The Complexities of Demographic Properties, Personality Differences and Incentives: A Review of Literature

Abstract

This paper undertakes a review of literature for two major reasons namely to critically examine the complex interrelationship of personality, demography and incentives; and to describe how personality traits and demographic properties shape ones perception of incentive elements which result in high or low levels of job satisfaction. Two significant managerial and organisational behaviour implications emerge, which stress the urgency of a continuous engagement of these concepts – personality, demography and incentive – in order for firms to be better placed to structure their incentive plans accordingly for reasons of organisational effectiveness.

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© Kamla-Raj 2013 J Soc Sci, 36(2): 137-151 (2013)
The Complexities of Demographic Properties, Personality
Differences and Incentives: A Review of Literature
Chux Gervase Iwu
Faculty of Business, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa
E-mail: iwuc@cput.ac.za or chuxiwu@gmail.com
KEYWORDS Demographic Properties. Personality Differences. Incentives. Job Satisfaction
ABSTRACT This paper undertakes a review of literature for two major reasons namely to critically examine the
complex interrelationship of personality, demography and incentives; and to describe how personality traits and
demographic properties shape ones perception of incentive elements which result in high or low levels of job
satisfaction. Two significant managerial and organisational behaviour implications emerge, which stress the urgency
of a continuous engagement of these concepts – personality, demography and incentive – in order for firms to be
better placed to structure their incentive plans accordingly for reasons of organisational effectiveness.
INTRODUCTION
Reading through Ken Costa’s (2008) God at
Work, it was interesting to learn that the issue of
cash exchange for ‘stay at home’ during holi-
days was not exclusive to organisational behav-
iour researchers. Costa had referred to a conver-
sation he had with the owner of a large multina-
tional French-based spirit company who said he
offered his employees the opportunity to ex-
change the notoriously long French holidays
for a lump sum in cash. While those in their for-
ties accepted the offer at once, those in their
twenties rejected it. What came out clearly in
Costa’s narrative was that the younger genera-
tion was increasingly seeking a lifestyle that
balances life in the workplace with that which is
outside it. However, beyond this was also the
emphasis on the role of individual difference,
which according to Evans (2001) calls for atten-
tion by organisations because of the common
tendency to make crude and simplistic generali-
sations of individual differences. Employees
seem to respond differently to workplace incen-
tives (Pillay 2009: 7) as a result of their own indi-
vidual experiences, demographic properties, per-
sonality, as well as physical, psychosocial, emo-
tional and economic factors (De Beer et al. 2007;
George et al. 2008). A worker may be unhappy
with his wages, promotional opportunities, and
fringe benefits, but be satisfied with his envi-
ronmental conditions, co-worker behaviour and
supervision. In short, an individual typically
experiences different incentive elements across
different sectors and situations (Spector 2003).
In her analysis of staff turnover rates in the op-
tometric industry, Slabbert (2008) even noted that
reasons for wanting to stay or leave an optom-
etric practice differed from person to person.
Considering the varied results achieved by nu-
merous studies, it is safe to assert that humans
differ in their expectations, values and rewards
(Evans 2001), thus requiring organisations to
tailor incentives suitably.
Problem Statement
Costa’s (2008) narrative extends the impact
of personality and demography on employees’
response to incentives. While the concepts of
personality and demography have been the fo-
cus of several empirical examinations, their com-
plex relationship to incentives has received little
attention.
Research Objectives
The paper therefore aims:
· To critically review the complex interrelation-
ship between personality, demography and
incentives.
· To describe, on the basis of reviewed litera-
ture, the extent at which personality traits
and demographic properties shape ones per-
ception of incentive elements which result in
high or low levels of job satisfaction.
RESEARCH APPROACH AND
METHODOLOGY
In this paper, the author utilises the follow-
ing conceptual framework (Fig. 1) to examine the

138 CHUX GERVASE IWU
complex relationship among personality, demog-
raphy and incentives.
The author argues that, a need exists for an
understanding of the influence of demographic
properties as well as an employee’s personality
on the kinds of choices employees make with
regard to and their perception of incentives. This
paper thus argues that personality traits and
demographic properties influence an employee’s
perception of incentives, thus impacting employ-
ee job satisfaction.
Drawing from a platoon (though not exhaus-
tive) of selective published and unpublished
materials, the author collated information on
general themes central to the subject matter. In
some instances, the author relied on references
to consulted works (snowballing). This meth-
odology helped to generate perspectives as well
as provide evidence on which to formulate ideas
about the relationship among demographic prop-
erties of an employee, employee’s personality
and incentives.
Theoretical Outline
The following sections present an overview
of the concepts – personality, demography, and
incentives. There is also a section on percep-
tion, which aims to elucidate the connectivity of
all the other concepts. Following the section on
perception are the discussion, research implica-
tions and conclusion sections.
Personality Variables
The word personality is used to describe the
qualities that form a person’s character (Waite
and Hawker 2009) and individuality (Haslam
2007: 5). According to Bergh and Theron (2006)
there is no universally accepted definition of
personality. However, a common ground prevails
which gives impetus to certain aspects which
influence personality. These aspects or traits
must serve to properly situate an individual.
Literature is replete with several models
which are deployed in describing personality
and its impact on human behaviour. According
to Berg and Theron (2006: 291), no single defini-
tion of personality can be possible unless one
considers the interaction of aspects such as the
uniqueness of each individual, the observable
physical appearance, traits of a person, and the
non-visible or covert behaviours or emotions.
