, pp.126-131 http://dx.doi.org/10.14257/astl.2016.142.23 Influence of the Big Five Personality Traits of IT Workers on Job Satisfaction Hyo Jung Kim 1Dept. Liberal Education University, Keimyung University Daegu-dong 1095, Dalgubul Street, Dalseo-gu, South Korea kimhj95@kmu.ac.kr Abstract: This study analyzed personal traits of IT workers to examine how these traits affect their Job. Moreover, it further extends its analysis on the effects of job satisfaction on job satisfaction. A survey questionnaire was distributed to IT workers working in Seoul and Daegu in South Korea from September 15 to October 15, 2015. This questionnaire was distributed by e-mail by the Korean Social Science Data Center (KSDC, http://www.ksdcdb.kr/main.do) to computer programmers, IT consultants, and other IT practitioners. First, hypotheses 1, 3, 4, and 5 were supported by the results showing that extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness had a significant effect on job commitment. Second, Hypothesis 2 was not supported by the result as it showed that neuroticism did not have a significant effect on job commitment. Finally, Hypothesis 6 was supported by the result as it showed that job commitment by IT workers has a positive effect on job satisfaction. Keywords: Extraversion, Neuroticism, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Job, Job satisfaction 1 Introduction The IT industry provides a key support function that improves the productivity of functional-activity fields such as production, logistics, and marketing, as well as the general service industry. Productivity improvement and value-added creation depend entirely on human resources. However, according to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, human resources shortages in the IT industry are worsening. As of 2012, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were not able to hire one-third of new software developers, and 30 percent of new database experts. Reportedly, the security industry has recently been struggling with contracted projects due to labor shortage. [1] This study analyzed personal traits of IT workers to examine how these traits affect their Job. Moreover, it further extends its analysis on the effects of job satisfaction on job satisfaction. ISSN: 2287-1233 ASTL Copyright 2016 SERSC
2 Theoretical Background 2.1 The Big Five Personality Traits Personality, as defined by many personality psychologists, typically includes five factors such as neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Personality is a psychological characteristic that determines an individual s behavioral pattern in the long term without being significantly influenced by the environment. It influences individual behavior in various situations. [2] After conducting various personality tests, Costa and McCrae (1992) revealed that people sometimes tend to display emotional instability, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. [3] Moreover, estimated that the big five personality traits model is the most comprehensive and frequently used model. 2.2 Studies on Job Mowday, Porter & Steers (1982) defined job commitment as the relative strength of an individual's identification with and commitment in a particular organization. According to social exchange theory, when employees receive a good deal of support from their supervisor, they tend to feel a sense of duty to pay the organization back, and eventually these committed workers eagerly take on extra work in order to achieve goals set by the supervisor. [4] In this study, job commitment of IT workers functions as an important parameter in studying the job satisfaction of IT workers. 2.3 Studies on Job Satisfaction Job in job satisfaction indicates the same hierarchical level that shares important or specific tasks. Satisfaction is an emotional response from an epistemological perspective. An emotional response here is an internal response that can be inferred only through the theoretical identification process regarding mental process and content in the human brain. [5] According to the definition by Locke (1976), job satisfaction denotes a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one s job or job experience. Furthermore, according to his study, job satisfaction factors can be divided into nine categories of work, pay, promotion, recognition, benefits, working conditions, supervision, co-workers, and company and management. [6] In this study, the job satisfaction of IT workers functions as one important parameter. Copyright 2016 SERSC 127
