Influence of Type A and Type B Personality on Academic Achievement of University Students

Abstract

Several factors directly or indirectly influence academic achievement of students. There is immense variation in students’ academic achievement due to individual differences. Therefore, every individual has different personality characteristics that influence life, especially students’ academic achievement. Thus, the current study investigates the influence of personality types A and B on academic achievement of university students. This study presents a descriptive design. Furthermore, a random sampling technique was used for the sample selection. The Anjum-Khalique Scale and students’ GPAs were utilized as research tools. Correlation, regression and t-test were employed for data analysis. Findings exposed that personality types A and B have overall significant impact on academic achievement of students. Significant academic achievement difference was found between male and female students of type B personality unlike type A personality. It is recommended that deficiencies in personalities may be taken into consideration by teachers, administrators, educators, curriculum developers and policymakers for improvement in academic achievement.

Full text

Global Social Sciences Review (GSSR)
Vol. IV, No. II (Spring 2019) | Page: 80 – 87
Influence of
Type
A
and
Type B
Personality on Academic
Achievement of University Students
Aabida Lateef
PhD Scholar, Department of Education, PMAS, Arid Agriculture
University Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan.
Email: abidalateef786@yahoo.com
Muhammad
Arshad Dahar
Assistant Professor, Department of Education, PMAS, Arid Agriculture
University Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan.
Muhammad Imran
Yousuf
Associate Professor, Dep artment of Education, PMAS, Arid
Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan.
Several fact ors dir ectly or indir ectly influence ac ademic achievement of students. There is
immense variation in students’ academic achievement due to individual differences.
Therefore, every individual has differ ent personality characteristics that influence life, especially students’
academic achievement. Thus, the current study investigates the influence of personality types A and B on
academic achievement of university students. This study presents a descriptive design. Furthermore, a random
sampling technique was used for the sample selection. The Anjum-Khal ique Scale and students’ GPAs were
utilized as research tools. Correlation, regression and t-test were employed for data analysis. Findings exposed
that personality types A and B have overall significant impact on
academic achievement of students. Significant academic achievement
difference was found between male and female students of type B
personality unlike type A personality. It is recommended that
deficiencies in personalities may be t aken into consideration by
teachers, administrators, educators, curriculum developers and
policymakers for improvement in academic achievement.
Introduction
Personality is considered as the internal processes emerged in combined form of emotions,
interpersonal and attitudes that harmonize the reaction, behavior and interaction with others and
as a result becomes main factor which has considerable impact on behavior of humans (Fayez and
Labib, 2016). It is observed that many theorists have classified and measured personality traits and
types from diverse viewpoints (Kantan et al., 2017). Thus, the present study examined two different
personality types A and B in this research with its impact on students’ ac ademic achievement.
Spector and Connell (1994) uncovered two personality types A and B.
Several researchers have highlighted different characteristics of Type-A personality. They hav e
aggressive nature, are achievement orient ed, vibrant, hard-working, self-confident, irritated,
passive, determined and unfriendly (Cooper, Kirkcaldy, & Brown, 1994). In addition, Type A
individuals are frequently considered as “workaholics” as they are multi task oriented and are much
encouraged to take extra work responsibilities in order to attain success (Radsepehr, et al., 2016).
In contrast, Type-B individuals have a more peaceful and stress free nature. They have no
time exigency and are quite the reverse to Type-A individuals. A Type-B personality possesses
characteristics to be relaxed without any stress. Type B individuals usually do not have conflicts
with others. Type Bs have stable personality that leads them to strive for their goal achievement in
a steady way unlike Type As who generally work racing against the clock (Mahajan & Rastogi,
2011). Type B personality is regarded as even-tempered and has ability to adjust in change
environment easily (Radsepehr, et al., 2016).
Another important variable in the present study is academic achievement. According to Glass
as quoted by Kocher (2008), most commonly the term academic achi evement refers to the level of
achievement shown by students during an assessment. Most of the researches have been done by
using the students’ percentages and GPAs in their final exams as an academic achievement while
in educational process the outcome of teaching in term of marks and CGPAs is known as academic
achievement. Because it is the level of achievement that student attain after completing the course
work in terms of objective compl etion i.e. to what extent the student have learned or master the
material.
Key Words:
Academic Achievement,
Influence, Personality type
p-ISSN 2520-0348 | e-ISSN 2616-793X | L-ISSN 2616-793X | DOI: 10.31703/gssr.2019(IV-II).11 | URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2019(IV-II).11
Abstract

