regressed job satisfaction on the

Big Five traits.

To form the correlation matrix that served as input

into the program, we used the meta-analytic estimates of the

relationship between the Big Five traits and job satisfaction in

Table 1 and Ones, Viswesvaran, and Reiss’s (1996) meta-analytic

estimate of the intercorrelations among the Big Five traits. The

sample size we used for the regressions was equal to the average

sample size of all studies in the analysis (Viswesvaran & Ones,

1995): 280. Given that the N-weighted analysis produced results

that were somewhat different from Huffcutt et al.’s (1996) weight-

ing procedure, we also estimated the regression using the meta-

analytic results produced from their weighting scheme.

The regression results are provided in Table 2. As is shown,

regardless of which weighting method was used, three Big Five

traits—Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Neuroticism—were

significant predictors of job satisfaction. Although these three

traits were significant regardless of the method of weighting used

to estimate the correlations, the results were slightly stronger for

the analysis using Huffcutt et al.’s (1996) weighting procedure.

Perhaps the most meaningful statistic was the strong and signifi-

cant multiple correlation (R⫽.41 in the N-weighted analysis; R⫽

.43 in the analysis using the Huffcutt et al. weighting scheme)

between the five-factor model and job satisfaction.

The regression model implicitly assumes that the causal direction of

the personality–job satisfaction relationship is from personality to job

satisfaction. Given that roughly 50% of the variance in the Big Five traits

is inherited (Jang, Livesley, & Vernon, 1996), and that any heritability in

job satisfaction is likely due to personality (Judge, 1992), this assumption

seems reasonable.

Table 1

Meta-Analysis of the Relationship of Personality to Job Satisfaction

Trait

Average 80% CV 90% CI

kN r

␳

Lower Upper Lower Upper

Neuroticism 92 24,527 ⫺.24 ⫺.29 .16 ⫺.50 ⫺.08 ⫺.33 ⫺.26

Extraversion 75 20,184 .19 .25 .15 .06 .45 .22 .29

Openness to Experience 50 15,196 .01 .02 .21 ⫺.26 .29 ⫺.05 .08

Agreeableness 38 11,856 .13 .17 .16 ⫺.03 .37 .12 .22

Conscientiousness 79 21,719 .20 .26 .22 ⫺.02 .55 .21 .31

Note. k ⫽number of correlations; N⫽combined sample size;

␳

⫽estimated true score correlation; SD

␳

⫽

standard deviation of true score correlation; CV ⫽credibility interval; CI ⫽confidence interval.

533

PERSONALITY AND JOB SATISFACTION

Moderators of the Personality–Job Satisfaction

Relationship

The moderator results by job satisfaction measure are provided

in the Appendix. As is shown in the Appendix, across the traits,

personality–job satisfaction correlations tended to be higher for

several measures, most notably the Brayfield and Rothe (1951)

measure. It also is noteworthy that the personality–job satisfaction

correlations generally were not lower for ad hoc, or previously

unvalidated, measures of job satisfaction. Table 3 provides the

results of the two methodological moderators. Direct and indirect

measures of personality did not differ much in their relation with

job satisfaction; there was a slight tendency for job satisfaction to

correlate more strongly with indirect measures (significant only in

the case of Conscientiousness). Similarly, and somewhat surpris-

ingly, personality–job satisfaction correlations did not differ much

by cross-sectional versus longitudinal research designs; only in the

case of Agreeableness was the difference significant.

Discussion

Results of this meta-analytic review suggest that the five-factor

model is a fruitful basis for examining the dispositional source of

job satisfaction. In particular, the traits of Neuroticism, Extraver-

sion, and Conscientiousness displayed moderate correlations with

job satisfaction. We are aware of no published primary studies

focusing on the relationship of the five-factor model to job atti-

tudes, much less a meta-analytic review of the relationship of the

five-factor model to job satisfaction. Thus, these results fill an

important void in the literature.

Neuroticism emerged as the strongest and most consistent cor-

relate of job satisfaction. It also is the Big Five trait that has been

studied most often in relation to job satisfaction. The validity of

Neuroticism came as no surprise to us. We also were not surprised

that Extraversion displayed nonzero relationships with job satis-

faction across studies. Emotional stability (low neuroticism) and

Extraversion are key aspects of the “happy personality”(DeNeve

& Cooper, 1998); one would expect that the factors that cause

emotionally stable and extraverted individuals to be happy in life

would also lead them to be happy in their jobs. As Tokar, Fischer,

and Subich (1998) noted in their qualitative review, “Greater job

satisfaction is related to lower neuroticism and its variants, as well

as to higher extraversion and related traits”(p. 144). Our findings

provide quantified support to this conclusion.

Although the positive effects of Conscientiousness in terms of

job performance have been clearly demonstrated (Barrick &

Mount, 1991), the potential positive effects of conscientiousness in

terms of job satisfaction have been virtually ignored in the litera-

ture (see Organ & Lingl, 1995). Our results suggest that this is an

oversight. Of the Big Five traits, Conscientiousness displayed the

second strongest correlation with job satisfaction. However, it is

important to note that the 80% credibility interval for Conscien-

tiousness (just) included zero. Of the 79 Conscientiousness corre-

lations, 9 were negative, although it should be noted that 7 of

these 9 correlations ranged from ⫺.12 to ⫺.02. Given this, and that

the average sample size for these nine correlations was relatively

small (median of 60), sampling error may explain these results.

Furthermore, the average correlation for Conscientiousness was

distinguishable from zero, as was the effect in the regression

analyses.

Finally, the other two traits—Agreeableness and Openness to

Experience—displayed relatively weak correlations with job sat-

isfaction. Although the mean Agreeableness correlation was non-

zero, the correlations were highly variable across studies; more

than one of five Agreeableness correlations were negative, and a

On an exploratory basis, we also investigated with the personality–job

satisfaction relations varied by the Holland (1985) occupational types. For

example, Conscientiousness may be related to job satisfaction most

strongly in conventional and realistic occupations (those that are practical

and require orderliness and those that require conforming behavior, respec-

tively), Openness may be most related to satisfaction in investigative

occupations (those requiring trouble shooting or creation of new knowl-

edge), and Agreeableness and Extraversion may be most related to satis-

faction in social occupations. In coding occupations based on the primary

occupational type in Holland’s (1985) RIASEC typology (only studies

based on a single occupation were coded), however, we found limited

support for these expected relations. On the one hand, Conscientiousness

was strongly related to job satisfaction in Realistic and Conventional jobs.

However, the other expected moderating effects were not supported, and

some unexpected results were observed. One explanation for these findings

is that the primary RIASEC codes, at the study level, are too gross to fully

capture vocational type.

One of the 16 (6.25%) correlations for studies using direct measures of

conscientiousness was negative (and another was zero), whereas 8 of the 63

(12.7%) correlations based on indirect measures of conscientiousness were

negative. If the .00 correlation noted previously had been ⫺.01, the

proportions would be nearly the same (12.5% vs. 12.7%).

Table 2

Regression of Job Satisfaction on Big Five Personality Traits

Trait

N-weighted correlations Huffcutt et al. (1996) weighting

␤

/RSE T

␤

/RSE T

Neuroticism ⫺.20 .06 ⫺3.38* ⫺.21 .06 ⫺3.68*

Extraversion .21 .06 3.80* .21 .06 3.80*

Openness to Experience ⫺.04 .06 0.71 ⫺.04 .06 0.75

Agreeableness .04 .06 0.61 .05 .06 0.86

Conscientiousness .20 .06 3.40* .21 .06 3.67*

Multiple R.41 .06 7.70* .43 .06 8.27*

Note.

␤

⫽standardized regression coefficient; T⫽Tvalue (

␤

/SE).

*p⬍.01.

534 JUDGE, HELLER, AND MOUNT

roughly equal number were between .00 and .10. Openness to

Experience displayed a small and highly variable correlation with

job satisfaction. Indeed, 24 of the Openness to Experience corre-

lations were negative and 26 were positive.

Given the obvious connections between job and life satisfaction

(Spector, 1997), it is worthwhile to compare our findings with

DeNeve and Cooper’s (1998) meta-analytic findings regarding the

correlations between the Big Five traits and life satisfaction (see

their Table 7, p. 210). Accordingly, we took their findings and

corrected them for measurement error.