Other criteria to consider in defining personality
include patterns of behaviour and their consis-
tencies such as identifying when one is shy and
the dynamic intensity of such an emotion, which
may not be easily captured, but would indicate a
change in behaviour. These, Berg and Theron
insist, amount to wholeness; yet differentiated
personality with all its separate and integrated
functions.
In what would seem like an agreement with
Bergh and Theorn (2006), Nel et al. (2008: 36)
have posited that ‘personality refers to the way
in which the biological, physical, social, psy-
chological and moral traits of an individual are
organised into a whole, and also the relatively
stable set of behavioural patterns that flow from
the dynamic interaction between the individual
and his or her environment in a particular situa-
tion’. Taking Bergh and Theron (2006) as well as
Nel et al.’s (2008) positions together, the under-
standing therefore is that various personality
traits are discernible, essentially indicating a rel-
atively stable characteristic responsible for some
form of consistency in behaviour.
Fig. 1. Research framework

THE COMPLEXITIES OF DEMOGRAPHIC PROPERTIES, PERSONALITY 139
In an attempt to show the challenges that
organisational behaviourists have had in pigeon-
holing personality, Mullins (1999: 302) present
the example of two individuals who share similar
characteristics; same age, residence and same
academic qualification. In the course of their work
lives, these two individual’s attitudes and per-
formance would be predicted differently on the
basis of their interactions and relationships with
others. If one of these were female, again a fur-
ther set of assumptions about their personality
would emerge.
In spite of the lack of a universally accepted
definition of personality (Bergh and Theron
2006: 291) and a long and confusing list of per-
sonality traits (Schultz et al. 2003: 41), studies
(Saari and Judge 2004; Nel et al. 2008; Azalea et
al. 2009) have indicated that there is a close rela-
tionship between the personality of an employ-
ee and the manner in which incentives are per-
ceived. Different personality traits bring about
different emotions. Several of these personality
traits have been condensed into what McShane
and von Glinow (2003: 85) and Robbins et al.
(2009: 94-95) refer to as the big five personality
model. This model has five personality dimen-
sions namely: extraversion, agreeableness, con-
scientiousness, emotional stability and open-
ness to experience.
Extraversion dimension captures an individ-
ual’s comfort level with relationships (Robbins
et al. 2009: 94). The opposite of this personality
dimension is introversion (McShane and von
Glinow 2003: 86). Introverts are shy, quiet and
cautious. Extraverts tend to be happier in their
jobs and in their lives as a whole (Robbins et al.
2009: 94). An agreeable personality connotes a
courteous, good-natured, emphatic and caring
personality (McShane and von Glinow 2003: 86),
while a conscientious personality brings great-
er effort and performance, more drive and disci-
pline, better planning and organisation (Rob-
bins et al. 2009: 95). Robbins et al. (2009: 94)
explain further: although conscientiousness is
the Big Five trait most consistently related to
job performance, the other traits are related to
aspects of performance in some situation. Emo-
tional stability is the most strongly related to
life satisfaction, job satisfaction and low stress
levels.
Robbins et al. (2009) report a positive rela-
tionship between the Big Five Personality Di-
mensions and productive organisational behav-
iour, which they claim is a function of the posi-
tive presence of incentive elements. They argue
that since those who are emotionally stable bring
with them a much more relaxed life orientation,
they tend to have greater positive influence on
an organisation than those who are not emo-
tionally stable. A person who scores high on
extraversion will have better interpersonal skills,
enjoy co-worker relations and can contribute
more to team performance than those who score
low on extraversion. Those who are open to ex-
perience are more apt to learn, are creative and
will enjoy the flexibility that comes with dynam-
ic work environments. Agreeable persons are
less deviant, more cooperative and easier to con-
form to an organisation’s culture than a less
agreeable personality. Conscientious employees
are better leaders – good at organizing, are de-
pendable and persistent.
Another model used to describe personality
is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The
MBTI measures how people prefer to focus their
attention (extroversion versus introversion),
collect information (sensing versus intuition),
process and evaluate information (thinking ver-
sus feeling), and orient themselves to the out-
side world (judging versus perceiving) (McS-
hane and von Glinow 2003: 87).
The Big Five Personality dimensions and the
MBTI do not capture every personality trait
(McShane and von Glinow 2003: 88). Other as-
pects of personality that are important in the
workplace include locus of control, self esteem,
and goal orientation (Hellriegel and Slocum
2004). Locus of control refers to a generalized
belief about the amount of control people have
over their lives (McShane and von Glinow 2003:
88). Those who believe that they are able to con-
trol their destinies are said to have internal lo-
cus of control, while those who tend to attribute
situations in their lives to outside forces are said
to have external locus of control (Robbins et al.
2009: 96). People perform better in most employ-
ment situations when they have a moderately
strong internal locus of control (McShane and
von Glinow 2003: 88). Self esteem or as Robbins
et al. (2009: 97) call it, self-monitoring, refers to
an individual’s continuous self-evaluation,
based on an assessment of one’s abilities, suc-
cesses and failures, looks, ability to respond to
situations and other people as well as the opin-
ions of others (Werner et al. 2007: 56). Individu-
als who are high in self-monitoring show con-

140 CHUX GERVASE IWU
siderable adaptability in adjusting their behav-
iour to external situational factors (Robbins et
al. 2009: 96). People with a learning goal orienta-
tion focus on learning new competencies and
mastering new situations, while those with a
performance goal orientation demonstrate com-
petencies that will attract the approval of others
(Werner et al. 2007: 56).
