Do Personality Traits Affect Productivity? Evidence from the Laboratory

Abstract

While survey data supports a strong relationship between personality and labour market outcomes, the exact mechanisms behind this association remain unexplored. We take advantage of a controlled laboratory set-up to explore whether this relationship operates through productivity. Using a realeffort task, we analyse the impact of the Big Five personality traits on performance. We find that more neurotic subjects perform worse, and that more conscientious individuals perform better. These findings suggest that at least part of the effect of personality on labour market outcomes operates through productivity. In addition, we find evidence that gender and university major affect this relationship.

Dishonesty in health care practice: A behavioral experiment on upcoding in neonatology

“…This is in line with behavioral experiments showing that Conscientiousness is positively and Neuroticism is negatively correlated with performance (Callen et al, 2018;Cubel et al, 2016;Donato et al, 2017). The reason might be that our personality measures are noisy and the sample is small.…”

“…5 Experimental evidence, however, is mixed as to which specific traits are behaviorally relevant (e.g., Bejarano, Green, & Rassenti, 2016) and whether their impact depends on the experimental context and task. For instance, Conscientiousness has been found to be positively correlated with individuals' performance in an experimental real-effort task, whereas for Neuroticism, there is a negative relationship (Cubel, Nuevo-Chiquero, Sanchez-Pages, & Vidal-Fernandez, 2016). Similar relationships are observed in health care settings (Callen et al, 2018;Donato et al, 2017).…”

“…It is meant to complement empirical studies. (c) The availability of individual behavioral data allows the link to individual characteristics (e.g., Cubel, Nuevo-Chiquero, Sanchez-Pages, & Vidal-Fernandez, 2016;Donato, Miller, Mohanan, Truskinovsky, & Vera-Hernandez, 2017). (b) Our controlled lab environment enables us to analyze the causal effect of one variable of interest in an otherwise stable scenario (e.g., Falk & Heckman, 2009)-in particular, the effect of audits and fines on dishonesty.…”

Personality and pay: do gender gaps in confidence explain gender gaps in wages?

“…It is a noteworthy finding that the only trait that was found to advantage women-conscientiousness-is one that has been demonstrated to be directly productivity-enhancing in the workplace: individuals who are well organized, dependable, hard-working and efficient have been proven to be quantifiably more productive (Barrick and Mount, 1991;Salgado, 1997;Fallon et al, 2000;Hurtz and Donovan, 2000;Chang and Smithikrai, 2010;Cubel et al, 2016). On the other hand, the traits that were found to advantage men are not necessarily indicative of higher productivity, but instead could be merely signals of personal ambition and confidence: individuals who have a stronger hope for success, weaker fear of failure and lower agreeableness are more likely to promote their own abilities, put themselves forward for challenging roles, and negotiate strongly for pay rises-all actions that are conducive to higher wages.…”

Development Accounting Using PIAAC Data

“…While broader than most measures used in literature, our human capital composite is far from complete. For instance, findings by Cubel et al (2016) highlight the importance of non-cognitive skills for individual productivity which suggests that these also represent an important part of a country's stock of human capital. In this regard it would be desirable if future waves of PIAAC were to include better measures of individuals' non-cognitive skills, for instance measures of personality traits such as extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, conscientiousness, and openness to experience, characteristics which psychologists call "the big five."…”