Results of this comparison

are provided in Figure 1. As Figure 1, the results are quite similar.

Indeed, the rank-order correlation is perfect (Pearson r⫽.94). The

only area of divergence is with respect to Openness to Experience

which correlates more strongly with life satisfaction than job

satisfaction. It is unclear why this would be the case, although we

note that in DeNeve and Cooper’s meta-analysis, Openness to

Experience displayed a weaker correlation with happiness (aver-

age uncorrected r⫽.06) compared with life satisfaction (average

uncorrected r⫽.14). In general, however, the results are quite

similar, suggesting that the cognitive, affective, and behavioral

factors that lead to personality–job satisfaction relations may be

similar to those that lead to personality–life satisfaction relations.

Given the strength of the relation between job and life satisfaction

(Tait, Padgett, & Baldwin, 1989), the parallelism in the results

makes sense.

The moderator analyses, especially those by measure of job

satisfaction, did reveal variability in personality–job satisfaction

correlations. However, most of the moderators did not follow

expectations or did not reveal significant differences. In general,

the moderator results do not appear to undermine the validity in the

personality–satisfaction correlations across studies. One potential

moderator we were not able to explore is whether personality–job

satisfaction correlations varied by job satisfaction facet. Too few

studies reported facet correlations to make such an analysis prac-

ticable here. Future research investigating personality–job satis-

faction relations by facet might reveal interesting insights and

show that the traits display differential associations with job sat-

isfaction facets. For example, following the principle of correspon-

dence (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1977), it may be that traits narrower than

the Big Five better predict job satisfaction facets. Such an ap-

proach would comport with those who advocate a focus on traits

more specific than the Big Five (e.g., Schneider & Hough, 1995)

and would provide a more complicated, but perhaps also more

complete, understanding of personality–satisfaction relations.

Although the results linking the Big Five traits to job satisfac-

tion are impressive, other frameworks could explain the disposi-

tional source of job satisfaction. For example, Connolly and

Viswesvaran’s (2000) results indicate that PA and NA display

moderately strong correlations with job satisfaction. Indeed, the

correlations involving PA are stronger than those reported in this

study. However, two factors argue in favor of the five-factor

model. First, researchers have suggested that PA represents Extra-

version and NA Neuroticism in the five-factor model, thus sub-

suming PA and NA within the five-factor model (e.g., Brief, 1998;

D. Watson & Clark, 1997). Because the five-factor model contains

an additional trait that is relevant to job satisfaction (Conscien-

tiousness) than does the PA-NA typology, it may be a more useful

framework. At the very least, PA-NA would need to be supple-

mented with Conscientiousness if the maximum prediction of job

satisfaction is to be obtained. Second, PA and NA are quasidispo-

sitional in that they are assessments of mood or “affective traits”

(D. Watson, 2000, p. 15), are less stable than other dispositional

measures (Judge & Bretz, 1993), and may to some degree be

confounded with life satisfaction (Judge, Locke, Durham, &

Kluger, 1998). Nevertheless, given the empirical validity of both

frameworks, and their similarity, future integrative research is

needed.

Another framework that may also explain the personological

basis of job satisfaction is Judge, Locke, and colleagues’concept

of core self-evaluations. According to Judge and colleagues, core

As noted earlier, DeNeve and Cooper (1998) did not correct their

meta-analytic results for unreliability. As Schmidt and Hunter (1996)

indicated, it is critical that estimates be corrected for unreliability if one is

to avoid distortion in findings, meta-analytic or otherwise. Accordingly, as

in our meta-analysis, we corrected DeNeve and Cooper’s meta-analytic

estimates for unreliability in personality and life satisfaction. Reliability of

the Big Five traits was estimated using the results from a 2000 meta-

analysis (Viswesvaran & Ones, 2000). The average internal consistencies

of the Big Five traits in this meta-analysis were as follows: Neuroticism ⫽

.78; Extraversion ⫽.78; Openness ⫽.73; Agreeableness ⫽.75; Consci-

entiousness ⫽.78. To arrive at a reliability for life satisfaction, we

searched the PsycINFO literature for articles using what we believe to be

the most widely used life satisfaction measure: the Satisfaction With Life

Scale (Pavot & Diener, 1993). This search resulted in 32 correlations

contained in 27 articles. The average internal consistency reliability,

weighted by sample size, was .80. The studies used in this meta-analysis

are not listed in this article, but are available on request.

Table 3

Methodological Moderators of the Personality–Job Satisfaction Relationship

Trait

Measure of Big Five trait Research design

Direct (D) Indirect (I) Cross-sectional (CS) Longitudinal (L)

Neuroticism ⫺.27 ⫺.31 ⫺.29 ⫺.32

Extraversion .24 .27 .26 .16

Openness to Experience .02 .01 .02 ⫺.09

Agreeableness .14 .21 .18

⫺.23

Conscientiousness .17

.31

.27 .18

Note. Table entries are average correlation between Big Five traits and job satisfaction, corrected for

measurement error. Subscripts indicate significant differences in correlations. Across the cells, the number of

correlations ranged from k⫽2(n⫽221) to k⫽87 (n⫽23,888).

535

PERSONALITY AND JOB SATISFACTION

self-evaluations is a broad personality trait that is manifested in

self-esteem, locus of control, generalized self-efficacy, and (low)

neuroticism. Judge et al. (1998) showed that these four traits

loaded on the same underlying construct and that the trait was a

significant predictor of job satisfaction, even controlling for PA

and NA. At the same time, it is not clear how core self-evaluations

fits into the five-factor framework. In Judge et al.’s (1998) frame-

work, Neuroticism is subsumed within the core self-evaluation

framework. However, Neuroticism itself is a broad construct and

one of the most venerable in psychology. Thus, it is entirely

possible that the core self-evaluations traits should be cumulated

together, as argued by Judge et al., but under the concept of

Neuroticism rather than core self-evaluations. This is an issue for

future research.

Drawing from the tripartite (cognitive, affective, and behav-

ioral) categorization of attitudes (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993), the Big

Five traits may influence job satisfaction through each of these

processes. Cognitively, these traits may influence how individuals

interpret characteristics of their jobs, as is the case when individ-

uals with positive core self-evaluations interpret intrinsic job char-

acteristics more positively, even controlling for actual job com-

plexity (Judge, Bono, & Locke, 2000). Affectively, these traits

might influence job satisfaction through their effect on mood

(Costa & McCrae, 1980) or mood at work (see Brief, 1998).

Finally, behaviorally, employees who are emotionally stable, ex-

traverted, and conscientious may be happier at work because they

are more likely to achieve satisfying results at work. Part of this

effect may operate through job performance, such that conscien-

tious employees perform better and are more satisfied with their

jobs because of the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards that high per-

formance provides. In part, it may operate through situation selec-

tion, such that extraverted employees are more likely to spend time

in situations that make people happy, such as in social interactions

(Magnus et al., 1993). Given the links between personality and job

performance (Barrick & Mount, 1991) and personality and job

satisfaction presented herein, perhaps the time has come for a

framework that takes the linkages among personality, job perfor-

mance, and job satisfaction into account. Such models may involve

more proximal predictors, such as integrity, which is related to the

five-factor model (see Sackett & Wanek, 1996).

In summary, results of the current quantitative review indicate

that Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness display ap-

preciable correlations with job satisfaction, and that the five-factor

model is a fruitful basis to examine the dispositional source of job

satisfaction. In view of these results, future studies should attempt

to integrate alternative frameworks of the dispositional source of

job satisfaction and to model the psychological processes that may

explain the relationships of the traits with job satisfaction.

References

References marked with an asterisk indicate studies included in the

meta-analysis.

*Ahmad, S., & Razzack, B. (1983). A study of mental health and job

satisfaction of industrial workers. Indian Journal of Clinical Psychol-

ogy, 10, 239–244.

Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. (1977). Attitude-behavior relations: A theoretical

analysis and review of empirical research. Psychological Bulletin, 84,

888–918.

*Allison, N. L. (1984). The relationship between personality characteris-

tics and job satisfaction of selected computer programmers. Unpub-

lished doctoral dissertation, University of Missouri.

