Personality and work motivation

Abstract A total of 92 job applicants completed the Eysenck Personality Profiler (EPP) which measures the three primary (superfactor) traits (as well as 21 second-order factors), and the Work Values Questionnaire, which requires subjects to rate how important various work factors were to them when considering applying for a job. These work factors were then categorised into the traditional Herzberg classification of Hygiene and Motivation factors, each with a satisfactory internal reliability. Correlational and regressional analyses showed that extraverts stressed the importance of motivation factors to them, while neurotics rated hygiene factors as more important to them in choosing a particular job. Psychoticism was marginally related to the hygiene factor, as was test-taking style. In view of the fact that personality factors appeared to account for between 20 and 30% of the variance in work performance, it is surprising that they have been neglected, until recently, in the organisational psychology literature.

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