Big five personality traits and performance: A quantitative synthesis of 50+ meta‐analyses

Abstract Objective The connection between personality traits and performance has fascinated scholars in a variety of disciplines for over a century. The present research synthesizes results from 54 meta‐analyses ( k = 2028, N = 554,778) to examine the association of Big Five traits with overall performance. Method Quantitative aggregation procedures were used to assess the association of Big Five traits with performance, both overall and in specific performance categories. Results Whereas conscientiousness yielded the strongest effect ( ρ = 0.19), the remaining Big Five traits yielded comparable effects ( ρ = 0.10, 0.10, −0.12, and 0.13 for extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, and openness). These associations varied dramatically by performance category. Whereas conscientiousness was more strongly associated with academic than job performance (0.28 vs 0.20), extraversion (−0.01 vs 0.14) and neuroticism (−0.03 vs −0.15) were less strongly associated with academic performance. Finally, associations of personality with specific performance outcomes largely replicated across independent meta‐analyses. Conclusions Our comprehensive synthesis demonstrates that Big Five traits have robust associations with performance and documents how these associations fluctuate across personality and performance dimensions.