In their study of the role of individual differ-
ences in influencing the job satisfaction level of
Indonesians and Malaysians, Azalea et al. (2009:
505) found that only two personality traits influ-
ence ones perception of the value of an incen-
tive. These traits are agreeableness and open-
ness. According to the study, one of the main
reasons why agreeableness interacted positive-
ly was due to the different individualistic dispo-
sitions of Indonesians and Malaysians. Refer-
ring to Hofstede and Bond (1988), Azalea et al.
report that Indonesia is a more collective coun-
try than Malaysia, where one of the descrip-
tions of a collective society is that individuals
have to feel that they belong to a group and that
decisions have to be made as a group. There-
fore, Indonesians have a higher need to be agree-
able to their surroundings in order to be suc-
cessful in their job, which could somewhat trans-
late to satisfaction with one’s job. However, Ma-
laysians, being of a more individualistic culture
have less of a need for the approval of others
while making decisions, consequently to feel sat-
isfied with their job. Therefore, agreeableness
was found to relate to positive perception of
incentives by Indonesians, unlike Malaysians.
Individual differences do make a difference.
This is the finding of Rosse and Saturay (2004:
16) in their investigation of various personolog-
ical traits on individual’s reactions to incentives
at differing levels of intensity. Their study re-
vealed that their subjects responded in a variety
of ways when confronted with dissatisfying
working conditions. In some cases, the subjects
considered planned exit and disengagement
while some others considered problem solving
and loyalty. De Witte (2005) also wrote about
the relationship between job insecurity and per-
sonality traits. Her review of empirical works dis-
closed that individuals with ‘especially the traits
of locus of control and negative affectivity are
associated with perceived job insecurity.’ She
however warned that job insecurity should not
be reduced to mere perception. It could be real
too, based on objective conditions in which peo-
ple work. Schultz et al. (2003) agree. According
to them, a person’s personality is partly contin-
gent upon situational factors. These factors can
include a person’s environment, culture, social
standing, values, attitudes and beliefs, family
and heredity (Nel et al. 2008: 37). This means
that each employee’s personality is unique; es-
sentially differing from others. A consequence
of this is that each employee would have a dif-
ferent expectation from others and this is nor-
mally obvious in the way they pursue personal
goals in organisations. In practice one finds that
some individuals are happy if they can satisfy
their basic needs and the minimum needs of the
organisation (Nel et al. 2008:38).
Werner et al. (2007) utilised the cognitive dis-
sonance theory of Festinger (1962) to stress the
above point. Festinger suggests that even when
an individual hates his job, he could still per-
form well in it. Festinger, they say, attributes this
to the significance of the variables that pertain
positively to the individual, the control the indi-
vidual believes he has over the elements and
the rewards that may be involved. Simply put
and borrowing the words of Nel et al. (2008: 239),
“the problem in selection is to predict accurate-
ly which applicants in the pool will become ca-
pable, productive, and loyal employees.” This
statement cements the opinions of several re-
searchers that individual personality cannot be
precisely determined because of the various in-
fluences each individual confronts. The critical
thing to note is that ‘people flourish in their work
environment when there is a good fit between
their personality type and the characteristics of
the environment. A lack of congruence between
personality and environment leads to dissatis-
faction’ (Holland 1996: 397).
Demographic Properties
Demographic variables are characterised in
several forms namely age, gender, family size,
family life cycle, income, occupation, religion,
race and education (Cronje et al. 2006: 303); the
variables used to explain organisation’s diversi-
ty (Smit et al. 2007: 240); characteristics of work
groups, or organisations that play a role in hu-
man resources management, reflecting the de-
gree of mix of characteristics of the people who
make up an organisation’s workforce (Hellriegel
et al. 2006: 94, 368). Grobler et al. (2006: 76) have
divided these variables into two – primary and

THE COMPLEXITIES OF DEMOGRAPHIC PROPERTIES, PERSONALITY 141
secondary dimensions. Primary dimensions in-
clude age, gender, ethnicity, race, physical abili-
ties/qualities and sexual orientation. They are
those human differences that are inborn and ex-
ert a major impact on human beings. Secondary
dimensions add depth and individuality to our
lives and they include education, geographical
location, income, marital status, military experi-
ence and parental status.
The different demographic properties inter-
act differently with regard to how incentives are
perceived. This perhaps explains why Ruther-
ford et al. (2009) caution against a global mea-
sure of incentive elements. In their paper, they
suggest instead, an examination of individual
incentive elements against other factors namely
demographic factors and or other antecedents
of job satisfaction (organisational commitment
and propensity to leave). Martin and Roodt
(2008: 28) found a significant relationship be-
tween some demographic variables and organi-
sational commitment. Commitment to the organ-
isation, they say, increases as age increases. This
finding enjoys the support of previous works
such as Tester and Mueller (2009) and Sarker et
al. (2003). They argue that job satisfaction in-
creases with age, which suggests a more realis-
tic adjustment to the work situation or even less
mobility: the longer a worker stays with an or-
ganisation, the better his promotional opportu-
nities as well as income and if this is the case,
then it can be argued that he will be more satis-
fied with his job. Smerek and Peterson (2007:245)
also found a positive and significant correlation
between length of service and the work itself.
Okpara (2004: 335) found that older manag-
ers and those with longer organizational tenure
in the work place have higher levels of job satis-
faction than younger workers and those with
shorter organizational tenure. Several other stud-
ies (Okpara 2004, 2006; Okpara et al. 2004; ) have
shown the closeness of job satisfaction to the
education dimension of demography. Educa-
tion and experience combined contributed sig-
nificantly to satisfaction with pay, which to some
extent indicated that 62 percent of the variance
in pay satisfaction could be accounted for by
education, and experience among other variables.
Well-educated employees tend to lower com-
mitment especially if they perceive that the or-
ganisation is not essentially supporting them.