Influence of Type A and Type B Personality on Academic Achievement of University Students
Vol. IV, No. II (Spring 2019)
81
In Pakistan, there is less attention paid towards personality development. Various important characteristics of
personality are overlooked in individuals generally and in students particularly and as a result these personality
characteristics have shown negative effect on academic achievement of students later on. So, there was an entire
need of such expl oration that how personality influence academic achievement of students and t o what extent.
Therefore, the current research intended to examine the “Influence of personality Types A and type B on academic
achievement of students in Universities.”
Objectives of the study
• To identify the personality types (A&B) of university students.
• To examine the academic achievement of university students.
• To find out gender wise comparison of academic achievement of type A and type B personality students.
• To find out the impact of type A and type B personality students on their academic achievement.
Hypotheses of the Study
H1= There is significant impact of type A personality on academic achievement.
H2= There is significant impact of type B personality on academic achievement.
Review of Literature
Academic achievement of students has gained special attention in earlier research. It is a challenging aspect of
academic literature and is influenced by several important factors (social, psychological, economic, environment al
and personal factors). Literature lists different factors that affect students ‘academic achievement (Reda &
Mulugeta, 2018). So, personality is considered to be one of these factors that greatly influence academic
achievement.
Sameen and Burhan (2014) and Hussein (2014) have highlighted in their study that Type A personality shows
signs of creativity as compared to others. Furthermore, Type As are expected to committed with their work and
play significant role in enhancing positive relationship with working environment. This is all because Type A
personality has a preference to take undue responsibilities and face new challenges, work till long duty hours and
have a greater dedication to their responsibility (Baka & Derbis, 2012; Moodley, 2010).
Several studies have highlighted that type A personality is significantly correlated with academic achievement
(Nighat, 2003). Furtherm ore, there are various characteristics of Personality type A that resembles with big five
personality trait; conscientiousness. Prior studies have considered conscientiousness as an important component
that resembles theoretically with type A Personality and is positively associated (Steinmayr, & Spinath,2007) and
strongly correlated with academic achievement (John et al., 2008; Hakimi et al., 2011; Ghazi et al.,2013; Dunne,
2015; Poropat, 2009; Trapmann, et. al., 2007). Conscientiousness is constantly found to be strongest predictor of
academic achievement (Busato, Prins, Elshout & Hamaker, 2000; Chamorro-Premuzic & Furnham, 2003b; Furnham
et al., 2003; Kling, 2001). Additionally, there is positive relationship between academic achievement and
conscientiousness (Al-Naggar, Osman, Ismail, Bobryshev, Ali & Menendez -Gonzalez, 2015; Ambreen & Jan, 2015).
Earlier studies exposed that Extraversion; main aspect of five factor model, MBTI and Eysenck personality
theory has theoretical resemblance with type B Personality has shown contradictory results in literature with
academic achievement. A number of studies have unveiled negative significant relationship of extraversion with
academic achievement (DeYoung, 2010; Rosander, 2013, Hakimi et al., 2011) while, some studies have exposed
significant stronger positive relationship with academic achievement (Premuzic and Adrian Furnham, 2003) and
other have uncov ered low relationship (Ghazi et al., 2013). In addition, several latest researches have shown that
extraverts perform low in academic setting (Sanchez-Marin, Rejano-Infante & Rodriguez-Troyano, 2001).
Methodology
Population
The population of the study comprised of all the undergraduate university students in Public universities.
Delimitations of the Study
Study was delimited to Undergraduate university students studying in Semester 3rd and 4th of social sciences faculty
of academic year 2016-2017.

