Personality and Performance : A Comparative Analysis of Workers in Transition Economies

We use data collected from employees in five transition economies to study whether locus of control and preference for challenge versus affiliation are positively related to worker performance. Participants with more education and who held supervisory positions were more likely to exhibit internal locus of control; those with more schooling and younger workers were more likely to exhibit preference for challenge. We find that earnings are not systematically related to personality in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. However, earnings are positively related to the internal locus of control and preference for challenge among participants of the Armenian and Serbian surveys. In the Russian sample, earnings tend to be higher among workers with a more internal locus of control. For most countries, self-reported performance tends to be significantly higher among workers with preference for challenge. Generally, the size of the personality effect on performance is at least as great as the effect of experience or education. Although more research needs to be done before final conclusions about the causes of cross-country differences can be made, we argue that variation in personality effects across countries may be influenced by level of economic development, degree of market orientation, and cultural diversity