Other studies (Mathieu and Zajac 1990; Martin
and Roodt 2008) support this submission. A
higher academic qualification resulting in more
job opportunities and task diversity tend to pro-
mote job satisfaction.
In a study of the perceived gender differenc-
es in pay and promotion in the services industry
and how these differences affect overall job sat-
isfaction of male and female managers, Okpara
(2006: 224) disclosed that a salary differential
does exist between male and female managers in
Nigeria. Male managers were more satisfied with
their salary than their female counterparts. This
study also revealed that there were gender dif-
ferences in promotion. Male managers were over-
all more satisfied with their company promotion
policies than their female counterparts. Goven-
der (2006: 99-100) found to the contrary that there
were no significant differences between married
and unmarried healthcare providers at a military
establishment in South Africa. However, within
emergency medical services, Patterson et al.
(2009: 86) reported that approximately six per-
cent of their sample indicated that they would
not spend more than a year within the profes-
sion. This intention to leave was tightly linked
to, among other factors, gender.
Jacobs (2005) as well as Martin and Roodt
(2008) found a common interaction between gen-
der and turnover intentions. In South Africa,
employment laws impacting on employment re-
lations favour women than men. This assertion
is derived from the inclusion of women as part
of the disadvantaged group in South Africa’s
Employment Equity Act (Amended) (Department
of Labour 2006). It can then be argued that few-
er men would like to remain in an environment
that openly sees women as supreme and de-
serving of opportunities. In a study of work sat-
isfaction of medical doctors in the South Afri-
can private health sector, Pillay (2008: 259) re-
ported a close association between gender, age,
group practice and overall satisfaction. Pillay
noted that certain female doctors reacted posi-
tively or otherwise on the basis of years of prac-
tice, group interaction and presence of incen-
tives. Having practiced for twenty years or more
in groups of more than six doctors and received
incentives, female doctors were significantly
more satisfied than their colleagues who have
fewer years of practice without a commensurate
amount of group practice support, Pillay adds.
Govender’s (2006) study also disclosed that
concerns were raised by the healthcare workers
who had children. Family size and family respon-

142 CHUX GERVASE IWU
sibility reacted negatively to job satisfaction.
While the military provides support for families
that are separated by their breadwinners, the
fact that individuals will be separated from their
children for extended periods of time would have
a negative impact on family life and thus lead to
greater levels of dissatisfaction.
Demographic variables no doubt help in con-
firming distinctions of correlations amongst
employees regarding certain characteristic di-
mensions.
Understanding the Concept Incentive
The English Oxford Dictionary (online) de-
fines incentive as ‘a thing that motivates or en-
courages someone to do something; a payment
or concession to stimulate greater output or in-
vestment’. Basu (1966) however breaks the term
incentive into two – economic (monetary com-
pensation received by an employee for work
done) and non-economic incentive (job securi-
ty, responsibility, recognition, and opportunity
for advancement, participation in decision-mak-
ing and supportive supervision). These share
close association with Churchill et al.’s (1974)
seven dimensions of job satisfaction. These di-
mensions are satisfaction with supervision, sat-
isfaction with overall job, satisfaction with poli-
cy and support, and satisfaction with promo-
tion and advancement. Others include satisfac-
tion with pay, co-workers, and customers. In-
centives therefore are external factors which the
individual perceives whether rightly or wrongly
as possible satisfiers of his felt needs. One can
safely say therefore that incentive elements en-
hance job satisfaction.
Following is a discussion of some of the cash
and non-cash incentives.
Job Security
Job security refers to a workers’ ability to
retain a desirable job – that is to avoid involun-
tary job loss (Valletta 1999). Involuntary job loss
can result from an economic downturn. Job se-
curity can however be perceived positively or
negatively depending on a number of factors
such as the nature of the perceiver (personality
traits), the makeup of the perceiver (demograph-
ic properties), and other factors such as income,
good supervision, supportive co-workers, role
clarity, shared knowledge, equitable performance
management, as well as organisational climate
dimensions (De Witte 2005; Mullins 2007; Ja-
cobs and Roodts 2008; Castro and Martins 2010).
Workers start to feel insecure in their jobs when
some of the above factors interact negatively
with either their nature or makeup.
De Witte (2005) argues that one of the rea-
sons for the feelings of job insecurity in South
Africa is pay inequality, and these feelings of
job insecurity could lead to insecurities regard-
ing the continued existence of valued aspects
of the job, such as pay, working hours, col-
leagues and the job content (for example, auton-
omy, responsibility). Poor pay and the insecuri-
ties (job insecurity, inability to maintain family
and social responsibilities, etc.) it attracts have
been considered as some of the reasons why
nurses and teachers in the South African public
service have sought greener pastures outside
of public service (Kingma 2001; Bailey 2003;
Stern and Szalontai 2006). Feeling insecure in
one’s job goes against the traditional expecta-
tions (psychological contracts) of an employee
from his employer (Nel et al. 2008: 41). Psycho-
logical contracts consist of an individual’s be-
liefs regarding reciprocal obligations between
him and his employers (Rousseau 1990, 1995).
When less security is offered, the employee may
attempt to restore the imbalance by showing less
involvement, less motivation, by lowering his
performance or by seeking better opportunities
elsewhere (Grobler et al. 2006: 221).
De Witte (2005: 2) argues that job insecurity
is not necessarily a perception. It could result
from the objective conditions in which people
work. De Witte continues by stating that “Job
insecurity is a good reflection of an individual’s
real (or ‘objective’) chances and position on the
labour market, despite its subjective nature”. Job
insecurity could also arise from ones age (Hank
and Erlinghagen 2011), gender, as well as socio-
economic circumstances and depression (Melt-
zer et al. 2010). Burnout, stress, violations of
psychological contracts, and downsizing are
some of the reasons for job insecurities (Pundit
2006). Burnout can result from work overload,
lack of control, insufficient rewards and break-
down in communication. Stress could result from
burnout, insufficient information and poor match
between an employee and his work environment.