*Anand, S. P. (1977). School teachers: Job satisfaction vs. extraversion and

neuroticism. Indian Educational Review, 12, 68–78.

Arvey, R. D., Bouchard, T. J., Segal, N. L., & Abraham, L. M. (1989). Job

satisfaction: Environmental and genetic components. Journal of Applied

Psychology, 74, 187–192.

Figure 1. Comparison of validity of Big Five traits for job satisfaction and life satisfaction. (Life satisfaction

correlations are corrected for unreliability based on DeNeve and Cooper’s, 1998, uncorrected correlations: [see

Footnote 7 for explanation of corrections]. For ease of presentation, Neuroticism is labeled by its opposite pole,

Emotional Stability.) Open bars represent job satisfaction; solid bars represent life satisfaction.

536 JUDGE, HELLER, AND MOUNT

Arvey, R. D., Carter, G. W., & Buerkley, D. K. (1991). Job satisfaction:

Dispositional and situational influences. International Review of Indus-

trial and Organizational Psychology, 6, 359–383.

*Atteberry, M. G. (1977). The relationship between emotional stability and

job satisfaction of elementary school principals. Unpublished doctoral

dissertation, Arizona State University.

Barrick, M. R., & Mount, M. K. (1991). The Big Five personality dimen-

sions and job performance: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 44,

1–26.

*Beehr, T. A. (1975). Role ambiguity as a role stress: Some moderating

and intervening variables. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University

of Michigan.

*Bono, J. E., & Judge, T. A. (2000). Responses to transformational

leadership: Are some followers immune? Unpublished working paper,

University of Iowa.

*Bose, S., Roy, K. P., & Das Gupta, S. C. (1969). An attitude study of

multi-accident omnibus drivers. Indian Journal of Applied Psychol-

ogy, 6, 3–12.

*Boswell, W. R. Boudreau, J. W., & Judge, T. A. (2001). Effects of

personality on executive career success in the United States and Europe.

Journal of Vocational Behavior, 58, 53–81.

*Brayfield, A. H., & Marsh, M. M. (1957). Aptitudes, interests, and

personality characteristics of farmers. Journal of Applied Psychol-

ogy, 41, 98–103.

Brayfield, A. H., & Rothe, H. F. (1951). An index of job satisfaction.

Journal of Applied Psychology, 35, 307–311.

Brief, A. P. (1998). Attitudes in and around organizations. Thousand Oaks,

CA: Sage.

Brief, A. P., & Roberson, L. (1989). Job attitude organization: An explor-

atory study. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 19, 717–727.

*Bristow, C. L. (1985). Achievement motivation, job characteristics, and

job satisfaction: An exploratory study. Unpublished doctoral disserta-

tion, University of Iowa.

*Burroughs, S. M., & Eby, L. T. (1998). Psychological sense of commu-

nity at work: A measurement system and explanatory framework. Jour-

nal of Community Psychology, 26, 509–532.

*Callahan, S. D., & Kidd, A. H. (1986). Relationship between job satis-

faction and self-esteem in women. Psychological Reports, 59, 663–668.

*Calvi, C. J. (1993). Career implications of personal styles for job roles

and functions and job satisfaction. Unpublished doctoral dissertation,

University of Missouri.

*Capin, P. H. (1986). The effects of personality and type of job on

satisfaction with work. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of

Louisville.

Carroll, J. M., Yik, M. S. M., Russell, J. A., & Barrett, L. F. (1999). On the

psychometric principles of affect. Review of General Psychology, 3,

14–22.

*Cartwright, L. K. (1978). Career satisfaction and role harmony in a

sample of young women physicians. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 12,

184–196.

*Chusmir, L. H. (1981). Sex differences in the motivation of managers: A

look at need achievement, need affiliation, and need power. Unpublished

doctoral dissertation, University of Miami.

*Chusmir, L. H., & Hood, J. A. (1986). Relationship between Type A

behavior pattern and motivational needs. Psychological Reports, 58,

783–794.

*Coddington, T. M. (1999). The role of expectations, personality, and

spirituality in the tenure of Catholic campus ministers: A three year

study. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Kansas.

Connolly, J. J., & Viswesvaran, C. (2000). The role of affectivity in job

satisfaction: A meta-analysis. Personality and Individual Differ-

ences, 29, 265–281.

Costa, P. T., Jr., & McCrae, R. R. (1980). Influence of extraversion and

neuroticism on subjective well-being: Happy and unhappy people. Jour-

nal of Personality and Social Psychology, 38, 668–678.

Costa, P. T., Jr., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Revised NEO Personality

Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor (NEO-FFI) Inventory pro-

fessional manual. Odessa, FL: PAR.

*Cottington, E. M. (1983). Occupational stress, psychosocial modifiers,

and blood pressure in a blue-collar occupation. Unpublished doctoral

dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.

*Day, D. V., Bedeian, A. G., & Conte, J. M. (1998). Personality as

predictor of work-related outcomes: Test of a mediated latent structural

model. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 28, 2068–2088.

DeNeve, K. M., & Cooper, H. (1998). The happy personality: A meta-

analysis of 137 personality traits and subjective well-being. Psycholog-

ical Bulletin, 124, 197–229.

Digman, J. M. (1989). Five robust trait dimensions: Development, stability,

and utility. Journal of Personality, 57, 195–214.

*Dreher, G. F. (1980). Individual needs as correlates of satisfaction and

involvement with a modified Scanlon Plan company. Journal of Voca-

tional Behavior, 17, 89–94.

*Dwyer, D. J. (1990). The effect of dispositional influences on job percep-

tions, work attitudes, and nonattendance behavior. Unpublished doc-

toral dissertation, University of Nebraska.

Eagly, A. H., & Chaiken, S. (1993). The psychology of attitudes. Forth

Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

*Elovainio, M., Kivimaeki, M., Steen, N., & Kalliomaeki-Levanto, T.

(2000). Organizational and individual factors affecting mental health and

job satisfaction: A multilevel analysis of job control and personality.

Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 5, 269–277.

Emmons, R. A., Diener, E., & Larsen, R. J. (1985). Choice of situations

and congruence models of interactionism. Personality and Individual

Differences, 6, 693–702.

Ernst Kossek, E., & Ozeki, C. (1998). Work-family conflict, policies, and

the job-life satisfaction relationship: A review and directions for orga-

nizational behavior-human resources research. Journal of Applied Psy-

chology, 83, 139–149.

Eysenck, H. J., & Eysenck, S. B. G. (1968). Manual for the Eysenck

Personality Inventory. San Diego, CA: Educational and Industrial Test-

ing Service.

Feist, G. J. (1998). A meta-analysis of personality in scientific and artistic

creativity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2, 290–309.

*Fellers, R. B. (1974). Relationships between career satisfaction and

personality type for employed dieticians. Unpublished doctoral disser-

tation, University of Florida.

Fisher, V. E., & Hanna, J. V. (1931). The dissatisfied worker. New York:

Macmillan.

*Fox, S., & Spector, P. E. (1999). A model of work frustration-aggression.

Journal of Organizational Behavior, 20, 915–931.

*Francis, L. J., & Robbins, M. (1999). The relationship between person-

ality and satisfaction/dissatisfaction with ministry among female stipen-

diary Anglican clergy in the UK. Pastoral Psychology, 47, 439–444.

*Furnham, A., & Zacherl, M. (1986). Personality and job satisfaction.

Personality and Individual Differences, 7, 453–459.

*Garskof, M. S. (1985). Motivating teachers with nonfinancial incentives:

The relationships of compensatory-time jobs and the need to achieve to

the job satisfaction of high school teachers in New York City. Unpub-

lished doctoral dissertation, New York University.

*Gilleland, R. L. (1974). The relationship between the WAIS and MMPI

subscale scores and work adjustment outcomes in adult blind and

partially sighted persons. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Ohio State

University.

Goldberg, L. R. (1990). An alternative “description of personality”: The

Big-Five factor structure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychol-

ogy, 59, 1216–1229.

537

PERSONALITY AND JOB SATISFACTION

Goldberg, L. R. (1992). The development of markers for the Big-Five

factor structure. Psychological Assessment, 4, 26–42.

