How Personality affects Job Performance
1. Introduction
Personality trait theories may be defined as a key measurement of habitual outlines of behaviour, thought and emotion (Kassin, 2003). Cattell and Warburton (1967) defined the personality tests (about 200 objective tests with more than 800 variables) that can be objectively scored and whose purpose is hidden from the subject (Cattell &Warburton 1967). They manifested that they are difficult to fake (although they may be sabotaged), and thus such tests would be useful in selection if they could be shown to be valid. The use of the personality traits in employee selection can be very important for understanding employees’ potential. Employers use these personality tests when they are recruiting staff and it provides significant information about candidates’ strengths and weaknesses. Despite this, some other researchers argued that well structured-personality tests do not predict job performance under certain conditions. They suggested social analytical effects (Blickle, et al., 2009), frame-of-reference effects (Bowling & Burns, 2010), cultural variation (Borkenau, et al., 2013), gender variation (Costa et al., 2001) and the effect of the job description (O’Neill et al., 2009) may have an impact on the validity of personality measures in real-world settings. This is the major issue in personal selection criteria and this essay will critically evaluate these two concepts of probability to reveal whether personality traits can predict job performance or they are a poor predictor of job performance.
2. Personality traits and tests
The personality test is a conventional method to establish individuals’ suitability and capability for job performances. It provides insight into various aspects of individuals’ personality and it can help to fit people to the appropriate jobs.
Although different employers may use different constructed personality tests, the similarity of these tests raises the question of reliability, whether they all assess
Personality trait theories may be defined as a key measurement of habitual outlines of behaviour, thought and emotion (Kassin, 2003). Cattell and Warburton (1967) defined the personality tests (about 200 objective tests with more than 800 variables) that can be objectively scored and whose purpose is hidden from the subject (Cattell &Warburton 1967). They manifested that they are difficult to fake (although they may be sabotaged), and thus such tests would be useful in selection if they could be shown to be valid. The use of the personality traits in employee selection can be very important for understanding employees’ potential. Employers use these personality tests when they are recruiting staff and it provides significant information about candidates’ strengths and weaknesses. Despite this, some other researchers argued that well structured-personality tests do not predict job performance under certain conditions. They suggested social analytical effects (Blickle, et al., 2009), frame-of-reference effects (Bowling & Burns, 2010), cultural variation (Borkenau, et al., 2013), gender variation (Costa et al., 2001) and the effect of the job description (O’Neill et al., 2009) may have an impact on the validity of personality measures in real-world settings. This is the major issue in personal selection criteria and this essay will critically evaluate these two concepts of probability to reveal whether personality traits can predict job performance or they are a poor predictor of job performance.
2. Personality traits and tests
The personality test is a conventional method to establish individuals’ suitability and capability for job performances. It provides insight into various aspects of individuals’ personality and it can help to fit people to the appropriate jobs.
Although different employers may use different constructed personality tests, the similarity of these tests raises the question of reliability, whether they all assess