Personality Traits and Further Training

Abstract

The notion of lifelong learning is gaining importance, not only in the labor market but also in other areas of modern societies. Previous research finds variation in occupation-related training participation by worker and workplace characteristics, gender, and education. However, evidence on the individual's socio-emotional skills creating favorable conditions for overall further training is scarce. To close this research gap, we analyze the role of personality for further training participation. First, we compare how the Big Five Personality Dimensions relate to different training types by differentiating between non-formal and informal training measures. Second, we investigate how personality traits affect further training chosen for occupational and private reasons separately. Drawing on a sample of 10,559 individuals from the Adult Stage of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), we find that throughout our estimations, openness to experience positively relates to further training participation and is the most important determinant among the Big Five Personality Dimensions. However, the relationship between personality traits and training participation varies according to the training type and the reason for participating in further training. Moreover, we find gender-specific differences in the association between personality traits and lifelong learning. We conclude that personality is an important predictor of lifelong learning decisions.

Importance of Personality Traits for Destination-Language Acquisition: Evidence for Refugees in Germany

“…Extraversion, conscientiousness, openness, risk appetite, internal locus of control, and resilience positively correlated with German proficiency, while neuroticism implied a negative correlation. These results conform to the literature pointing to these traits’ importance for language acquisition among nonimmigrants (Dewaele 2013; Samimy and Tabuse 1992), human capital accumulation (Caliendo et al 2022; Kim and Kim 2017; Laible, Anger and Baumann 2020; Lechner, Anger and Rammsted 2019), and immigrants’ economic and social prospects (Hahn et al 2019; Obschonka, Hahn and Bajwa 2018). Agreeableness and self-esteem did not seem to relate to language proficiency.…”

“…We focus on these agentic and proactive traits, as they are related to opportunity-seeking behavior, on the one hand (Hahn et al 2019). On the other hand, these traits are most commonly analyzed in the sociological and economic literature on personal agency and can be linked to skill acquisition, for example, through further training (Caliendo et al 2022; Laible, Anger and Baumann 2020).…”

Effect of psychology-based personality development training on the personality of vocational students

“…The labor market, technological changes, and the dynamics of globalization have led to a rapidly developing work environment that requires individuals to develop their personalities (Laible et al, 2020). Continuous investment in human capital through further training is a prerequisite for remaining active and productive in the labor market.…”

“…The personality of an individual is considered a trait that is manifested in the form of certain behaviors, insights, and feelings (Baumert et al, 2017;Rozgonjuk et al, 2021;Sergeeva, 2019). Several studies reveal the use of measures of personality characteristics to predict job performance and it is proven that personality is an important determinant of individual behavior in the workplace (Laible et al, 2020;Pozharkin et al, 2021). Our findings prove that the psychology-based training model has an effect on improving the abilities, personality, and productivity of vocational students and this training model is effective for students to develop students personalities.…”

To Score or Not to Score? A Simulation Study on the Performance of Test Scores, Plausible Values, and SEM, in Regression With Socio-Emotional Skill or Personality Scales as Predictors

“…Pertinent studies often examine socio-emotional skills as predictors of outcomes such as school achievement, career success, participation in further education, or health (e.g., Roberts et al, 2007;Lechner et al, 2017;Rammstedt et al, 2017;Laible et al, 2020). Moreover, akin to many other research areas (Aiken and West, 1991;Westfall and Yarkoni, 2016;Sengewald et al, 2018), it is routinely of importance to examine whether socio-emotional skills incrementally predict an outcome above and beyond covariates such as cognitive skills, socioeconomic status, or other established predictors of that outcome (e.g., Roberts et al, 2007;Rammstedt et al, 2017;Bergner, 2020;Harzer, 2020;Wagner et al, 2020).…”