Income
Income as an incentive has constituted a
major interest among researchers, employers of

THE COMPLEXITIES OF DEMOGRAPHIC PROPERTIES, PERSONALITY 143
labour, economists, and labour unions. This in-
terest is perhaps because income is both a psy-
chological and economic phenomenon (Grobler
et al. 2006; Nel et al. 2008). Arguments vary with
regard to the effect of income on job satisfac-
tion. Some studies Slabbert (2008) indicate an
indirect association with income and job satis-
faction, while Kingma (2001, De Witte (2005, as
well as Stern and Szalontai (2006) found a direct
positive link to job satisfaction.
Coomber and Barriball (2007), Williams et al.
(2008), Green and Heywood (2008), Mbindyo et
al. (2009) argue that income has no direct rela-
tionship to job satisfaction unless consideration
is given to a host of other factors such as the
perception of the cash recipient, the recipient’s
personal values, the work itself and performance
pay schemes. Dreher (1981, cited in Williams et
al. 2006; Kim et al. 2008; Judge et al. 2010), using
a sample of managerial, professional and techni-
cal employees from a large oil company, exam-
ined the extent to which salary satisfaction can
be predicted using company maintained infor-
mation commonly available to salary adminis-
trators. Predictors included years of continuous
service, educational level, performance rating,
and estimate of career potential, monthly salary,
a measure of the most recent salary increase and
gender. A variety of hypotheses, derived from
Lawler’s (1971) model of pay satisfaction were
also tested, focusing on the relative contribu-
tion of perceived performance, perceived job
demand, certain non-monetary outcomes, and
external and internal pay equity. The result sug-
gested that without the inclusion of a variety of
employee perceptions, only a small proportion
of pay satisfaction can be accounted for, with
salary and gender representing the primary ob-
jective predictors. Perceptions regarding ad-
vancement opportunity and the benefit pack-
age are also very important. With this finding
one could say that the way workers perceive
pay satisfaction differs from one another and
more importantly differs from company to com-
pany and even differ in age, gender and educa-
tion. The short review here indicates clearly that
job satisfaction derived from income is not a
specific issue – it is predicated on a number of
factors namely the total package of compensa-
tion, level of education, gender, the perception
of the person receiving the income and a host of
other factors.
Responsibility, Recognition, and Participation
in Decision Making
Enriching the job that people do in organisa-
tions has a way of improving their morale and
output. Altered jobs increase the depth and
range of jobs thus giving a sense of autonomy
to the holder of the job. With autonomy comes
task identity, which refers to the extent to which
a person is responsible for a completely identifi-
able piece of work (Nel et al. 2008).
Recognition can take the form of awards,
promotion, opportunities for advancement, and
opportunities to participate in decision making
in the organisation. Allowing employees to par-
ticipate in reaching decisions that affect them is
one of the ways of engendering trust and com-
mitment in an organisation. Communication, an
important organizational culture dimension, is
justified for its aptness in knowledge sharing
and enhancement of trust. Coetzee and Schreud-
er (2010: 262) submit that leaders should be will-
ing to consult with employees on decisions that
affect them. Several avenues exist for interact-
ing with employees. These include informal de-
partmental interactions such as workshops or
social activities, which are effective in increas-
ing communication opportunities and enhanc-
ing the sense of internal identification with an
organization. Increasing communication oppor-
tunities also has a way of impacting self-effica-
cy of workers. Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s
capabilities to organize and execute courses of
action, which are required to manage prospec-
tive situations (Robbins et al. 2009: 504). Belief
in ones capabilities (competence-based trust)
comes with trust from management and constant
communication (Covey and Merrill 2006: 9-10).
Supportive Supervision
Wang and Noe (2010), in an empirical study
of individual-level knowledge sharing, found
that management and supervisor support were
critical for the success of knowledge sharing
initiatives. This resonates well with Srivastava
et al’s study (2006: 1243), which found that em-
powering leadership fostered knowledge shar-
ing among team members. Today’s work envi-
ronments demand leaders who inspire others
with the vision of what can be accomplished
(Medley and Larochelle 1995). Inspiration can
also come from positive feedback and function-

144 CHUX GERVASE IWU
al systems. Lesabe and Nkosi (2007) insist that
it does help for employees to perceive their man-
agers as possessing the right skills and atti-
tudes, which consequently enable an environ-
ment of trust (and a perception of competence
in the eyes of the employee) in the feedback
received by employees.
Providing sufficient and helpful performance
feedback to employees helps to boost positive
attitudes towards the organization and helps to
prevent early intentions to leave the organiza-
tion (Coetzee and Schreuder 2010: 262). Direct,
unambiguous feedback clarifies a group’s task.
Essentially, there is evidence that demonstrates
a positive relationship between effective feed-
back and worker productivity (Robbins et al. 2009:
282).
As individuals are provided with praise and
feedback, stronger feelings of loyalty are devel-
oped (Coetzee and Schreuder 2010). Bass et al.
(2003) opine that leaders invigorate followers’
adaptivity and creativity in a blame-free context.
