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Personality Traits and Career Success: Understanding Workplace Dynamics

How do personality traits affect promotions? This study examines the relationship between personality traits and career advancement using personnel records from a business solutions firm. Our findings are as follows: Employees with higher levels of extraversion are more likely to be promoted, while those with higher scores in neuroticism have lower chances of promotion. Men tend to score higher in extraversion, which contributes to the gender gap in promotions. Role and task assignments fully mediate the relationship implying that stretch assignments lead to faster promotion. In order to identify the mechanism, we examined three hypotheses: (1) extraverts are overconfidence; (2) extraverts benefit from personality similarity to supervisors; and (3) extraverts can better acquire coordination capabilities and transformational leadership. We find patterns that are consistent with each of the hypotheses, although the actual mediating effect may be limited. This study provides insights for organizations aiming to create a more equitable promotion process.