*Gorini, H. M. (1991). An individual’s correspondence preference as

related to work-related complaints, neuroticism, and job satisfaction.

Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois.

Gough, H. G. (1988). Manual for the California Psychological Inventory.

Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.

*Grise, J. (1973). Interactional aspects of workers’achievement needs with

trait anxiety levels and their relationships to job complexity, job tension,

job performance, job satisfaction and workers’potential. Unpublished

doctoral dissertation, University of Western Ontario.

*Gross, R. H. (1978). Moderators of the job performance-job satisfaction

relationship for research scientists. Unpublished doctoral dissertation,

University of Tennessee.

*Guerrieri, S. I. (1980). Teacher personality characteristics in selected

open and non-open elementary schools. Unpublished doctoral disserta-

tion, University of Arizona.

*Guha, T. N. (1965). Personality factors and job satisfaction among shoe

factory workers. Indian Psychological Review, 2, 59–64.

*Harbin, J. L. (1980). Managerial motivation: Some correlates of job

performance and job satisfaction. Unpublished doctoral dissertation,

University of Arkansas.

*Hart, A. L. (1989). Operating room nurses’personality profiles as re-

lated to job satisfaction. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Indiana

University.

*Hart, P. M. (1999). Predicting employee life satisfaction: A coherent

model of personality, work, and nonwork experiences, and domain

satisfactions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84, 564–584.

*Hartley, M. P. (1975). The relationship of locus of control and need

achievement to job satisfaction. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Rut-

gers University.

*Heron, A. (1955). Personality and occupational adjustment: A cross-

validation study. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 9, 15–20.

*Higashi, C. J. (1987). A correlational study of the characteristic values

and needs with work related factors among registered nurses. Unpub-

lished doctoral dissertation, University of the Pacific.

*Hodapp, V., Neuser, K. W., & Weyer, G. (1988). Job stress, emotion, and

work environment: Toward a causal model. Personality and Individual

Differences, 9, 851–859.

Holland, J. L. (1985). The self-directed search: Professional manual.

Odessa, FL: PAR.

*Hoppock, R. (1935). Job satisfaction. New York: Harper.

House, R. J., Shane, S. A., & Herold, D. M. (1996). Rumors of the death

of dispositional research are vastly exaggerated. Academy of Manage-

ment Review, 21, 203–224.

Huffcutt, A. I., Roth, P. L., & McDaniel, M. A. (1996). A meta-analytic

investigation of cognitive ability in employment interview evaluations:

Moderating characteristics and implications for incremental validity.

Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, 459–473.

Hunter, J. E. (1992). REGRESS: A multiple regression program in

BASICA. User’s manual, Department of Psychology, Michigan State

University.

Hunter, J. E., & Schmidt, F. L. (1990). Methods of meta-analysis. Newbury

Park, CA: Sage.

*Ilies, R., & Judge, T. A. (in press). Understanding the dynamic relation-

ship between personality, mood, and job satisfaction: A field experience

sampling study. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision

Processes.

*Indiresan, J. (1975). Multivariate analysis of factors affecting the job

satisfaction of engineering teachers. Indian Journal of Psychometry and

Education, 6, 16–27.

*James, L. R., & Jones, A. P. (1980). Perceived job characteristics and job

satisfaction: An examination of reciprocal causation. Personnel Psychol-

ogy, 33, 97–135.

Jang, K. L., Livesley, W. J., & Vernon, P. A. (1996). Heritability of the Big

Five personality dimensions and their facets: A twin study. Journal of

Personality, 64, 577–591.

*Janman, K., Jones, J. G., Payne, R. L., & Rick, J. T. (1988). Clustering

individuals as a way of dealing with multiple predictors in occupational

stress research. Behavioral Medicine, 14, 17–29.

*Janssen, O., de Vries, T., & Cozijnsen, A. J. (1998). Voicing by adapting

and innovating employees: An empirical study on how personality and

environment interact to affect voice behavior. Human Relations, 51,

945–967.

*Jenkins, S. R. (1987). Need for achievement and women’s careers over 14

years: Evidence for occupational structure effects. Journal of Personal-

ity and Social Psychology, 53, 922–932.

*Jex, S. M., Spector, P. E., Gudanowski, D. M., & Newman, R. A. (1991).

Relations between exercise and employee responses to work stressors: A

summary of two studies. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 6,

425–443.

*Joyce, W. F., Slocum, J. W., & von Glinow, M. A. (1982). Person ⫻

Situation interaction: Competing models of fit. Journal of Occupational

Behaviour, 3, 265–280.

Judge, T. A. (1992). The dispositional perspective in human resources

research. Research in Personnel and Human Resources Manage-

ment, 10, 31–72.

*Judge, T. A., & Bauer, T. N. (1997). Five-factor model of personality and

employee attitudes. Unpublished manuscript.

*Judge, T. A., & Bono, J. E. (1999). Job attitudes of employees at Hawkeye

Foodsystems. Unpublished technical report, University of Iowa.

*Judge, T. A., Bono, J. E., & Locke, E. A. (2000). Personality and job

satisfaction: The mediating role of job characteristics. Journal of Applied

Psychology, 85, 237–249.

Judge, T. A., & Bretz, R. D. (1993). Report on an alternative measure of

affective disposition. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 53,

1095–1104.

*Judge, T. A., Bretz, R. D., Jr., Kennedy, D. J., & Bloom, M. C. (1996).

People as sculptors versus sculpture: Test of a dispositional model of

career success. Unpublished manuscript.

*Judge, T. A., Higgins, C. A., Thoresen, C. J., & Barrick, M. R. (1999).

The Big Five personality traits, general mental ability, and career suc-

cess across the life span. Personnel Psychology, 52, 621–652.

Judge, T. A., & Locke, E. A. (1993). Effect of dysfunctional thought

processes on subjective well-being and job satisfaction. Journal of

Applied Psychology, 78, 475–490.

*Judge, T. A., Locke, E. A., Durham, C. C., & Kluger, A. N. (1998).

Dispositional effects on job and life satisfaction: The role of core

evaluations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 17–34.

*Judge, T. A., Thoresen, C. J., Pucik, V., & Welbourne, T. M. (1999).

Managerial coping with organizational change: A dispositional perspec-

tive. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84, 107–122.

*Jyothi, P. (1983). A study of achievement motivation in relation to job

satisfaction among high and low achieving working women. Managerial

Psychology, 4, 84–93.

*Keene, D. L. (1983). Personality factors related to career choice and job

satisfaction among female elementary and secondary teacher education

alumni. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Texas.

*Kemmerer, B. E. (1991). The moderating effect of personality differences

on job stress: A longitudinal investigation. Unpublished doctoral disser-

tation, University of Nebraska.

*Kennedy, D. J. (1999). On the road again: An investigation of the

situational and intentional antecedents of job relocation decisions in the

service sector. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Cornell University.

*Khoury, R. M., & Khoury, D. C. (1981). Professionalization of police: A

question of altruism. Psychological Reports, 49, 896–898.

*Kirkcaldy, B., Thome, E., & Thomas, W. (1989). Job satisfaction amongst

538 JUDGE, HELLER, AND MOUNT

psychosocial workers. Personality and Individual Differences, 10, 191–

196.

*Lair, A. J. (1986). Kansas special education administrators: Personality

factors and demographics as indicators of job satisfaction. Unpublished

doctoral dissertation, Kansas State University.

*Landsbergis, P. A., Schnall, P. L., Deitz, D., Friedman, R., & Pickering,

T. (1992). The patterning of psychological attributes and distress by “job

strain”and social support in a sample of working men. Journal of

Behavioral Medicine, 15, 379–403.

*Larocque, E. R. (1976). A comparison of need strength, need satisfaction,

and personality factors as they relate to job satisfaction in selected

occupational levels. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Georgia State

University.

*LaRussa, G. W. (1981). A personality study predicting the effectiveness

and satisfaction of Catholic priests in pastoral ministry. Unpublished

doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.

Levin, I., & Stokes, J. P. (1989). Dispositional approach to job satisfaction:

Role of negative affectivity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74, 752–

758.

