Who should you hire as teacher? Assessing University Teachers’ Performance via Big Five Personality Factor

ABSTRACT Purpose: Competent and talented teachers are the backbone of any educational institutions, and finding such teachers has become the most difficult task for educational administration. In view of this, the present study examines the big five personality factors (i.e., extroversion, agreeableness, consciousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience) of university teachers on their performance in terms of teacher-related work, research-related work, and departmental-related work. Methodology: Simple random sampling was used to collect primary data from teachers of three university located incentral region of India. University teachers who are employed for at least one year were included as participant in the present study. Findings: Results revealed that extroversion, consciousness, and openness to experience factors of big five personality model were found significantly associated with university teachers’ performance, whereas neuroticism factor negatively correlated with teachers’ performance. However, agreeableness did not contribute to the university teachers’ performance. Practical Implications: The outcomes of the study will be fruitful to all the educational institutions intending to hire competent and skilled employees who can perform teacher-, research-, and departmental related-tasks effectively. Originality:The present study is itself a novel study as it addresses the underlying issue faced by recruiting authority that whom to hire based on their personality traits with an intent to who can perform teaching-, research-, and departmental-related responsibilities. Keywords: Big five model, Personality factors, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Consciousness, Neuroticism, Openness to Experience, Teachers’ Performance.