Aabida Lateef, Muhammad Arshad Dahar and Muhammad Imran Yousuf
82
Global Social Sciences Review (GSSR)
Sample
Sample comprised of 500 undergraduate university students (250 students of type A personality and 250 students
of type B pers onality) from five public universities were selected randomly.
Research Instruments
Firstly, Anjum-Khalique Scale (1991) was used for the identification of type A personality (i.e. time urgency,
competitiveness and aggressiveness etc) and also measures Type B behavior pattern that is opposite to Type A
(Social, easy going person, avoiding hard work, talking patiently, feeling satisfied etc.). It contains 12 pairs of items
in which the participants have to choose one item from each pair. One point is assigned to each responded item
purporting to measure Type A and B behavior pattern. The maximum score is 12 (Batool et al., 2014).
Secondly, Academic achievement was examined by students’ last semester GPA. Similar approach is used in
the study of Uludag (2013).
Pilot Testing
For Pilot testing data were collected from the Islamic International University Islamabad. About 100 participants
were selected randomly from undergraduate level of social sciences. Reliability was found to be 0.7 by applying
Cronbach’s Alpha. Questionnaires were shown to two educational experts for improvement. After the ex perts
validation data were collected for the original study.
Data Collection and Ethical Considerations of Study
All the questionnaires were administered by the res earcher hers elf in the selected universities. Selected students
were asked to fill the questionnaires. They were ensured about the ethical issues regardin g data collection.
Questionnaires that were not fulfilling the criteria were exempted from the study.
Data Analysis
Data were analyzed by using inferential statistics. Firstly, correlation was employed and then for further analysis
regression analysis was run to find out the impact of person ality types on academic achievem ent of university
students. Moreover, Independent sample T-test was applied for gender wise comparison of academic achievement
of type A and type B personality.
Results
Table 1. Influence of Type-A Pers onality on Academic Achievem ent of Students
Table 1 indicates that some items (achievement oriented and hardworking characteristics, seek challenges and are
task oriented) have positive relationship with academic achievement of personality type A. Positive relationship
depicts that if independent variable increases then dependent variable will also increase. Above table also depicts
positive impact on academic achievement of univ ersity students with significant results as P<.05. On the other
hand, few items (getting angry, hostility, reacting aggressively and getting impatient) of personality type A have
S.No.
Traits of Type A Personality
Correlation
Analysis
Regression
Analysis
r
Sig
T
Sig
1.
Getting angry
-.561
.060
-1.005
.316
2.
Urgency
.430
.001
-2.115
.035
3.
Hostility
-.355
.053
-1.854
.065
4.
Get ahead on one's competitor
.633
.011
7.896
.000
5.
Seeking Challenge
.543
.023
2.323
.021
6.
Reacting aggressively
-.241
.071
-.641
.522
7.
Getting impatient
-.392
.083
-.344
.731
8.
Believing Doing one's job well
.436
.037
4.692
.000
9.
Believing in taking the task
.773
.000
3.083
.002
10.
Tending to be an achievement oriented person
.871
.000
2.111
.036
11.
Getting Irritated
.454
.010
-5.605
.000
12.
Finding it difficult to wait for one's turn
.535
.020
-5.059
.000