Liese et al. (2003) observe that, improving non-
monetary incentive frameworks advanced moti-
vation and consequently the productivity and
quality of outputs of workers. In fact, Coetzee
and Schreuder (2010) add: leaders should be
willing to provide guidance to employees where
they need the most assistance. The assistance
could be the provision of adequate tools and
technologies required for effective customer
service. O’Neill et al. (2009) are of the opinion
that functional systems help to achieve an orga-
nizations objective and can only be made possi-
ble by a creative and innovative leadership team.
Robbins et al. (2009: 493) echo this sentiment by
stating that organic structures positively influ-
ence innovation, which facilitates the flexibility,
adaptation, and cross-fertilisation that make
adoption of innovations easier. In other words,
Robbins et al. suggest transformative leadership,
which Iwu and Adeola (2011: 124) describe as
the ability of a leader to positively create a
change within followership and the environment
within which he operates. This means that the
transformative character of leadership, therefore,
emits from its ability to provide helpful feedback
to followers, as well as ensure that resources to
achieve high performance, are available. Sup-
portive leadership is perceived as one that cares
for and values the contributions of employees.
The Job Itself
The makeup of a job has engulfed the atten-
tion of many researchers. Generally, the term,
job itself, is used to connote several aspects of
a job such as autonomy (capacity to assume
responsibility for a task from start to finish), skill
variety, growth opportunities and self-fulfilment.
These aspects are well situated within Herzberg’s
intrinsic satisfaction dimension (Motivators)
(Hirschfield 2000; Smerek and Peterson 2007).
Utilising some of these aspects, Pundit (2006)
found varying degrees of relationship between
job satisfaction and demographic properties
such as gender and ethnicity. It is clear there-
fore that employees want more than money. As
Koch (1998) says ‘employees want fair, compet-
itive compensation, recognition for job well done,
they want to feel valued, appreciated and sought
after’. Govender (2006) agrees. Her study ac-
knowledged the nature of the job itself as a ma-
jor satisfier. The elements that express the na-
ture of the job itself in her study included skills
utilization, self-fulfillment, and autonomy, a sense
of value and job enjoyment.
There is no doubt, given the above, that the
job itself connotes several elements of both the
job content and job context environment and
can serve as a strong incentive to remain or not
to remain on the job.
Perception
The degree at which one is influenced by a
stimulus is dependent upon ones perception of
the significance of the stimulus. Robbins et al.
(2009) suggest that three factors influence how
humans are drawn to things. These are factors
in the perceiver, factors in the environment and
factors in the perceived object.
Factors in the Perceiver
Factors in the perceiver refer to internal fac-
tors that influence the way in which people be-
have. They include attitudes, motives, interests,
experience and expectations. As far back as 1935,
Allport considered attitude as a mental and neu-
ral state of readiness, organized through experi-
ence, exerting a directive or dynamic influence
upon an individual’s response to all objects and
situations with which it is related”. According
to Eagley and Chaiken (2007), attitude is a psy-

THE COMPLEXITIES OF DEMOGRAPHIC PROPERTIES, PERSONALITY 145
chological tendency that is expressed by evalu-
ating a particular entity with some degree of
favour or disfavour. This entity could be an ob-
ject (perceived or real). However, the substance
of these definitions stems from one’s ability to
evaluate a particular entity with some degree of
favourability or otherwise based on ones inter-
ests, experiences, expectations and motives.
Millán et al. (2011) argue that people are satis-
fied with their occupation when, based on their
own assessment, they like the work that they do.
Assessment and evaluation are synonyms, thus
the terms should be broadly used to include not
only analytic assessments but also affective re-
actions (Fazio 2007). Assessment or appraisal of
one’s circumstance can result from ones experi-
ence (Locke 1976). Millán et al.’s (2011) work
suggests that (1) individuals are capable of mak-
ing up their own minds if the circumstance is
right; (2) individuals are able to evaluate the
suitability or otherwise of an offering; (3) an
evaluation of an offering’s favourability or un-
favourability will depend on a number of factors
(motives). These factors, Eagley and Chaiken
(2007) concur could be based on beliefs and
thoughts, feelings and emotions, intentions and
behaviour, which the authors add may not be
consciously expressed by the holder of an atti-
tude, although they may be conscious. No doubt
therefore that, factors in the perceiver – ones
attitude to a stimulus, motives, interests, experi-
ences or expectations - do have an effect on the
way humans react to different stimuli.
Factors in the Perceived Object or Target
Motivational theories posit that people are
motivated to act in a specific way if they believe
that a desired outcome (for the purpose of this
paper, an object or target) will be attained.
Within the health services, ‘health profes-
sionals in both private and public sectors leave
to work in more developed countries to obtain
higher pay, better working conditions, an over-
all better quality of life and improved opportuni-
ties for them and their families’ (Packer et al. 2009:
219). Saving lives may have been a motivating
factor for health professionals, but the intrica-
cies of the job may have been perceived differ-
ently, thereby leading to dissatisfaction and the
desire to go elsewhere for better life. Also pro-
motion comes with additional responsibilities
and higher income. Higher income often comes
with additional expenses, which the increased
income cannot take care of. This prompts em-
ployees to seek greener pastures. With regard
to gender, research shows that employees in a
number of sectors do not consider the long hours
of work conducive enough for their gender, es-
pecially those with family as well as the married
ones (Yildiz et al. 2009; Okpara 2006). Govender
et al. (2012) and Nedham et al. (2010) found that
high levels of violence against female EMS per-
sonnel discouraged them from a career in the
profession. It is clear therefore that outcomes
(objects/targets) are usually not looked at in iso-
lation. There are usually other elements that we
associate them with.
Factors in the Situation
The environment in which humans live is
fraught with numerous inconsistencies and com-
plexities. Nel et al. (2008) agree that we are influ-
enced by factors such as heredity, culture, and
social circles including family. All these put to-
gether determine the effect of human personali-
ty on human perceptive tendencies.
