The main purpose of this study is to explore the personality types of academics in Eastern University of Sri Lanka along with personality preferences across faculties and differences of personality preference with respect to religion, staff grade, qualification, gender and marital status. The sample was administrated through the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) questionnaire among the academic staff of 234. The descriptive data includes frequency and percentage of responses for personality type and personality type preference scale. This study has revealed that a largest proportion of personality types is by ISTJ, ESTJ and INTJ among academic staff. In the personality preference scale, a fair preference for extraverts and introverts was found in E-I, while in other three scales, very high preferences were found in Sensing in S-I, thinking in T-F and judging in J-P among academics. From the findings, it could be concluded that the prevalent personality types among the academic staff included the preferences of sensing, thinking and judging and further among the personality types found it was reflected in most with scale combination of thinking and judging. The preference scale of academic profile indicates that the academic culture is subject-centered and focuses on orderliness and hard work.

Academic staff members are professional employees who contribute very significantly to the success of any educational institution. They play a wide variety of roles and their success depends on their personality. According to the literature, the performance and the outcome of undergraduates depend on many factors, among these the personality types are important in determining the success (Sahinidis et al., 2003). Giving consideration for this, many have used the personality type measures to identify appropriate people to enhance (enrich) the performance. There is a manifest need among the educational institutions to address personality relevant issues since the graduates of these institutions are the backbone for the development of the nation.

In the higher educational institutions, teaching and learning take place very often with face-to-face interactions, hence to make it more effective, the personality types of academics and students have to suit each other, and it is more applicable to academics since they serve as a role model. Therefore, it is very much necessary to find out whether the personalities of academics in the institution are matching the requirements of learning and teaching environment.

Organizational Behavior Journal, Personality Preference Across Faculties, Demographic Factors, Myers-Briggs Personality Profiles