Personality assessment and the prediction of future job performance: A review

Abstract

Organisations are increasingly exploring ways of distinguishing themselves in their market, attract and retain customers, and increase productivity. Employees are also increasingly being recognised as crucial to the success of these objectives. Personality assessment has been shown to be a valid predictor of future performance at work. Through selecting the right people for the roles initially, using personality assessment, undesirable outcomes such as counterproductive work behaviour, poor performance, and burnout can be avoided. The capacity of particular personality traits to predict future performance in teams and different professions has been extensively researched and is discussed in the following review, specifically focussing on the Big Five traits and the Dark Triad. Research regarding relationships between employee personality traits and counterproductive work behaviour and burnout are also reviewed, specifically in the context of the disability profession.