Maximising happiness at work : are we in the right industry that best suits our personalities and what maximises happiness at work?

Abstract

This paper aims to achieve two objectives: Firstly, to assess if individuals are in the industry that best fits their BIG Five Personality Traits , and secondly to examine the overall influence of Big Five Traits, industry type, and the interaction of Traits on Industry via a Match Variable on Job Satisfaction. On the first objective, we will look for the BIG Five Traits that increase the likelihood of being in each industry using a Multinomial Regression (Model 1). Next we will assess the actual traits that increase Job Satisfaction in each industry using Ordinary Least Square method (Model 2). A cross analysis between these two models allows us to observe if there are matches between traits that increase the chance to be in a particular industry and traits would enhance Job Satisfaction for that industry. To further probe into the question if individuals are in the industry that best fit them, we introduce the Match Variable to evaluate the extent of fit between the actual industry one is currently in and the supposedly “Best Fit Industry” for each respondent in the third model. As add-ons to previous research, we investigate this topic using industrial type rather than occupational type to thoroughly analyze the unique job nature present in each industry. Therefore, we hope this paper can provide a deeper understanding on the current Job Satisfaction level of employees, as well as new insights on how personalities may vary across industries and the effects on Job Satisfaction.

Cross sectional data taken from the British Household Panel Survey Wave 15 (2005) was used for econometric modeling. The sample consists of 8200 random employed participants across Britain. Five standardized measures are used to account for the BIG Five traits while perceived Job Satisfaction is used as a proxy for actual Job Satisfaction. Control variables are Gender, Age, Marital Status, Health Status, Income, and Hours of Work.

The main findings suggest that firstly, a higher level of Agreeableness, Conscientiousness and a lower level of Neuroticism have significant positive influences on Job Satisfaction for most industries. Also, there are interesting trends between traits that increase the probability of being in each industry and the traits that enhance Job Satisfaction for that industry. These trends are as discussed in Section 4.

Secondly, from the complete model (Model 3), the industry that offers the highest Job Satisfaction is Agriculture while the industry that offers the lowest Job Satisfaction is Manufacturing. Also, an increase in Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Extraversion increases Job Satisfaction while an increase in Neuroticism decreases Job Satisfaction. Lastly and surprising, the result suggests a match between individual traits and the “Best-Fit Industry” has negative impact on Job Satisfaction.

The limitations of this report include the broad job functions incorporated in each industry, lack of more controlled variables such as parental job status and education, uneven distribution of sample size across industries and a lack of significant data that support our expectations. Hence, replicate studies and further research can be conducted either to debunk or consolidate our findings. Nonetheless, our findings are relevant to both job seekers and employers as references on what traits should both look out for in order to maximize Job Satisfaction and minimize cost derived from workplace unhappiness in the various industries.