Intelligence, “Big Five” personality traits, and work drive as predictors of course grade
Section snippets
Research design
A field study of students in one course taught by one instructor over a period of 5 years measured course grades, general intelligence via the Otis–Lennon test, a measure of the “Big Five” personality traits tailored for college students, and a measure of work drive.
Participants
The sample for this study was comprised of a total of 175 students enrolled in a senior-level course in psychological testing from 1997 to 2001 at a large southeastern state university. The same professor taught this course each of
Results
Table 1 displays the descriptive statistics and the correlation matrix for the study variables. As can be seen from this table, the following constructs were significantly related to course grade: Openness (r=0.16, P<0.05), Conscientiousness (r=0.18, P<0.05), Work Drive (r=0.28, P<0.01), and general intelligence (r=0.40, P<0.01).
To examine the incremental validity of the Big Five and work drive constructs above and beyond general intelligence, we conducted a hierarchical multiple regression
Discussion
Our results confirmed the significant, positive relationship between general intelligence and course grade. This result is consistent with results of other studies that found a significant positive relationship between SAT/ACT scores and course grades (Dollinger & Orf, 1991, Paunonen & Ashton, 2001). Since SAT correlates about 0.70 with the Otis Lennon Mental Ability Test (Otis & Lennon, 1969), it is an open question whether SAT or ACT scores uniquely related to course grades after controlling
References (44)
- et al.
Personality and performance in “personality”conscientiousness and openness
Journal of Research in Personality
(1991) - et al.
Conscientiousness and integrity at work
- et al.
An empirical investigation of self-esteem as a composite construct
Journal of Vocational Behavior
(1984) - et al.
The Big Five personality dimensions and the process of institutional departure
Contemporary Educational Psychology
(1998) - et al.
Big Five predictors of academic achievement
Journal of Research in Personality
(2001) - et al.
Personality structure: the return of the Big Five
- et al.
Psychological testing
(1997) - et al.
The big five personality dimensions and job performancea meta-analysis
Personnel Psychology
(1991) Work values and job satisfaction
Journal of Applied Psychology
(1969)- et al.
Noncognitive predictors of academic success for international studentsa longitudinal study
Journal of College Student Development
(1988)
Cognitive, interest, and personality variables predicting first—semester GPA
Psychological Reports
The work ethic: working values and values that work
Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences
The NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) professional manual
Personality structureemergence of the five-factor model
Annual Review of Psychology
Can university success and first-year job performance be predicted from academic achievement, vocational interest, personality and biographical measures?
Psychological Reports
The development of marker variables for the Big-Five factor structure
Psychological Assessment
Double jeopardywork ethic differences in youth at risk of school failure
Career Development Quarterly
Personality assessment
The “big five” factor taxonomy: dimensions of personality in the natural language and in questionnaires
Measurement of job and work involvement
Journal of Applied Psychology
Relationship of job characteristics to job involvement, satisfaction, and intrinsic motivation
Journal of Applied Psychology
Cited by (159)
The influence of personality on learning outcomes and attitudes: The case of discussants in the classroom
2023, International Journal of Management EducationInfluence of personality and modality on peer assessment evaluation perceptions using Machine Learning techniques
2023, Expert Systems with ApplicationsLinking workplace ostracism to turnover intention: A moderated mediation approach
2021, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism ManagementBorn this way or formed this way? Distal personality traits and proximal self-efficacy of Malaysian students and their academic performance
2024, Environment and Social PsychologyAre learning styles useful? A new software to analyze correlations with grades and a case study in engineering
2023, Computer Applications in Engineering Education