Development and predictive validity of a brief measure of the Big Five personality in organisational contexts

Abstract

The Big Five personality model, as a representative example of personality theory, has been extensively employed to anticipate employee behaviour in organisational management contexts. However, the current Big Five personality scales comprise an excessive number of items, which often act as a deterrent for empirical researchers. For this reason, a brief measure of the Big Five personality based on the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) was developed and validated. Study 1 employed exploratory factor analysis to develop a 15-item IPIP-NEO (IPIP-NEO-15), which demonstrated robust convergent correlation with the original scale. Confirmatory factor analysis further confirmed that the IPIP-NEO-15 had a good five-factor structure with good internal consistency. Study 2 sought to elucidate the mechanisms through which the Big Five personality traits influence employee guanxi. The results of the predictive validity analysis indicated that conscientiousness, extraversion and openness were significantly and positively correlated with employee guanxi, whereas agreeableness and neuroticism exhibited no significant correlation with this construct. The appraisal of emotion in others mediated the relationships between conscientiousness, extraversion, openness and employee guanxi. This study presents a reliable, valid and concise instrument for personality assessment in organisational settings, offering practical implications for organisational management.