The Big Five Of Personality, Job Performance, And Perceived Autonomy On The Job

This study has two purposes: (I) to examine the relationships between the Big Five of personality and both task and contextual performances; and (2) to examine the
moderating effect of perceived autonomy on the job in the relationships between the Big Five of personality and both task and contextual performances. The sample chosen for this study comprised of the Support Group employees
of the various departments in Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Kedah, who completed two sets of questionnaires administered by the researcher. The findings obtained from the first set of questionnaire (QAI) showed positive and significant relationships between conscientiousness and both task and contextual performances. The relationship between extraversion and contextual performance was also positive and significant, but the relationship between
extraversion and task performance was negative and insignificant. The relationships between openness to experience and both task and contextual performances were
significant but in the negative direction. Although positive relationships were found for agreeableness and emotional stability with both task and contextual performances, these relationships were insignificant. The findings of QAl also showed that perceived autonomy on the job significantly moderated the relationships between agreeableness and task performance, and between conscientiousness and contextual performance. The findings obtained from the second set of questionnaire (QA2) showed
positive and significant relationships for agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience with both task and contextual performances. The relationships
between extraversion and task performance, and between emotional stability and contextual performance were also positive and significant. The findings of QA2 also showed that perceived autonomy on the job was a significant moderator between the relationships for agreeableness, extraversion, and emotional stability with both task
and contextual performances. This study brought forth several significances. Firstly, the relationships between the Big Five of personality and the dimensions of job performance are most likely bidirectional and not unidirectional as found by most past studies. Secondly,
perceived autonomy on the job could affect the personality-performance relations. Lastly, the instruments used in this study were among the first to be tested in the
Malaysian context. Thus, it is hoped that this study could enable future research to build on these findings and instruments, especially in the local context.