3 Research Model and Hypothesis 3.1 Research Model Figure 1 shows the study model of this study Big Five Personality Extraversion Neuroticism Openness to Experience Agreeableness Conscientiousness Job Job satisfaction Fig. 1 3. Research Hypothesis This study suggests the following hypothesis. Hypothesis 1 (H1): Extroversion will have a positive effect on job commitment. Hypothesis 2 (H2): Nervousness will have a positive effect on job commitment. Hypothesis 3 (H3): Openness to Experience will have a positive effect on job commitment. Hypothesis 4 (H4): Agreeableness will have a positive effect on job commitment. Hypothesis 5 (H5): Conscientiousness will have a positive impact on job commitment. Hypothesis 6 (H6): Job when IT workers work affects positively on job satisfaction. 128 Copyright 2016 SERSC
4 Research Analysis 4.1. Research Methods and Characteristics of Specimens A survey questionnaire was distributed to IT workers working in Seoul and Daegu in South Korea from September 15 to October 15, 2015. This questionnaire was distributed by e-mail by the Korean Social Science Data Center (KSDC, http://www.ksdcdb.kr/main.do) to computer programmers, IT consultants, and other IT practitioners. The characteristics of the research sample used in this study are shown in [Table 1] below. Table 1. Characteristics of the Study Sample Variable name frequency,(%) male 187(86.5) Sex career salary male 29(13.4) total 216(100) 1 year or less 22(10.2) less than 1-3 years 54(25.0) less than 3-5 years 46(21.3) more than 5 years 94(43.5) total 216(100) less than 2 million won 67(31.0) 2 million won -300 million won 80(37.0) 3 million won -400 million won 30(13.9) 4 million won -5 million won 24(11.1) More than 5 million won 15(7.0) total 216(100) 4.2. Verification of Validity and Reliability of Measurement Tools According to Hair et al. (1998) that the measurement model can be assessed by convergent validity and discriminant validity. Convergent validity was assessed by Cronbach s alpha, construct reliability and average variance extracted (AVE) and Copyright 2016 SERSC 129
discriminant validity was assessed by comparing the correlation of the constructs with the AVE. [7] Furthermore, as shown in [Table 2], discriminant validity is satisfied because the AVE index is larger than the square of the correlation coefficient of each factor (decision coefficient). [7] [Table 2] below shows the AVE values and correlation coefficients. Table 2. Discriminant validity test results concept 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Extraversion 0.829 Neuroticism -0.003 0.794 Openness to Experience 0.441-0.010 0.775 Agreeableness, 0.457-0.040 0.350 0.812 Conscientiousness 0.302-0.023 0.380 0.625 0.797 Job 0.158 0.194 0.432 0.518 0.538 0.814 Job satisfaction 0.224-0.186 0.261 0.537 0.453 0.561 0.798 Note) Diagonal shading: Square root value of AVE 4.3. Hypothesis Verification Result The hypothesis test results for the whole model proposed in this study are summarized in [Table 3]. Table 3. Hypothesis testing results Hypothesis H 1 H 2 H 3 H 4 path Extraversion -> Job Neuroticism -> Job Openness to Experience -> Job Agreeableness -> Job path coefficient t-value acceptance 0.186 2.240** Adoption -0.044-0.617 Dismissal, 0.349 4.442*** Adoption 0.198 2.538** Adoption 130 Copyright 2016 SERSC
H 5 H 6 Conscientiousness -> Job Job -> Job satisfaction ***p<0.01, **p<0.05, *p<0.1 0.175 2.014** Adoption 0.362 4.669*** Adoption 5 Conclusion This study investigated the effect of personality traits of IT workers on job satisfaction through job commitment. The study first examined the effect of personality traits of IT workers on job commitment and further examined the effect of job commitment on job satisfaction. The results of the study can be summarized as follows: First, hypotheses 1, 3, 4, and 5 were supported by the results showing that extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness had a significant effect on job commitment. Second, Hypothesis 2 was not supported by the result as it showed that neuroticism did not have a significant effect on job commitment. Finally, Hypothesis 6 was supported by the result as it showed that job commitment by IT workers has a positive effect on job satisfaction. References 1. Hoon, P. S.: SW is power, IT Chosun, (2014) 2. Davis-Blake, A., Pfeffer, J.: Just a mirage: The search for dispositional effects in organizational research, Academy of Management Review, 14(3), 1989, pp. 385-400 (1989) 3. Costa, P. T., McCrae, R. R.: NEO-PI-R Professional manual, Odessa, FI: Psychological Assessment Resources (1992) 4. Mowday, R. T., Porter, W. L., Steers, M. R.: Employee Organization Linkage-the Psychology of Absenteeism and Turnover, Academic Press, New York (1982). 5. Locke, E. A.: The Nature and Causes of Job Satisfaction, Rand-Mcnally, College Publish CO. (1976) 6. Beaty, R. W., Schnier, C. E., Personnel Administrational: An Experiential Skill Building Approach(2nd)", Addison Wesley (1981). 7. Hair, J. A., R. E. Anderson, R. L.: Tatham and W. C. Black, Multivariate Data Analysis (5th edition), New Jersey, Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall (1998) Copyright 2016 SERSC 131