*Little, W. G. (1972). Relationships between certain personality charac-

teristics of post-secondary distributive education personnel and job

satisfaction. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota.

*Long, B. C. (1993). Coping strategies of male managers: A prospective

analysis of predictors of psychosomatic symptoms and job satisfaction.

Journal of Vocational Behavior, 42, 184–199.

*Lucas, R. T. (1991). Personality and situational differences between

more- and less-satisfied ministers in the American Baptist Churches of

Indiana, and those who have left pastoral ministry. Unpublished doc-

toral dissertation, Indiana University.

*Lusch, R. F., & Serpkenci, R. R. (1990). Personal differences, job tension,

job outcomes, and store performance: A study of retail store managers.

Journal of Marketing, 54, 85–101.

Magnus, K., Diener, E., Fujita, F., & Pavot, W. (1993). Extraversion and

neuroticism as predictors of objective life events: A longitudinal anal-

ysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 1046–1053.

*Manlove, E. E. (1993). Multiple predictors of burnout in child care

workers. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Pennsylvania State

University.

*Mannheim, B., Baruch, Y., & Tal, J. (1997). Alternative models for

antecedents and outcomes of work centrality and job satisfaction of

high-tech personnel. Human Relations, 50, 1537–1562.

Matt, G. E., & Cook, T. D. (1994). Threats to the validity of research

syntheses. In H. Cooper & L. V. Hedges (Eds.), The handbook of

research synthesis (pp. 503–520). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

*Mauldin, P. B. (1973). Selected personality characteristics and job sat-

isfaction in experienced elementary and secondary teachers. Unpub-

lished doctoral dissertation, University of Alabama.

McCrae, R. R. (1996). Social consequences of experiential openness.

Psychological Bulletin, 120, 323–337.

McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T., Jr. (1991). Adding liebe und arbeit: The full

five-factor model and well-being. Personality and Social Psychology

Bulletin, 17, 227–232.

McCrae, R. R., & John, O. P. (1992). An introduction to the five-factor

model and its applications. Journal of Personality, 2, 175–215.

*Medcof, J. W., & Wegener, J. G. (1992). Work technology and the needs

for achievement and nurturance among nurses. Journal of Organiza-

tional Behavior, 13, 413–423.

*Melamed, S., Meir, E. I., & Samson, A. (1995). The benefits of

personality-leisure congruence: Evidence and implications. Journal of

Leisure Research, 27, 25–40.

*Miller, R. L., Griffin, M. A., & Hart, P. M. (1999). Personality and

organizational health: The role of conscientiousness. Work & Stress, 13,

7–19.

*Mohan, J., & Bali, S. (1988). A study of job-satisfaction of doctors in

relation to their personality, values and self-esteem. Journal of Person-

ality and Clinical Studies, 4, 63–68.

*Molitor, D. D. (1998). An examination of the effects of personality and job

satisfaction on multiple non-workrole organizational behaviors. Unpub-

lished doctoral dissertation, Iowa State University.

*Monsour, D. K. (1987). Student teacher effectiveness and job satisfaction:

An analysis of personality and cognitive variables in relation to perfor-

mance. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Indiana University.

*Mount, M. K., Harter, J. K., Barrick, M. R., & Colbert, A. (2000, August).

Does job satisfaction moderate the relationship between conscientious-

ness and job performance? Paper presented at the annual meeting of the

Academy of Management, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

*Moyle, P., & Parkes, K. (1999). The effects of transition stress: A

relocation study. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 20, 625–646.

*Muthayya, B. C., & Gnanakannan, I. (1973). Developmental personnel: A

psycho-social study across three states in India. Hyderabad, India:

National Institute of Community Development.

*Nagarathnamma, B. (1988). Job satisfaction as a function of locus of

control and neuroticism. Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied

Psychology, 14, 12–15.

Necowitz, L. B., & Roznowski, M. (1994): Negative affectivity and job

satisfaction: Cognitive processes underlying the relationship and effects

on employee behaviors. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 45, 270–294.

*Nelson, A., Cooper, C. L., & Jackson, P. R. (1995). Uncertainty amidst

change: The impact of privatization on employee job satisfaction and

well-being. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychol-

ogy, 68, 57–71.

*Newsome, E. T. (1976). A study of relationships between job satisfaction

and personality needs of college student volunteers at Indiana State

University. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Indiana State University.

*Nonis, S. A. (1992). Factors associated with salespersons’use of influ-

ence tactics and their outcomes: An exploratory study. Unpublished

doctoral dissertation, University of North Texas.

*Olson, H., Jr. (1967). Relationships between certain personality charac-

teristics of distributive education teacher-coordinators and job satisfac-

tion. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota.

Ones, D. S., Viswesvaran, C., & Reiss, A. D. (1996). Role of social

desirability in personality testing for personnel selection: The red her-

ring. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, 660–679.

Organ, D. W., & Lingl, A. (1995). Personality, satisfaction, and organiza-

tional citizenship behavior. Journal of Social Psychology, 135, 339–350.

*Orpen, C. (1985). The effects of need for achievement and need for

independence on the relationship between perceived job attributes and

managerial satisfaction and performance. International Journal of Psy-

chology, 20, 207–219.

*Pandey, A. K., & Prakash, P. (1984). A study on relationship between

achievement motivation and satisfaction of industrial employees. Indian

Psychologist, 3, 104–110.

*Parasuraman, S., & Alutto, J. A. (1984). Sources and outcomes of stress

in organizational settings: Toward the development of a structural

model. Academy of Management Journal, 27, 330–350.

*Parker, B., & Chusmir, L. H. (1991). Motivation needs and their rela-

tionship to life success. Human Relations, 44, 1301–1312.

*Parker, L. J. (1993). The relationship between personality factors and job

satisfaction in public school band directors. Unpublished doctoral dis-

sertation, University of Kansas.

*Pavia, E. S. (1985). Differences between new and established industrial

workers: An interactional model. Unpublished doctoral dissertation,

Texas Christian University.

Pavot, W., & Diener, E. (1993). Review of the Satisfaction With Life

Scale. Psychological Assessment, 5, 164–172.

*Perone, M., DeWaard, R. J., & Baron, A. (1979). Satisfaction with real

and simulated jobs in relation to personality variables and drug use.

Journal of Applied Psychology, 64, 660–668.

539

PERSONALITY AND JOB SATISFACTION

*Peterson, M. F. (1983). Co-workers and hospital staff’s work attitudes:

Individual difference moderators. Nursing Research, 32, 115–121.

*Pinder, C. C. (1977). Multiple predictors of post-transfer satisfaction: The

role of urban factors. Personnel Psychology, 30, 543–556.

*Porwal, N. K. (1987). A comparative study of the personality of the job

satisfied and the job dissatisfied teachers as measured by factors A, C, E,

H, L, and Q

of 16-PF. Asian Journal of Psychology & Education, 19,

27–31.

*Porwal, N. K., & Sharma, S. C. (1985). Job satisfaction and emotional

stability. Indian Psychological Review, 28, 1–4.

*Richard, L. R. (1994). Psychological type and job satisfaction among

practicing lawyers in the United States. Unpublished doctoral disserta-

tion, Temple University.

*Roberts, S. W. (1987). The effects of anxiety and selected personality

characteristics on job satisfaction among Utah paramedics. Unpub-

lished doctoral dissertation, Brigham Young University.

*Romero, J. D. (1975). Personality factors and job satisfaction among

rural health care employees. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Univer-

sity of New Mexico.

*Runco, M. A. (1995). The creativity and job satisfaction of artists in

organizations. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 13, 39–45.

Russell, J. A., & Carroll, J. M. (1999a). On the bipolarity of positive and

negative affect. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 3–30.

Russell, J. A., & Carroll, J. M. (1999b). The phoenix of bipolarity: Reply

to Watson and Tellegen (1999). Psychological Bulletin, 125, 611–617.

Sackett, P. R., & Wanek, J. E. (1996). New developments in the use of

measures of honesty, integrity, conscientiousness, dependability, trust-

worthiness, and reliability for personnel selection. Personnel Psychol-

ogy, 49, 787–829.