Influence of Type A and Type B Personality on Academic Achievement of University Students
Vol. IV, No. II (Spring 2019)
83
shown negative correlation. Negative relationship depicts that if independent variable increases then dependent
variable will decrease and vice versa. Above table have negative impact with insignificant results as P>.05
Table 2. Influence of Type-B Personality on Academic Achievement of Students
Table 2 indicates that some items of personality type B have significant relationship (P<.05) with academic
achievement of univ ersity students. In contrast, few items (taking disappoi ntment philosophically, adopting a non
serious approach to work in hand, getting ready in a leisurely way for University and caring much about health) of
personality type B have shown less correlation with insignificant results as P>.05. It also indicates that some items
(easy going, are not much focused on study, avoid hard work, delay work and give way to other competitors) of
personality type B have negative and significant impact (P<.05) on academic achievement of university students.
Moreover, few items (tending to be social person, doing things one by one, talking patiently, feeling satisfied with
the present achievement) have positive relationship and positive impact with significant impact (P<.05) on academic
achievement of personality type B of university students.
Table 3. Comparison of Academic Achievement of Type A&B Personality Students
Personality Types
N
Mean
SD
df
t
Sig.
A
250
3.7596
.29793
249
17.574
.000
B
250
2.9596
.64771
Table 3 depicts that there is significant difference between the academic achievements of A and B personality types
as p< 0.05. Type-A personality students scored more mean scores than type-B personality students on academic
achievement that reflect that they have better academic achievement than type B students.
Table 4. Gender Wise comparison of Academic Achievement of Type A and B Personality Students
Personality Types
Gender
N
Mean
SD
df
t
Sig.
A
Male
125
3.7510
.29808
248
.524
.601
Female
125
3.7710
.29874
B
Male
125
3.2723
.42278
248
2.157
.032
Female
125
3.1464
.46060
Table 4 depicts that there is no significant difference between the academic achievements of males and females of
personality type A as p > 0.05. It also reflects that there is significant difference between the academic achievements
of males and females of personality type B as p< 0.05.
Discussion
Present study results exposed the significant influence of personality types A and B on academic achievement. Both
hypotheses were accepted as students have received significant impact of personality types on their academic
achievement. Ch aracteristics of students’ personality are involved in the improvement of students’ efficiency of
learning and resultantly students’ academic achievement is enhanced. When comparison was done between both
S.No.
Statements
Correlation Analysis
Regression
Analysis
r
Sig
T
Sig
1.
Tending to be social person.
.701
.000
5.876
.000
2.
Taking disappointment philosophically.
.567
.011
1.644
.102
3.
Doing things one by one.
.494
.036
2.685
.008
4.
Avoiding hard work.
-.667
.042
-2.529
.012
5.
Preferring to postpone today’s work for tomorrow.
-.762
.002
-5.334
.000
6.
Tending to be an easy-going person.
-.350
.054
-6.417
.000
7.
Adopting a non serious approac h to work in hand.
.341
.071
-.296
.767
8.
Getting ready in a leisurely way for University.
.693
.044
-1.302
.194
9.
Caring much about health.
-.423
.031
-1.418
.158
10.
Talking patiently to people even when engaged in work.
.542
.012
4.135
.000
11.
Feeling satisfied with the present achievement.
.742
.000
4.641
.000
12.
Giving way to one’s competitor.
-.653
.020
-3.452
.002

