Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Personality reflects relatively stable patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving, though trait expression can vary across situations and over time. As organizations increasingly incorporate personality testing into personnel selection, professional development, and other processes, business students should learn how to interpret and apply these tools. In this exercise, students apply their knowledge of the Big Five personality framework to analyze an example employee profile and identify potential strengths and challenges. They later discover the profile belongs to the instructor—a twist intended to facilitate discussion about navigating personality at work and set the stage for a reflection assignment in which students take a personality test and evaluate their own results. The exercise promotes critical thinking and self-awareness, and can be adapted across various teaching contexts, levels, and modalities, making it a versatile tool for exploring the role of personality in organizational behavior.

Keywords

personality assessment organizational behavior self-reflection

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alarcon

Eschleman

K. J.

Bowling

N. A.

(2009). Relationships between personality variables and burnout: A meta-analysis. Work & Stress, 23(3), 244–263. https://doi.org/10.1080/02678370903282600

Barrick

M. R.

Mount

M. K.

(1991). The Big Five personality dimensions and job performance: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 44(1), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.1991.tb00688.x

Barrick

M. R.

Mount

M. K.

Judge

T. A.

(2001). Personality and performance at the beginning of the new millennium: What do we know and where do we go next? International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 9(1–2), 9–30. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2389.00160

Borchers

(2025, February 18). How flunking a personality test can cost you your dream job. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/jobs-hiring-personality-test-5cd8b25c

Goldberg

L. R.

(2024, July 25). International personality item pool. https://ipip.ori.org/

Heine

S. J.

Buchtel

E. E.

(2009). Personality: The universal and the culturally specific. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 369–394. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163655

Judge

T. A.

Bono

J. E.

Ilies

Gerhardt

M. W.

(2002). Personality and leadership: A qualitative and quantitative review. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(4), 765–780.

Judge

T. A.

Heller

Mount

M. K.

(2002). Five-factor model of personality and job satisfaction: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(3), 530–541. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.87.3.530

Kotov

Gamez

Schmidt

Watson

(2010). Linking “big” personality traits to anxiety, depressive, and substance use disorders: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 136(5), 768–821. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020327

10.

Levashina

Campion

M. A.

(2007). Measuring faking in the employment interview: Development and validation of an interview faking behavior scale. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(6), 1638–1656. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.92.6.1638

11.

McCrae

R. R.

Costa

P. T.

(1987). Validation of the five-factor model of personality across instruments and observers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52(1), 81–90. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.52.1.81

12.

Roberts

B. W.

Mroczek

(2008). Personality trait change in adulthood. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17(1), 31–35. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2008.00543.x

13.

Ryan

R. M.

Deci

E. L.

(2020). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation from a self-determination theory perspective: Definitions, theory, practices, and future directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 61, Article 101860. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101860

14.

Sackett

P. R.

Zhang

Berry

C. M.

Lievens

(2022). Revisiting meta-analytic estimates of validity in personnel selection: Addressing systematic overcorrection for restriction of range. Journal of Applied Psychology, 107, 2040–2068. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000994

15.

Speer

A. B.

Delacruz

A. Y.

Chawota

Wegmeyer

L. J.

Tenbrink

A. P.

Gibson

Frost

(2025). Evaluating the impact of faking on the criterion-related validity of personality assessments. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 33(1), Article e12518. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsa.12518

16.

Sweet

Michaelsen

L. K.

(Eds.). (2023). Team-based learning in the social sciences and humanities. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003447528

17.

Swider

B. W.

Zimmerman

R. D.

(2010). Born to burnout: A meta-analytic path model of personality, job burnout, and work outcomes. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 76(3), 487–506. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2010.01.003

18.

Tett

R. P.

Guterman

H. A.

(2000). Situation trait relevance, trait expression, and cross-situational consistency: Testing a principle of trait activation. Journal of Research in Personality, 34(4), 397–423. https://doi.org/10.1006/jrpe.2000.2292

The Big Five in Action: An Interactive Approach to Exploring Personality at Work

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References