*Schaubroeck, J., Ganster, D. C., & Kemmerer, B. (1996). Does trait affect

promote job attitude stability? Journal of Organizational Behavior, 17,

191–196.

Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1996). Measurement error in psychological

research: Lessons from 26 research scenarios. Psychological Methods, 1,

199–223.

Schneider, R. J., & Hough, L. M. (1995). Personality and industrial/

organizational psychology. International Review of Industrial and Or-

ganizational Psychology, 10, 77–129.

*Schwartz, G. R. (1984). Determinants of job satisfaction for exempt and

non-exempt employees. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Illinois Insti-

tute of Technology.

*Sharma, S., & Moudgil, A. C. (1986). Job satisfaction vs. n-achievement.

Indian Journal of Clinical Psychology, 13, 203–208.

*Sheinfeld, D. Z. (1983). Civil liberties climate in work organizations and

its relationship with job and work attitudes. Unpublished doctoral dis-

sertation, Stevens Institute of Technology.

*Shrivastava, G. P. (1978). A study of some determinants of job satisfac-

tion among underground and ground colliery workers. Indian Journal of

Industrial Relations, 14, 131–140.

*Slocum, J. W., Miller, J. D., & Misshank, M. J. (1970). Needs, environ-

mental work satisfaction and job performance. Training and Develop-

ment Journal, 24, 12–15.

*Smith, C. A. (1983). Job satisfaction, workplace environment, and per-

sonality traits as sources of influence on helping behaviors: A social

exchange perspective. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Indiana

University.

*Smith, C. A., Organ, D. W., & Near, J. P. (1983). Organizational citi-

zenship behavior: Its nature and antecedents. Journal of Applied Psy-

chology, 68, 653–663.

Smith, P. C. (1955). The prediction of individual differences in suscepti-

bility to industrial monotony. Journal of Applied Psychology, 39, 322–

329.

Smith, P. C., Kendall, L. M., & Hulin, C. L. (1969). The measurement of

satisfaction in work and retirement. Chicago: Rand McNally.

Smith, T. W., Pope, M. K., Rhodewalt, F., & Poulton, J. L. (1989).

Optimism, neuroticism, coping, and symptom reports: An alternative

interpretation of the Life Orientation Test. Journal of Personality and

Social Psychology, 56, 640–648.

*Sondhi, M., & Bhardwaj, G. (1987). The psychology of hierarchy: A

macro level analysis in large scale paper industry. Indian Psychological

Review, 32, 1–9.

*Soyer, R. B., Rovenpor, J. L., & Kopelman, R. E. (1999). Narcissism and

achievement motivation as related to three facets of the sales role:

Attraction, satisfaction and performance. Journal of Business & Psy-

chology, 14, 285–304.

Spector, P. E. (1997). Job satisfaction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

*Srivastava, S. K. (1985). A comparative study of job satisfaction among

private and public sector employees with special reference to achieve-

ment motivation. Indian Journal of Applied Psychology, 22, 10–15.

*Srivastava, S. K. (1986). To measure the level of job satisfaction in

technical and non-technical employees with special reference to differ-

ent personality characteristics in public sectors. Indian Journal of Ap-

plied Psychology, 23, 1–5.

Staw, B. M., Bell, N. E., & Clausen, J. A. (1986). The dispositional

approach to job attitudes: A lifetime longitudinal test. Administrative

Science Quarterly, 31, 56–77.

Staw, B. M., & Ross, J. (1985). Stability in the midst of change: A

dispositional approach to job attitudes. Journal of Applied Psychol-

ogy, 70, 469–480.

*Steers, R. M. (1975). Effects of need for achievement on the job perfor-

mance-job attitude relationship. Journal of Applied Psychology, 60,

678–682.

*Stein, J. A., Smith, G. M., Guy, S. M., & Bentler, P. M. (1993).

Consequences of adolescent drug use on young adult job behavior and

job satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 463–474.

*Sterns, L., Alexander, R. A., Barrett, G. V., & Dambrot, F. H. (1983). The

relationship of extraversion and neuroticism with job preferences and

job satisfaction for clerical employees. Journal of Occupational Psy-

chology, 56, 145–153.

*Stone, E. F., Mowday, R. T., & Porter, L. W. (1977). Higher order need

strengths as moderators of the job scope-job satisfaction relationship.

Journal of Applied Psychology, 62, 466–471.

*Struempfer, D. J. W. (1997). The relation between religious motivation

and work-related variables amongst agricultural workers. South African

Journal of Psychology, 27, 134–142.

Tait, M., Padgett, M. Y., & Baldwin, T. T. (1989). Job and life satisfaction:

A reevaluation of the strength of the relationship and gender effects as

a function of the date of the study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74,

502–507.

*Takahashi, K. (1999). [Job satisfaction of medical sales representatives in

Japan]. Unpublished raw data.

*Tang, T. L. P., & Ibrahim, A. H. S. (1998). Antecedents of organizational

citizenship behavior revisited: Public personnel in the United States and

in the Middle East. Public Personnel Management, 27, 529–550.

*Tejagupta, Y. (1987). The relationship between early childhood teacher

personality and job satisfaction. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Illi-

nois State University.

*Terry, D. J., Neilsen, M., & Perchard, L. (1993). Effects of work stress on

psychological well-being and job satisfaction: The stress-buffering role

of social support. Australian Journal of Psychology, 45, 168–175.

*Thoresen, C. J. (2000). Antecedents and consequences of coping with

setbacks at work: A theory-driven framework. Unpublished doctoral

dissertation, University of Iowa.

Tokar, D. M., Fischer, A. R., & Subich, L. M. (1998). Personality and

vocational behavior: A selected review of the literature, 1993–1997.

Journal of Vocational Behavior, 53, 115–153.

*Tokar, D. M., & Subich, L. M. (1997). Relative contributions of congru-

540 JUDGE, HELLER, AND MOUNT

ence and personality dimensions to job satisfaction. Journal of Voca-

tional Behavior, 50, 482–491.

*Tregaskis, W. F. (1987). Job satisfaction and health. Unpublished doc-

toral dissertation, Ball State University.

Vinchur, A. J., Schippmann, J. S., Switzer, F. S. III, & Roth, P. L. (1998).

A meta-analytic review of predictors of job performance for salespeople.

Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 586–597.

Viswesvaran, C., & Ones, D. S. (1995). Theory testing: Combining psy-

chometric meta-analysis and structural equations modeling. Personnel

Psychology, 48, 865–885.

Viswesvaran, C., & Ones, D. S. (2000). Measurement error in “Big Five

factors”personality assessment: Reliability generalization across studies

and measures. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 60, 224–

235.

*Wallace-Barnhill, G. L. (1982). Comparison of intensive care unit nurses,

non-intensive care unit nurses and non-nursing personnel with regard to

personality variables and job satisfaction. Unpublished doctoral disser-

tation, University of Maryland.

*Wanberg, C. R., Carmichael, H. D., & Downey, R. G. (1999). Satisfaction

at last job and unemployment: A new look. Journal of Organizational

Behavior, 20, 121–131.

Wanous, J. P., Reichers, A. E., & Hudy, M. J. (1997). Overall job

satisfaction: How good are single-item measures? Journal of Applied

Psychology, 82, 247–252.

Watson, D. (2000). Mood and temperament. New York: Guilford Press.

Watson, D., & Clark, L. A. (1997). Extraversion and its positive emotional

core. In R. Hogan, J. A. Johnson, & S. R. Briggs (Eds.), Handbook of

personality psychology (pp. 767–793). San Diego: Academic Press.

Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and

validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The

PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54,

1063–1070.

Watson, D., & Tellegen, A. (1999). Issues in dimensional structure of

affect—Effects of descriptors, measurement error, and response formats:

Comment on Russell and Carroll (1999). Psychological Bulletin, 125,

601–610.

*Watson, G. T. (1976). The relationship of selected personal characteris-

tics of counselors to job satisfaction. Unpublished doctoral dissertation,

Texas A&M University.

*Weiss, D. J. (1968). A study of the relationship of participation in

decision-making selected personality variables and job satisfaction of

the educational research and development council elementary school

principals. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota.

Weiss, D. J. Dawis, R. V. England, G. W., & Lofquist, L. H. (1967).