Aabida Lateef, Muhammad Arshad Dahar and Muhammad Imran Yousuf
84
Global Social Sciences Review (GSSR)
personalities (type A and type B), it was observed that Type- A personality students have scored more as compared
to the counterpart.
Similarly, study conducted by Sanchez-Marin et al., (2001) reported that extraverts perform low in academic
setting that resembles theoretically with Type B personality. In contrast, Fakhri et al., (2014) did not find any
difference between academic achievement of Type A and Type B personality students. Moreover, gender wise
comparison reflected in type A personality showed same level of academic achievement in both genders unlikely
to type B that showed significant difference between both genders.
Present study results supported the following mentioned studies and reported that type A personality has significant
correlation with academic achievement (John et al., 2008, Hakimi et al., 2011; Ghazi et al., 2013; Dunne, 2015;
Poropat, 2009; Trapmann et al., 2007). In addition, the association between academic achievement and Type A
personality is also found positive (Al-Naggar et al., 2015; Ambreen & Jan, 2015).
Present study reflected mix results of Type B Personality. Some items of type B personality are consistent with
the study results of DeYoung, (2010), Rosander, (2013) and Hakimi et al., (2011) reporting negative significant
correlation with academic achievement while, few of the items of personality type B shown positive and significant
results consistent with the study results of Premuzic and Adrian Furnham, (2003). Some items of personality type
B reported low correlation with academic achievement consistent with the study results of Ghazi et al., (2013),
Steinmayr and Spinath, (2007).
The reason for such results may be that Type A personality students have achievement oriented and
hardworking characteristics, they seek challenges and are task oriented that have positive influence on their
academic achievem ent. Type As work under pressure and engage them in challenging activities to achieve their
goals (Baka and Derbis, 2012). From this discussion we may infer that Type As are hardworking and task oriented
that make them to perform better academically. In contrast, Type B personality students are easy going, are not
much focused on study, avoid ha rd work, delay work and give way to other competitors are the characteristics that
have negative impact on their academic achievement. Type Bs have social nature, they are more indulge in social
activities. Moreover, another reason for these results may be due to the several others factors (culture of school,
learning, teaching, attitude of teachers) and many more other than personality that may influence academic
achievement but are not includ ed in the study due to time limitation.
Findings and Conclusions
Results explored the positive as well as negative relationship of Type A and B characteristics with academic
achievement. Some characteristics of type A personality were positively correlated with students’ academic
achievement. It clearly depicts if these characteristics (achievement oriented and hardworking characteristics, seek
challenges and are task oriented) of type A personality will increase then academic achievement of students will
also increase and vice versa. In contrast, several characteristics of type A personality were negatively correlated
with academic achievement of students. It’s obvious if these characteristics (getting angry, hostility, reacting
aggressively and gettin g impatient) will increase then academic achievement will decrease and vice versa.
Various characteristics of type B personality were negatively correlated with students’ academic achievement.
It’s evident that if these characteristics (easy going, are not much focused on study, avoid hard work, delay work
and give way to other competitors) of type B pers onality will increase then academic achiev ement of students will
decrease and vice versa. In contrast, quite a few characteristics were positively correlated with academic
achievement of students. It’s apparent that if these characteristics (tending to be social person, doing things one by
one, talking patiently, feeling satisfied with the present achievem ent) will increase then academic achievement will
increase and vice versa. However, some items (taking disappoint ment philosophically, adopting a non-serious
approach to work in hand, getting ready in a leisurely way for University and caring much about health) of
personality type B have shown less correlation with academic achievement.
By concluding above findings, the current study explored the influence of Type A and B personality on
academic achievement of students. Additionally, Type-A personality students have scored more on academic
achievement than type B personalities.
Recommendations
So, in this regard, it is recommended that personality screening on individual basis may be done in institutions at
the time of admission. So, deficiencies that lie in the students’ personality may be highlighted and rectified by
taking precautionary measures. Specifically, teachers in class by improving teaching methodology may enhance
students’ academic achievement.
Furthermore, students may be prepared and guided to overcome their personality issues by themselves. In
addition, concerned teachers may incorporate with the students’ counselors to resolve personality problems. It is

Influence of Type A and Type B Personality on Academic Achievement of University Students
Vol. IV, No. II (Spring 2019)
85
highly recommended that training sessions may be organized for teachers to enhance personality grooming skills
and resultantly students’ learning.
Moreover, at macro level, personality devel opment interventions plans may be infused in curricul a so that
students’ may become aware of their deficiencies that affect educational attainment and strategies may be adopted
personality wise to enhance the positive impact of personality charac teristics and minimize the negative impact of
personality characteristics generally and with regard to education specifically.
It is recommended for future study that there are several other factors (students’ back ground, students’
interest and study habits) and many more factors that were not highlighted in the present study may be taken into
consideration so that reasons for personality problems may be further explored and rectified.

Aabida Lateef, Muhammad Arshad Dahar and Muhammad Imran Yousuf
86
Global Social Sciences Review (GSSR)
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