What role does personality play?

The importance of personality traits in the labour market

In Germany, school-leaving qualifications and vocational qualifications play an important role in access to occupations and career success. Earnings and promotion opportunities also differ depending on one’s occupation. In addition to meritocratically legitimized criteria such as certificates and activities performed, it has been proven that non-performance-related characteristics also play a role in educational and labour market success – these include gender, social and ethnic origin. In recent years, various studies have shown that the personality traits of individuals are also of decisive importance. For example, some of these studies show that individuals choose certain occupations depending on their personality (for Germany, cf. e.g. John/Thomsen 2014). Other researchers argue that employers also consider personality traits when selecting applicants because they draw conclusions about aptitude from them (cf. Jackson 2006; Bowles/Gintis/Osborne 2001). Furthermore, numerous studies have shown that success and gratuities on the labour market also depend on the personality traits of employees (for an overview cf. e.g. Almlund et al. 2011; Heckman/Stixrud/Urzua 2006; for wage premiums in Germany cf. Heineck/Anger 2010). Against this background, we examine, on the basis of representative and up-to-date data, the relationships between personality traits, occupational groups and labour market success in Germany.

Data and measurement of personality traits in the working population

The analyses are based on an additional survey to the BIBB/BAuA-Employment Survey 2018 (cf. Information Box).

In this additional survey, among others, the following five validated instruments were used, which had already been incorporated in other surveys:

• Internal vs. external locus of control
  Internal locus of control describes the extent to which an individual is convinced that he can control events and experiences them as a consequence of his own behavior. External locus of control is defined as the extent to which the individual regards events as fate, accidental circumstances or under the control of "powerful others" over whom he has no influence (cf. Kovaleva et al. 2014).
• Occupational self-efficacy
  Occupational self-efficacy means the assessment of one's own capability to execute certain behaviors that lead to the achievement of a goal. In the additional survey, the scale from Abele et al. (2000) was used, which surveys the assessment of one's own capability in relation to specific areas, i.e. occupational tasks and challenges.
• BIG-5 personality dimensions
  The so-called Big Five represent five dimensions in which individuals differ from each other in experience and behavior: Extraversion (e.g. sociability, assertiveness), conscientiousness (self-discipline, determination), neuroticism (low emotional stability), agreeableness (helpfulness, concessions) and openness for experiences (imagination). In the additional survey, the 15-item instrument developed by the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) was used (cf. Dehne/Schupp 2007). Each of the five dimensions is captured here with the help of three statements.
• Procrastination (tendency to postpone things)
  In the additional survey, procrastination was used as a measure of time preference, i.e. the respondents indicated to what extent they tend to postpone things until later (1 item) (cf. Falk et al. 2016).
• Willingness to take risks
  Willingness to take risks describes a person's tendency to take risks or avoid them. The 1-item scale "Risikobereitschaft-1" (willingness to take risks) from Beierlein et al. (2015) was used, which despite its brevity allows a reliable and valid measurement of the construct (cf. ibid.).

The employees interviewed should indicate to what extent different statements apply to them (from 1 "not applicable at all" to 5 "fully applicable") or how willing they are to take risks (1 "not at all willing to take risks" to 5 "very willing to take risks").

The analyses are based on all 8,010 employed persons for whom data on the variables of interest are available. The analyses are carried out on a weighted basis and are thus representative of the core employment population in Germany.

Personality structures in the German working population

Table 1 shows means and standard deviations of the personality traits among the current German working population.

Employed persons in Germany have on average a high internal locus of control, a high occupational self-efficacy and conscientiousness with values above 4. The characteristics agreeableness, extraversion and openness are also relatively pronounced among those in employment (with mean values between 3 and 4). In contrast, the mean values for external locus of control, neuroticism and procrastination are below 3. On average, employed persons also show a medium willingness to take risks with a value of about 3.

Differences between occupational groups

Table 2 shows the mean values¹ of the various personality traits separately for employed persons in different occupational groups (BIBB's main occupational fields based on the classification of occupations in 2010, cf. Tiemann 2018). In each line, the occupational groups with the lowest or highest mean values are highlighted on the personality scales.