Manual for the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire. Minneapolis:

Industrial Relations Center, University of Minnesota.

Weitz, J. (1952). A neglected concept in the study of job satisfaction.

Personnel Psychology, 5, 201–205.

*Wong, C., Tam, K., Fung, M., & Wan, K. (1993). Differences between

odd and even number of response scale: Some empirical evidence.

Chinese Journal of Psychology, 35, 75–86.

*Woodworth, D. G. (1964). Job-satisfaction and personality: A study of

research scientists. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of

California, Berkeley.

*Yasin, M. M. (1996). Entrepreneurial effectiveness and achievement in

Arab culture: New evidence to rekindle interest in an old predictor.

Journal of Business Research, 35, 69–77.

*Yasin, M. M. (1987). Assessing managerial, technical, and academic

motivation in the Arab culture: The relationships of needs for achieve-

ment, affiliation and power with effectiveness. Unpublished doctoral

dissertation, Clemson University.

Zuckerman, M., Joireman, J., Kraft, M., & Kuhlman, D. M. (1999).

Where do motivational and emotional traits fit within three factor

models of personality? Personality and Individual Differences, 26,

487–504.

Received November 14, 2000

Revision received September 25, 2001

Accepted September 28, 2001 䡲

Appendix

Personality–Job Satisfaction Correlations by Measure of Job Satisfaction

Big Five trait

Brayfield &

Rothe measure

(1)

Hoppock Job

Satisfaction

Blank (2) Job Descriptive

Index (3)

Minnesota

Satisfaction

Questionnaire

(4)

Other

previously

validated

(5)

Ad hoc

measure

(6)

Neuroticism ⫺.36

4,5

⫺.56 ⫺.30 ⫺.26

⫺.26

⫺.30

Extraversion .37

4,5,6

.33 .24 .23

.21

.25

Openness to Experience ⫺.01 .02 .06 .13

⫺.01

.02

Agreeableness .31

2,5,6

.13

.22 .19 .15

⫺.02

Conscientiousness .38

3,5,6

.45 .20

.30 .19

.23

Note. Table entries are meta-analytic estimates of the average true score correlation (

␳

) between Big Five traits and job satisfaction, corrected for

measurement error. Subscripts indicate significant differences in correlations. Across the cells, the number of correlations ranged from k⫽4(n⫽441)

to k⫽26 (n⫽4,959).

541

PERSONALITY AND JOB SATISFACTION

Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment and Personality Traits: A relationship Study

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2011

The present study had two main objectives; first, to discover the relationships between job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and personality traits among employees of AW (Air Weapon Complex), Second, to find out the age, salary, marital status, and education differences on job satisfaction and organizational commitment of employees. In present study three instrument; Job Satisfaction Scale JSS (Macdonald & Maclntyre, 1997), Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) (Mowday, Steer, & Porter, 197), and Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) (Rentfrow, Gosling & Swann, 2003); were administered to a sample of (N=100) along with demographic sheet. Results of the study revealed significant positive correlation between job satisfaction and organizational commitment of employees; significant negative association of neuroticism with job satisfaction and organizational commitment; extroversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness showed significant positive correlation with job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Findings of the study also showed significant age, education, salary, and marital status differences on job satisfaction and organizational commitment as all these demographic variables were positive correlates of job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

Explore the Relationship between Personality (e.g. Big Five Personality Traits) and Job Performance, Leadership or Career Success

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2024

This study deals with how personality traits, including conscientiousness, extraversion, and emotional stability, play a role in job performance, leadership effectiveness, and career success. The methodology has been the carefully designed survey of employees from various sectors in Punjab, Pakistan, including professionals at different stages of their careers and leaders. All types of professionals were well represented through drawing the population from education, healthcare business, and government sectors. The stratified random sampling method was employed to generate a sample size that would ensure enough representation from each of the subgroups, which are divided by the job role, industry, and experience. The gathered data were subjected to an analysis using various statistical tools, such as regression analysis, t-tests, and ANOVA. Conscientiousness in relation to job performance was examined via regression analysis. Leadership efficacy between extraverts and non-extraverts was measured using the t-tests. ANOVA was employed to examine the differences in career success among individuals exhibiting varying levels of emotional stability. Ethical considerations were meticulously adhered to, guaranteeing participant consent, privacy, and the right to withdraw at any stage of the study. The findings indicated that conscientiousness served as a positive predictor of job performance, while extraversion was correlated with enhanced leadership effectiveness, and emotional stability was significantly related to career success. These findings stress the relevance of personality traits in shaping professional results. The results indicate that personality assessments should be integrated into recruitment, leadership development, and career counseling practices.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JOB SATISFACTION AND PERSONALITY TRAIT AMONG BANK EMPLOYEES

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2013

Purpose of the current study is to discover the relationship between rating on annual progress reports and job satisfaction; between personality traits and job satisfaction among Banks employees; and to explore age, gender salary, marital status, and education differences on job satisfaction. Data were collected from 500 employees of five major banks of Pakistan (Allaied Bank, Alfalah Bank, Al-Habeeb Bank, Al-Islamic Bank, and National Bank, taking annual progress reports, personal information sheets, and scores on Job Satisfaction Scale (Macdonald & Maclntyre, 1997) and Ten Item Personality Inventory (Rentfrow, Gosling & Swann, 2003) of employees. Rating on annual progress reports has significant positive correlation with job satisfaction; Neuroticism has significant negative while extroversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness have significant positive correlation with job satisfaction; age, education, salary, and marital status have significant positive correlation with job satisfaction; and women are more satisfied with their jobs than men.

Equally vs. unequally keyed blocks in forced-choice questionnaires: Implications on validity and reliability

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2024
J PERS ASSESS

Forced-choice (FC) questionnaires have gained scientific interest over the last decades. However, the inclusion of unequally keyed item pairs in FC questionnaires remains a subject of debate, as there is evidence supporting both their usage and avoidance. Designing unequally keyed pairs may be more difficult when considering social desirability, as they might allow the identification of ideal responses. Nevertheless, they may enhance the reliability and the potential for normative interpretation of scores. To empirically investigate this topic, data were collected from 1,125 undergraduate Psychology students who completed a personality item pool measuring the Big Five personality traits in Likert-type format and two FC questionnaires (with and without unequally keyed pairs). These questionnaires were compared in terms of reliability, convergent and criterion validity, and ipsativity of the scores, along with insights on the construction process. While constructing questionnaires with unequally keyed blocks presented challenges in matching items on their social desirability, the differences observed in terms of reliability, validity, or ipsativity were sporadic and lacked systematic patterns. This suggests that neither questionnaire format exhibited a clear superiority. Given these results, it is recommended using only equally keyed blocks to minimize potential validity issues associated with response biases.

PERSONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL CORRELATES OF ORGANIZATIONAL INCIVILITY, ORGANIZATIONAL CYNICISM AND PERSONALITY-A LITERATURE REVIEW

Article

Nov 2024

Global Journal of Arts Humanity and Social Sciences Modern generations and challenges in psychological analysis and human resource management BY Article History

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2024

Veronika Grimberger

In terms of management understanding, employee behavior and attitudes have a serious impact on the potential of human resources, in terms of activity and efficiency, of an organization. It is of utmost importance to recognize people before hand and determine a relationship between their personalities and organizational behavior in terms of organizational development. This paper is primarily concerned with the assumption that the findings of psychological studies and neuroscience on human motivation can have a positive impact on the change processes of a company. The aim is to highlight the psychological findings and methods used in personnel development measures, taking psychological studies and neuroscientific research into account.

The role of personality, empathy, and the perception of the instructor's caring on nursing students' burnout: A cross-sectional study

Article

Oct 2024
APPL NURS RES

The Impact of Individual Differences on Job Performance and Mental Health Among Accountants

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2024

Zülküf Çevik

Research is limited on the relationship between accountants' personality traits and their work-related attitudes, behaviors, and self-perception. Therefore, this study examines the effects of accountants' personality traits on job performance and mental health. The study examined individual variations in general self-efficacy, self-esteem, and “the Big Five personality traits, including openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.” 192 accountants working in the Sakarya and Kocaeli regions participated in the study through online surveys. The findings indicate that positive personality traits, such as agreeableness and extraversion, have beneficial effects on both job performance and mental health. Additionally, self-esteem and self-efficacy were positively correlated with these variables. Conversely, neuroticism was identified as having a negative impact on both mental health and job performance. These results highlight the importance of assessing personality traits before hiring accountants. Neuroticism may increase the likelihood of experiencing difficulties in the accounting profession. Therefore, it is crucial to consider personality traits in the recruitment processes of accounting professionals.