The way humans perceive things can be in-
fluenced by the time they perceive them and the
setting in which they are perceived – within the
workplace or outside of it. The expectancy theo-
ry of Victor Vroom is commonly used to discuss
the impact of the environment on several organ-
isational phenomena including task preference,
job satisfaction, work motivation, and work be-
haviour (Chou and Pearson 2012, Citing Mitch-
ell 1982). If an offer is attractive (valence), it may
elicit positive response and vice versa. Howev-
er, a person’s personality may have an influence
on the way a particular offering is perceived. For
instance, someone who is ‘open to experience’
and extraverted may embrace new challenges at
a workplace, whereas a conscientious employee
may want to prudently scrutinise the benefits or
dangers of a new challenge before accepting it.
The ‘spill over’ concept of Tait et al. (1989) as
well as Judge and Watanabe (1994) can be used
to explain the above. An unhappy home front or
social setting can spill over into one’s job expe-
riences and vice versa. Saari and Judge (2004)
speculate on the possibility that the ‘spill over’
model emanates from personality traits that
cause both low job satisfaction and depression.
Hardie (1997) reported that female employees
experienced high stress, poor health and work
impairment across their menstrual cycle.

146 CHUX GERVASE IWU
DISCUSSION
It is clear from the foregoing that human na-
ture is complex; considering the different per-
sonality characteristics as well as the different
demographic properties. These, together with
culture, situation, and many other factors in fact
impact the way humans co-exist and perceive
the world. Within the world of work, our ability
to remain productive hinges on a number of fac-
tors such as supportive supervision, good co-
worker relations, job and role clarity as well as a
conducive work environment. That said, one
should not be fooled into thinking that once
these are present, workers are satisfied. In some
cases, workers perceive these and other job char-
acteristics as satisfying, while in other cases,
their perceptions differ. The different demo-
graphic properties no doubt interact differently
with our different personalities and job charac-
teristics.
While a universally accepted definition of
personality does not exist, research is replete
with claims of a close relationship between the
personality of an employee and job satisfaction.
However, it must be noted that individual per-
sonality cannot be precisely determined because
of the various influences each individual con-
fronts. The sense to make out of this is that
different things excite different employees. Ev-
ery organization must therefore attempt to un-
derstand the individual worker and then direct
those job satisfaction facets appropriately. In
fact, Gilley (2006) insists that a successful orga-
nization is built upon the managers’ ability to
understand workers behaviour and interpret
them correctly.
The same can be said for demographic char-
acteristics such as age, educational status, ten-
ure and gender. The findings of several studies
on demographic properties and job satisfaction
reveal a number of significant points. Firstly it is
noteworthy that job satisfaction increases or
decreases with age. This is an indication that
the longer one remains on the job the more one
enjoys the job (perhaps things start to get bet-
ter; one starts to enjoy better role clarity; one
understands the processes and systems a lot
better), or if one is consistently unhappy, one
then starts a lacklustre relationship with one’s
organisation and subsequently either seeks
greener pastures or loses self-confidence. There
is therefore an important point to be made here
about staff retention. The point is that organisa-
tions must engage in a consistent development
programme with the objective of retaining, excit-
ing and growing the skills of workers (Ross and
van Eeden 2008).
It is more profitable for organisations to tar-
get their workers with incentives that meet their
unique needs. In fact Ken Costa’s work referred
to at the beginning of this paper indicated that
older workers accepted an offer of cash in ex-
change for work on a public holiday. Older work-
ers have accumulated needs – enlarged families,
mortgages – and would rather take on an oppor-
tunity to earn extra income. But beyond this,
workers who have spent longer time in an or-
ganisation seem to be more knowledgeable about
their roles and know more about the organisa-
tion than their newer counterparts (Tester and
Mueller 2009). Workers with longer tenure rep-
resent the organisation’s knowledge bank and
can help to mentor and coach new staff. Organ-
isations have to take cognisance of this and pro-
vide the right incentives that keep them moti-
vated and wanting to remain with the organisa-
tion. Interestingly, while some studies (Okpara
2004, 2006) found that older workers and those
with longer organizational tenure have higher
levels of job satisfaction than younger workers,
Ferres et al. (2003) found intention to turnover
and depleted commitment among older workers
because of a feeling that a better opportunity
exists somewhere else on the basis of their expe-
rience. It is cautious to note here that this paper
does not suggest that newer employees are not
worth the attention. If anything, it extends the
complex relationship between demography and
motivation. Newer workers are equally as valu-
able because they represent the future of the
organisation. The needs of the new generation
of workers differ though. Therefore managers
must be able to distinguish between the needs
of older workers and younger ones.
Satisfying workers goes beyond mere incen-
tives because job satisfaction is a complex pro-
cess and not simply a pleasure-displeasure re-
sponse (Bateman and Snell 2007: 440). Employ-
ees benefit from and enjoy co-worker relations
and support from management through knowl-
edge sharing. Knowledge sharing is the funda-
mental means through which employees can
contribute to knowledge application, innovation,
and ultimately the competitive advantage of an
organization (Jackson et al. 2006). In a study of

THE COMPLEXITIES OF DEMOGRAPHIC PROPERTIES, PERSONALITY 147
individual attitudes and organizational knowl-
edge sharing, Yang (2008: 352) found that man-
agers had to continually stimulate and facilitate
employees towards the highest levels of knowl-
edge sharing, individual and organizational learn-
ing. Yang went on to say that knowledge shar-
ing must be seen as a function of organizational
culture and leadership roles, as well as individu-
al behaviour. In Yang’s view, these were critical
because an effective sharing process would en-
able individuals to think about others’ ideas and
insights as well as learn from them, resulting in
the enlargement of their capabilities. Informa-
tion sharing and integrated leadership boost co-
worker intimacy and reduce conflict.
