Although weakly correlated with job performance across all jobs, these two Big Five traits are more strongly correlated with job performance in jobs with strong social demands (e.g., sales).
Multiple Choice
Conscientiousness and neuroticism
Agreeableness and extraversion
Openness to experience and neuroticism
Agreeableness and neuroticism
Neuroticism and extraversion
The correct answer and explanation is :
The correct answer is Agreeableness and extraversion.
Explanation:
The Big Five personality traits—conscientiousness, neuroticism, agreeableness, openness to experience, and extraversion—are widely used to assess personality and predict job performance. While research suggests that the relationship between personality traits and job performance can vary across different types of jobs, certain traits tend to be more strongly correlated with job performance in roles with specific demands.
1. Agreeableness and Extraversion in Social Jobs:
In jobs with strong social demands, such as sales, customer service, and leadership roles, agreeableness and extraversion are particularly important.
- Agreeableness refers to traits like cooperativeness, trust, and empathy. In social roles, employees need to interact well with others, work in teams, and build strong relationships with clients. Highly agreeable individuals are more likely to engage in prosocial behaviors like helping others, which is critical in jobs requiring social interactions and collaboration.
- Extraversion is associated with sociability, enthusiasm, and assertiveness. Extraverted individuals tend to be energetic, outgoing, and comfortable in social settings. In jobs with high interpersonal interaction, such as sales, extraverted people are more likely to thrive because they enjoy engaging with others, can easily initiate conversations, and feel energized in social environments, which is essential for success in these roles.
Thus, for jobs with strong social demands, agreeableness and extraversion predict higher performance due to their direct relevance to social interactions and communication, essential aspects of these roles.
2. The Other Traits:
- Conscientiousness and neuroticism have been shown to have weaker correlations with job performance in social roles. While conscientiousness is a strong predictor of job performance generally (especially in more structured jobs), it doesn’t have the same strong connection in highly social jobs. Similarly, neuroticism can negatively impact job performance, but its influence is less pronounced in social job settings where emotional stability might be less of a key factor.
In conclusion, agreeableness and extraversion are the two Big Five traits most strongly correlated with job performance in roles requiring significant social interaction, making them the best answer for this question.