Job Satisfaction, Motivation and Performance

Chapter

Feb 2024

Nathan Bowling

The role of employee personality in employee satisfaction and turnover: insights from online employee reviews

Article

Feb 2024
PERS REV

Purpose Online employee reviews have emerged as a crucial information source for business managers to evaluate employee behavior and firm performance. The purpose of this paper is to test the relationship between employee personality traits, derived from online employee reviews and job satisfaction and turnover behavior at the individual level. Design/methodology/approach The authors apply text-mining techniques to extract personality traits from online employee reviews on Indeed.com based on the Big Five theory. They also apply a machine learning classification algorithm to demonstrate that incorporating personality traits can significantly enhance employee turnover prediction accuracy. Findings Personality traits such as agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness are positively associated with job satisfaction, while extraversion and neuroticism are negatively related to job satisfaction. Moreover, the impact of personality traits on overall job satisfaction is stronger for former employees than for current employees. Personality traits are significantly linked to employee turnover behavior, with a one-unit increase in the neuroticism score raising the probability of an employee becoming a former employee by 0.6%. Practical implications These findings have implications for firm managers looking to gain insights into employee online review behavior and improve firm performance. Online employee review websites are recommended to include the identified personality traits. Originality/value This study identifies employee personality traits from automated analysis of employee-generated data and verifies their relationship with employee satisfaction and employee turnover, providing new insights into the development of human resources in the era of big data.

Measurement error in psychological research: Lessons from 26 research scenarios

Article

Full-text available

Jun 1996
PSYCHOL METHODS

As research in psychology becomes more sophisticated and more oriented toward the development and testing of theory, it becomes more important to eliminate biases in data caused by measurement error. Both failure to correct for biases induced by measurement error and improper corrections can lead to erroneous conclusions that retard progress toward cumulative knowledge. Corrections for attenuation due to measurement error are common in the literature today and are becoming more common, yet errors are frequently made in this process. Technical psychometric presentations of abstract measurement theory principles have proved inadequte in improving the practices of working researchers. As an alternative, this article uses realistic research scenarios (cases) to illustrate and explain appropriate and inappropriate instances of correction for measurement error in commonly occurring research situations.

???An Index of Job Satisfaction.???

Article

Feb 1954

A model of work frustration–aggression

Article

Nov 1999
J ORGAN BEHAV

The current study was designed to investigate the situational, dispositional, and affective antecedents of counterproductive work behaviors. A model based on the organizational frustration–aggression work of Spector and colleagues was tested using structural equation modeling and zero-order correlational analysis. As expected, a positive relationship was found between employees' experience of situational constraints (events frustrating their achievement of organizational and personal goals) and counterproductive behavioral responses to frustration (personal and organizational aggression), mediated by affective reactions to frustration. In addition, personality (trait anger and trait anxiety), control beliefs (Work Locus of Control), and estimation of likelihood of punishment were strongly associated with affective and behavioral responses. In particular, strong direct relationships were found between affective response variables and anxiety and locus of control, while direct relationships were found between behavioral response variables and anger and punishment. Finally, differentiated relationships between two facets of trait anger (angry temperament and angry reaction) and four categories of counterproductive behaviors (serious and minor deviance directed at organizational and personal targets) were explored. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Personality and vocational behavior: A selective review of the literature

Article

Jan 1998

JOB SATISFACTION

Article

May 1951

EFFECTS OF NEED FOR ACHIEVEMENT ON JOB PERFORMANCE JOB ATTITUDE RELATIONSHIP

Article

Jan 1975

RM STEERS

Predicting employee life satisfaction: A coherent model of personality, work and nonwork experiences, and domain satisfactions

Article

Aug 1999

Peter M. Hart

This study examined a theoretical model that linked neuroticism, extraversion, daily hassles and uplifts in bath work and nonwork domains, job satisfaction, and nonwork satisfaction to overall life satisfaction. Structural equation analyses were conducted on 3 waves of data obtained from 479 police officers. It was found that job satisfaction and nonwork satisfaction made independent contributions to overall life satisfaction, but there was no significant relationship between work experiences and nonwork satisfaction, nor between nonwork experiences and job satisfaction. These findings support a segregation model rather than a spillover model of the links between the work and nonwork domains of employees' lives. Moreover, the total effects showed that life satisfaction was determined, in order of importance, by nonwork satisfaction, neuroticism, nonwork hassles, job satisfaction, nonwork uplifts, extraversion, work hassles, and work uplifts.

The effect of dispositional influences on job perceptions, work attitudes, and nonattendance behavior

Article

Jan 1989

Deborah Jean Dwyer

Recently, several researchers have argued that previous work in organizational science has underestimated the contributions made by dispositional factors to the prediction of important job outcomes, and have proposed that an individual's behavior is co-determined by characteristics of the individual in a dynamic interplay with the situation.^ The present study examined the roles that dispositions play in the prediction of various salient organizational outcomes, such as facets of work satisfaction and nonattendance behaviors. The basic research question addressed the effects of particular dispositional factors (i.e., Negative and Positive Affectivity, Time Orientation and Self-monitoring) in their relationships with (1) perceptions of job demands, job complexity and control, (2) job satisfaction, and (3) tardiness and absence behaviors.^ Questionnaire responses were received from 115 blue-collar workers employed at a medium-sized, midwestern manufacturing plant. These data measured dispositions, perceptions and attitudes. Objective measures assessed job demands and attendance. Path analyses, using hierarchical multiple regressions, were used to assess the direct and indirect relationships.^ The findings showed that individuals who perceive that their jobs are high in psychological demands, who view themselves as having low control over those jobs, who have a diffused-point time orientation, and who are dissatisfied with their supervisors were more likely to have greater tardiness behavior. Persons who took voluntary absences, on the other hand, had less physically demanding jobs, perceived themselves to have greater control at work, and were generally satisfied with their pay, but dissatisfied with their supervisors and coworkers. Further, individuals scoring high in Negative Affectivity, but low in Self-monitoring, were likely to be absent due to ill health.^ Conclusions reached in this study included the following: (1) there may be health implications for high-Negative Affectivity and low Self-monitoring individuals when they do not have control and well-liked coworkers and supervisors at work, (2) a distinction between nonattendance behaviors is both practically and theoretically important for practicing managers, and (3) dispositional influences are an important component to understanding and predicting behavior in an organizational context.

A meta-analytic review of predictors of job performance for salespeople

Article

Aug 1998

This meta-analysis evaluated predictors of both objective and subjective sales performance. Biodata measures and sales ability inventories were good predictors of the ratings criterion, with corrected rs of .52 and .45, respectively. Potency (a subdimension of the Big 5 personality dimension Extraversion) predicted supervisor ratings of performance (r =.28) and objective measures of sales (r =.26). Achievement (a component of the Conscientiousness dimension) predicted ratings (r =.25) and objective sales (r=.41). General cognitive ability showed a correlation of .40 with ratings but only .04 with objective sales. Similarly, age predicted ratings (r =.26) but not objective sales (r = -.06). On the basis of a small number of studies, interest appears to be a promising predictor of sales success.

“Sources and Outcomes of Stress in Organizational Settings: Toward the Development of a Structural Model.”

Article

Jun 1984

Five-Factor Model of Personality and Job Satisfaction: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract and Figures

Recommended publications

Breaking barriers in brain research

Building on a century of hydroscience research

Iowa dives into the future of water research

Leading writing faculty make the difference at Iowa

Five-Factor Model of Personality and Job Satisfaction: A Meta-Analysis

The Confounding Role of Personality and Trait Affectivity in the Relationship Between Job and Life S...

The FFM personality dimensions and job performance: Meta-analysis of meta-analyses

Five-Factor Model of Personality and Transformational Leadership