Accordingly, those employed in occupations that extract raw materials (1) in Germany are characterized by an above-average willingness to take risks and a high degree of conscientiousness. Those employed in machine-controlling occupations (3) report more frequently than other occupational groups that they are more cautious (less extraversion) and less willing to take risks. Internal locus of control, agreeableness and openness are less pronounced on average among the employed in transport, security and guarding occupations (5). Catering and cleaning occupations (6) are characterized by particularly conscientious workers and those with above-average external locus of control. They also have a lower tendency to postpone things. Employed persons in office and commercial occupations (7) tend to have medium values on all personality traits (as do occupational groups 2 and 4), but they have the second-lowest value on willingness to take risks. The employed in technical and scientific occupations (8) have on average the second lowest external locus of control of all occupational groups. Employed persons in legal, management and economic professions (9) have on average a high internal locus of control (including occupational self-efficacy) and emotional stability (low degree of neuroticism). In artistic, media, humanities and social sciences occupations (10), people more frequently claim to have low self-efficacy and conscientiousness, but have a higher degree of extraversion and openness. In addition, they claim to be less emotionally stable than other occupational groups. Employed persons in health and social care occupations (11) have the highest average values for personality traits of self-efficacy and agreeableness in the workplace, i.e. they are particularly helpful and considerate. In teaching occupations (12), employees show a comparatively high degree of procrastination and the lowest degree of external locus of control and occupational self-efficacy on average.

In the further stages of our project, detailed analyses will show to what extent the described differences between occupations can also be explained by other factors (e.g. qualification levels specific to occupational groups).

Personality and wage differences

A further relevant question is what significance personality traits have for the occupational success of the respondents. This question is now answered by comparing the personality traits of employees with low to medium levels (values from 1 to less than 4) with those with high levels (values from 4 to 5). The Figure shows the average gross monthly wage for the respective groups. Possible correlations between the wage and other characteristics, such as gender or education, which are also related to personality traits, are not taken into account at this stage.

Significant wage differences are evident for five of the ten personality traits: For the characteristics of internal locus of control, occupational self-efficacy and willingness to take risks, significant positive correlations with wages in the working population in 2018 can be identified. These findings correspond with results from other studies in which additional factors were controlled for and, in some of which, causal effects were identified (cf. Almlund et al. 2011). For the characteristics external locus of control and neuroticism, on the other hand, significant negative correlations with wages were found – similar to studies introducing larger sets of control variables (cf. Heineck/Anger 2010). Willingness to take risks (positive) and external locus of control (negative) prove to be particularly relevant for predicting wages.

Conclusion and outlook

Our analyses provide a first, up-to-date insight into the personality structure of the working population in Germany. The data suggest that personality profiles clearly vary between employed persons and also point to systematic differences between occupational groups. Another indication that differences in the personality traits of the employed are highly relevant is that personality traits show significant correlations with wages and thus labour market success. The extent to which such relationships can be explained by other factors such as gender or qualification level is the subject of further analyses. Overall, we see clear potential in at least four fields of VET research – career choice, applicant recruitment, vocational socialization and occupational returns – by taking personality traits into account. Key questions in this regard are:

1. Are young people interested in specific occupations based on their personality and do they ignore other occupations accordingly (self-selection)?
2. To what extent do firms as "gatekeepers" take into account the personality traits of applicants (other-selection) when filling their training places and jobs?
3. To what extent does occupational practice influence the personality of the respective workers in this occupation (socialization)?
4. Which personality traits are particularly rewarded or sanctioned on the labour market today and which lead to the professional success of employed persons?

The analyses presented are to be understood as a first step and must be complemented by more in-depth analyses. Other analyses not presented here refer, for example, to significant gender differences in personality traits and differences in the relationships between personality traits and wages by gender and occupational groups. It is also promising at this point to examine effects at the individual occupational level instead of the very broad main occupational fields. These issues will, among others, be the subject of further work in the current BIBB project.

DR. DANIELA ROHRBACH-SCHMIDT,
Research Associate at the BIBB Research Data Center

CHRISTIAN EBNER
Prof. Dr., Technische Universität Braunschweig, formerly endowed Assistant Professor of the BIBB, University of Cologne

Translation from the German original (published in BWP 2/2019):