Impact of Personality Traits on Ethical Behavior

Abstract

Personality traits and ethical behavior have a significant psychological characteristics, which can be utilized as an important interpreters of many outcomes. However, they are commonly studied in separate ways, providing a path to create an understanding of their relationships. The research study has reviewed different perspectives in regards to understand the nature of the relationships between personality traits and ethical behavior and conceptualized them so that it can provide support for understanding the strength of these relationships. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the link between five factors of personality traits and ethical behavior. Neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness as the main factors of personality traits have been hypothesized to predict ethical behavior. By using an adapted survey questionnaire, data were collected from teaching staff at public sector higher education institutions of Sindh, Pakistan. Multiple regression analysis was applied to 150 samples and this showed that neuroticism has expected negative association with ethical behavior however extroversion has shown negative impact on ethical behavior, though openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness have shown positive and significant impact on the ethical behaviour of employees. This research study has developed the foundation that more perceptive based traits are more strongly related to ethics and more emotionally based traits are less strongly related to values. This is an empirical study which may contribute to the literature on ethical behaviour, psychology and employee development.