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Personality As A Determinant Of Innovative Behaviour In The Workplace
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1.3STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
In
business today, firms must innovate on a continuous basis to stay
competitive and to survive in the long run. Employees can innovate
either because it is part of their job description or by expressing
voluntary innovative behaviour (Dörner, 2012). Therefore, since
innovation is expected from employees either as part of their job
description or they do it voluntarily, it is important to know if the
personality of these individuals will serve as a major factor that will
trigger the ability to innovate new ideas, that will sustain the
organization and keep the business running especially in a competitive
environment. The personality traits to be considered during this study
are Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and
Neuroticism. Very little published research literature has been done in
Nigeria on the relationship between innovative behaviour and its
relationship with personality traits in the workplace. This study aims
to fill the gap in knowledge by seeking to find out the relationship
that exists between innovative behaviour and personality traits in the
workplace.
1.4 OBJECTIVES OF STUDY
The general objective
of this study is to observe the relationship between personality traits
and innovative behaviour in the workplace:
(1) To determine the relationship between extraversion and innovative behaviour.
(2) To investigate the correlation between agreeableness and innovative behaviour.
(3) To predict innovative behaviour from conscientiousness.
(4) To determine the relationship between neuroticism and innovative behaviour.
(5) To understand the relationship between openness and innovative behaviour.
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY
The
study is expected to contribute to scientific knowledge and also
provide practical ways of enhancing innovative behaviour using
employees’ personality traits. This work is also expected to direct the
organisation during recruitment process, so that they will be able to
select individuals that possess the right personality traits that will
promote innovation in the organisation. Lastly the significance of this
study to the targeted population is to help them identify personality
traits inherent in then that support innovation and be able to increase
the exhibition of such traits.
1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The work
examined prime factors that determine innovative behaviour in the
workplace, which explored workers of all six APTECH offices in Lagos
state.
1.7 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF VARAIABLES OF THE STUDY
INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOUR
This
can be defined as any behaviour exhibited by the employee of an
organisation that does not only include idea generation, but also
behaviours needed to implement ideas and achieve improvements that will
enhance, successful business performances in an organisation.
PERSONALITY
This
can be defined as the combination of characteristics or qualities that
form an individual’s distinctive character. It is an employee’s
individual differences in characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling
and behaving. And this is the individual’s score obtained from the BIG
FIVE personality scale.
TRAIT
This can be defined as an employee’s distinguishing quality or characteristics, typically peculiar to one person.
OPENNESS TO EXPERIENCE
This
can be explained using the six facets of the trait, these are Fantasy
(the tendency towards a vivid imagination and fantasy life), Aesthetics
(the tendency to appreciate art, music, and poetry), Feelings (being
receptive to inner emotional states and valuing emotional experience),
Actions (the inclination to try new activities, visit new places, and
try need food), Ideas (the tendency to be intellectually curious and
open to new ideas) and Values (the readiness to re-examine traditional
social, religious, and political values) and also the scores obtained
from the individual’s openness to experience subscale of personality, is
measured by the BIG FIVE personality scale.
CONSCIENTIOUSNESS
This
is defined as the employee’s trait of being thorough, careful or
vigilant, it implies executing a task efficiently. It includes how
efficient and organized an employee is, and the score obtained by the
individuals on conscientiousness subscale of personality, is measured by
the BIG FIVE personality scale.
EXTRAVERSION
This can be defined
as traits that manifest in outgoing, talkative, energetic behaviours in
an employee, and also the score is obtained from the individual, on the
extraversion subscale of personality, as measured by the BIG FIVE
personality scale.
AGREEABLENESS
Agreeableness refers to those
traits that manifest in an employee’sbehaviour that is perceived as
kind, sympathetic, cooperative, warm and considerate. The score obtained
by the individual on the agreeableness subscale of personality, is
measured by the BIG FIVE personality scale.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]This dissertation explores Personality traits as a determinant of Innovative behaviour in the workplace. The relationship between Personality traits and Innovative behaviour in the workplace were examined.A convenience sample of 200 participants was drawn for the study. The data was gathered with the aid of a standardized structured questionnaire, comprising of an innovative scale and a big five personality scale.The results were correlated using Pearson product moment correlation. The results g ... Continue reading---
