The contributions of personality traits to the core, components, and development of occupational well-being

This article aims to clarify how the Big Five personality traits predict individual differences and changes in three unique occupational well-being components (i.e., the variance that does not overlap with the other two components), beyond core occupational well-being (i.e., the shared variance of the components). We conceptualized occupational well-being as job satisfaction, work meaningfulness, and work psychological richness, and considered employees’ priorities in occupational well-being components. Across seven monthly measurement waves, N = 612 participants provided data, which were analyzed using linear mixed-effect models, growth-curve analyses, and multinomial regression analyses. All five personality traits positively predicted core occupational well-being. Relationships with the unique occupational well-being components differed. Emotional stability, conscientiousness, and openness most strongly predicted occupational well-being. Openness most strongly predicted growth in core occupational well-being. Openness and agreeableness were the best predictors of employees’ priorities in occupational well-being components.