Dispositional approach to job satisfaction: role of the big five personality taxonomy

Abstract

Background and aims: The backbone of any organisation is its workers. They are the means to achieve success and the drivers to obtain goals. For this to be accomplished, an understanding of employee job satisfaction is of fundamental importance. This paper focuses on being able to predict whether personality serves as a determinant in job satisfaction within the Indian population. The literature concerning this dispositional approach is somewhat restricted and displays a western bias to it.  The purpose of this study was to identify whether the data from the Indian population, which is so culturally distinct from the West, is consistent with the existing literature, and to report the cross-sectional differences in this relationship between job satisfaction and personality across various corporate occupations. Method: A quantitative study was conducted using two psychological inventories (Job Satisfaction Survey and Big Five Inventory), combined into a single survey, with 53% males and 47% females across seven different cities in India, aged 21-60 who were working in a corporate office. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was used to perform various tests and analyse the results. Results: On examining the impact of the Big Five personality traits on job satisfaction levels, it was revealed that neuroticism had the strongest association with job satisfaction amongst all other personality dimensions. High levels of neuroticism lead to low levels of job satisfaction. Extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness displayed low levels of a positive relationship to job satisfaction, which implied that high levels of all these traits were linked to high levels of satisfaction at the workplace. Even though an analysis of variance did not reveal any significant variations in job satisfaction levels across different groups, analyses of cross-sectional data exhibited that occupational factors did play a role in altering the relationship between personality and job satisfaction. Conclusion: Personality is a relatively stable component throughout an individual’s lifetime. This stability is the reason for its influence over all aspects of life, including work. Personality determines individual attitudes and behaviour at work that may be seen as predictors of satisfaction or failure. The understanding of this relationship needs a more in-depth investigation because a job-person fit within every organisation will ensure a happier staff and a smooth-running business. There are many gaps found within the literature that provides many opportunities for future researchers to explore this relationship further to remove the present scepticism surrounding the impact of personality on job satisfaction.