Employee dissatisfaction impacts negative-
ly on both the organisation and the employee.
Workers, generally, experience major changes
regularly in their lives and these changes can
lead to severe distress, burnout or physical ill-
ness and to a decrease in quality of life. When
any of these is experienced, organisations can
experience increased absenteeism and turnover.
Increased absenteeism and turnover can subse-
quently lead to increased workload, poor re-
sponse to organisational goals, as well as or-
ganisational problems and conflicts. Manage-
ment should at all times make attempts to create
conducive environments for their workers be-
cause employees play a key role towards the
functioning of any organisation (Daft and Mar-
cic 2010: 288). A good relationship between em-
ployees and management will yield favourably
higher levels of productivity, which then create
profit. Thus management of any organisation
must try to maintain valuable employees in or-
der to build human capital, which would ensure
sustainable growth for the business (Hall 2008).
Maintaining and retaining valuable employees
requires an appreciation of the common fact:
workers everywhere are different and would
present different needs and expectations.
Nothing beats a satisfying work environment
where employees can perform well and continue
being productive (Holman et al. 2003). A satisfy-
ing work environment connotes an environment
that seeks to understand the individual needs
of all employees in order to avert a generaliza-
tion of offerings. Offering random incentives to
workers without an understanding of the needs
of individual workers may result in employee
dissatisfaction.
An organizations competitive advantage can
reside among its employees (Cronje et al. 2006:
193). Smit et al. (2007: 49) capture it succinctly in
the words of Gratton (2000): “the new source of
sustainable competitive advantage available to
organizations has people at its centre – their
knowledge, creativity, and talent. Both capital
and technological advantages can be emulated
by competitors, but the human asset is intangi-
ble and very difficult to imitate.” Granted that
employees are a critical source of an organisa-
tions sustainable competitive advantage, organ-
isations will not grow without an empowering
leadership to drive employee job satisfaction.
Empowering leadership means providing an op-
portunity for all members of an organization to
participate in decisions that affect them. Provid-
ing opportunities for employees to participate
in decisions that affect them create an atmo-
sphere where information is freely shared.
The above factor and many others take away
perceptions of job security. To feel insecure at
work is in itself a work stressor and will have
negative impact on employees health and well-
being. In this case, employees may experience a
range of psychosomatic and physical malaise
such as high irritability, anxiety and burnout. It
is also safe to note that job security does not
necessarily provide total job satisfaction, as De
Witte’s (2005) study showed; some Belgians who
indicated that they were satisfied with their jobs
also indicated that they felt insecure. This again
suggests that job security does have a relation-
ship with several other factors including our
personality. Medical science catalogues evi-
dence, which confirms that our mental state af-
fects not only our physiology but also the way
we react to circumstances.
Within the workplace, managers are advised
to treat workers with respect, provide workers
with the kinds of incentives that will excite them
(requires an understanding of individual em-
ployees though), as well as jobs that meet with
their capability. Sometime back, Maslach and
Jackson (1981), and Singh et al. (1994) warned
that the absence of well-targeted incentives
could result in employee burnout. Employee
burnout can manifest in a number of dimensions
namely emotional exhaustion, low self-efficacy
and low motivation. These impact our mental
state and can then affect our physiology result-
ing in our inability to relate well with others and
very importantly relegate the interests of the

148 CHUX GERVASE IWU
organisation. The organisation can then suffer
loss of custom and subsequently income.
Self-efficacy comes with a feeling of being
valued as employees; receiving meaningful re-
muneration and feeling that management is fair.
Workers who have high self-efficacy will experi-
ence lesser stress and burnout (Stander and
Rothmann, 2010; Koekemoer and Mostert, 2006).
Managers must therefore be able to show care,
interest and empathy towards employees. They
should also be able to explain what is expected
of them, as well as provide regular and positive
feedback and recognition for work well done.
Managers must also understand that a certain
kind of confidence is built in an employee who
receives what he or she considers as meaning-
ful remuneration.
RESEARCH IMPLICATIONS
It is important to note therefore that this pa-
per does have several significant managerial and
organisational behavioural implications. It has
helped in enhancing clarification of the interre-
lationships between personality, demographic
properties and incentives. The other implication
is that firms are better placed to structure their
incentive elements according to the personality
and demography of their employees. In fact Roos
and Van Eeden (2008: 54) argue that for reasons
of increasing local and global competitiveness,
organisations need to understand the different
make up of their workers so that they can be
consistently developed and retained in order for
them to become loyal, committed and able work-
force.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, it is evident that there is a
complex relationship between demographic prop-
erties and employee personality on one hand
and incentives on the other. The almost com-
monly held view, but most ignored by managers
is that what is good for the goose may not nec-
essarily be good for the gander. An understand-
ing of the demographic properties of the worker
as well as his/her personality may not necessar-
ily deliver the goods for an employer, but will
help raise the levels of sensitivity to the needs
of employees.
This study has undertaken a global review
of literature that leads the author to suggest that
future studies can focus on regional (continen-
tal) empirical reports to see if any specifics
emerge with regard to regions. Furthermore, re-
search efforts must intensify to assist with the
understanding of this complex mix of personali-
ty, demographics and incentives. A harsh deci-
sion that organizations must take is not to com-
promise the human being at work. They come in
different moulds - personality and demography
- and must be provided varying resources (in-
centives) in order to grow the organization.
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