Magazines | Journals | Books and Articles

The IUP Journal of Organizational Behavior

The Impact of Personality on Job Satisfaction: A Study of Bank Employees in the Southeastern US

Article Details

Pub. Date	: Apr, 2019
Product Name	: The IUP Journal of Organizational Behavior
Product Type	: Article
Product Code	: IJOB41904
Author Name	: Brad Ward
Availability	: YES
Subject/Domain	: Management
Download Format	: PDF Format
No. of Pages	: 20

Price

Download

Abstract

This study reports the results of 106 surveyed employees from a regional bank in the southeastern US. The purpose of this study is to understand how Big Five personality traits—conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to experience, and extraversion—impact job satisfaction. Additionally, this paper investigates which job satisfaction facets, recognition, the work itself, achievement, growth, responsibility, policy, supervision, relationships, working conditions, salary and benefits, relate to job satisfaction. The Big Five inventory questionnaire and the Universal Dual-Factor Survey, based on Herzberg’s Two-Factor theory of motivators and hygiene factors, were used to capture participant responses. The work itself and recognition were the strongest predictors of job satisfaction. Conscientiousness was related to, but was not a predictor of, job satisfaction. The study concludes with theoretical and practical implications.

Description

This paper studies the job satisfaction and personality of employees at a mid-sized bank in the southeastern US. From a regional perspective, southern states have the highest quit rate (27.6%) and the financial sector, in general, has a moderate quit rate of 14.4% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017). Thus, banking managers in this region benefit from having satisfied employees to minimize quit rates. Job satisfaction is often the topic of organizational psychology research because it is correlated with “employee motivation and job performance, reduced turnover and absenteeism, organizational citizenship behavior, and organizational commitment” (Kayal and Das, 2016). Job satisfaction consists of facets, or factors, such as pay and recognition, which lead to a general sense of being satisfied. Employees who are satisfied with their jobs are likely to persist in their chosen career (Eason et al., 2015). From a humanistic perspective, individuals partially derive their identity from work, and employees who are happy at work tend to be happier in life (Hahn et al., 2016).