Research Feed

This study combined results from 203 previous studies (nearly 4,800 correlations) to see how specific, narrow personality traits, not just the broad "Big Five," predict two things: whether someone becomes seen as a leader (emergence) and whether they're actually good at leading (effectiveness). The researchers found that these two outcomes are often driven by different traits. For example, assertiveness (a piece of extraversion) explains most of why extraverts tend to become leaders in the first place, even though extraversion overall isn't a strong predictor of whether they lead well once in charge. Similarly, being hardworking, organized, and self-disciplined (all part of conscientiousness) predicted job performance as a leader, while other conscientiousness-related traits, like rule-following, did not. The study also found that what makes a good leader depends on context: optimism mattered more for top executives, while being highly organized mattered more for student leaders than for people already working in organizations. Combining these narrow traits into custom-weighted scores predicted leadership success much better than using the broad Big Five traits alone, suggesting that companies could build better, more targeted assessments for hiring and promoting leaders.

In a study of 425 Iraqi healthcare workers, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Openness positively predicted innovative work behavior, while Agreeableness and Neuroticism predicted it negatively. Psychological safety mediated all five relationships, meaning employees' sense that risk-taking was safe determined whether their traits translated into innovation. Notably, Agreeableness boosted psychological safety yet still reduced innovation directly: agreeable employees felt safe but avoided the interpersonal friction innovation often requires, prioritizing harmony over disruptive idea-sharing.

This study used eye-tracking with 30 construction workers (extreme scorers on the Big Five) to examine how personality traits relate to hazard-related visual attention in work-at-height scenarios. High-Agreeableness and High-Conscientiousness workers showed the most hazard-oriented attention—longer fixations on critical zones, higher risk-area fixation probability, and the top two Visual Attention Efficacy scores (0.839 and 0.765). High-Openness and High-Extraversion workers displayed broader, more exploratory scanning but weaker focus on high-risk areas, yielding the lowest efficacy scores (0.163 and 0.137). High-Neuroticism workers showed fragmented, unstable attention patterns, landing at an intermediate efficacy level (0.230), consistent with Attentional Control Theory's account of anxiety impairing top-down attentional control.

A 2026 South African study (n=118) found work engagement positively linked to all Big Five traits except neuroticism, which correlated negatively. Extraversion and conscientiousness were the strongest predictors. Basic psychological need satisfaction (especially "joyful connection") explained additional engagement variance beyond personality traits alone. Research purpose: This study investigated the associations among work engagement, personality traits, and basic psychological needs from an organisational neuroscience perspective. Motivation for the study: Few studies have explore...

This correlational study of 80 Filipino public school employees examined how Big Five traits relate to workplace relationship quality. Employees scored high on agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and extraversion, with moderate neuroticism. All four high-scoring traits positively and significantly correlated with communication, trust, job performance, and perceived leadership style. Neuroticism showed no significant relationship with any of these factors, suggesting it is a poor predictor of workplace relationship quality.

This study of leaders across 200 organizations found that Extraversion and Agreeableness are the strongest predictors of transformational leadership behavior. While Openness to Experience showed an initial positive correlation, its impact vanished when controlling for other traits, and Neuroticism and Conscientiousness remained unrelated. Interestingly, broad personality domains predicted leadership better than specific facets, and transformational behaviors significantly improved leader effectiveness even after accounting for transactional styles.