THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS AND JOB PERFORMANCE: A META‐ANALYSIS
verifiedrich profile · Personnel Psychology · 1991
BARRICK, MURRAY R.; MOUNT, MICHAEL K.
How this was studied
A meta-analytic synthesis — it pools many primary studies rather than running a single design, so there is no single-study diagram.
What this article reports
The findings we extracted from this work, normalized into Principia’s relationship form (X → Y). Each feeds the synthesized models below.
conscientiousness → training performance
conscientiousness → overall job performance
extraversion → sales performance
conscientiousness → task performance
conscientiousness → sales performance
Models this article informs
The meta-analytic priors this article contributes evidence to — its place in the broader synthesis.
conscientiousness predicts overall job performance
conscientiousness predicts sales performance
conscientiousness predicts task performance
conscientiousness predicts training performance
extraversion predicts sales performance
In the authors’ words
The article’s own abstract.
This study investigated the relation of the “Big Five” personality dimensions (Extraversion, Emotional Stability, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience) to three job performance criteria (job proficiency, training proficiency, and personnel data) for five occupational groups (professionals, police, managers, sales, and skilled/semi‐skilled). Results indicated that one dimension of personality, Conscientiousness, showed consistent relations with all job performance criteria for all occupational groups. For the remaining personality dimensions, the estimated true score correlations varied by occupational group and criterion type. Extraversion was a valid predictor for two occupations involving social interaction, managers and sales (across criterion types). Also, both Openness to Experience and Extraversion were valid predictors of the training proficiency criterion (across occupations). Other personality dimensions were also found to be valid predictors for some occupations and some criterion types, but the magnitude of the estimated true score correlations was small (ρ < .10). Overall, the results illustrate the benefits of using the 5‐factor model of personality to accumulate and communicate empirical findings. The findings have numerous implications for research and practice in personnel psychology , especially in the subfields of personnel selection, training and development, and performance appraisal.
What the literature says about it
Attributed, open-access quotes from other works that cite this article, plus the citation-graph verdict tally. Corroborations and disputes, in one place — the honest-broker view.
supports “Conscientiousness makes people act in a thoughtful and organized way that leads to better job performance (Barrick and Mount 1991; Hurtz and Donovan 2000).”
supports “…al. (2020) focused on grit and conscientiousness in sports context because both traits have been connected to deliberate practice and performance (Barrick and Mount, 1991; Barrick et al., 2001; Ozer and Benet-Martínez, 2006; Duckworth et al., 2011; Eskreis-Winkler et al., 2014) and are highly…”
supports “Conscientiousness, the fourth personality trait also referred to as dependability, stands out as the strongest predictor of job performance according to Barrick and Mount (1991).”
supports “In general, conscientiousness has a positive correlation with job performance (Barrick and Mount 1991; Hurtz and Donovan 2000).”
supports “Meta-analyses indicate that conscientiousness is consistently related to all job performance criteria for all occupational groups (Barrick & Mount, 1991).”
supports “Studies have shown that indi-Behav viduals with high conscientiousness invest more energy in their work [53,58], leading to improved performance [25].”
supports “For instance, Barrick and Mount (1991) found that conscientiousness, one of the Big Five personality traits, predicts job performance across occupations.”
Ancillary research
Neighbouring works in the citation graph around this article.
- 10.1007/s11156-025-01391-8
- 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1283115
- 10.26487/hebr.v8i1.5543
- 10.29145/eer.72.03
- 10.1007/s10551-024-05643-w
- 10.3390/bs14100936
- 10.52970/grhrm.v5i1.503
Assembled from Principia’s registry — bibliographic record, extracted effect sizes, the models they inform, and open-access citing literature.