Relationship between personality traits and academic performance on a Master of Business Administration programme

South African Journal of Business Management

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Relationship between personality traits and academic performance on a Master of Business Administration programme
 
Creator Schoeman, Renata Kotzee, Willem F.
 
Subject Business Management; Psychology; Leadership personality; traits; selection; criteria; performance; success; MBA; five-factor model
Description Purpose: The main aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between the five-factor model (FFM) personality trait measurements and Master of Business Administration (MBA) academic performance in a triple-crown accredited university in order to assess the effectiveness of current admission systems for a globally accredited MBA degree.Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative database analysis of the academic records and personality profile scores of MBA graduates was conducted. The sample consisted of 663 participants who successfully graduated from the programme during the period 2014–2019. Their final academic results for their MBA and their FFM personality traits (as measured by the Occupational Personality Questionnaire as part of their admission criteria) were analysed.Findings/Results: In the correlation analysis, Openness to Experience and Agreeableness had the strongest correlation (positive and negative, respectively) with academic performance. In the regression analysis, Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability were identified as the best predictors of performance.Practical implications: Three per cent of the variance in academic performance was attributable to personality traits. This supports the necessity of further exploring the best predictors of academic performance. Academic institutions may consider re-evaluating their current practice and choice of tests used as part of the admission criteria, and rather focus on assessing and capacitating students in terms of resilience and motivation.Originality/value: This study adds to the debate regarding the ideal selection criteria for MBA candidates, and indicates that the current selection criteria, also those considered more nuanced and culturally sensitive (e.g. personality assessments), may be flawed.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2022-12-08
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion —
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/sajbm.v53i1.2745
 
Source South African Journal of Business Management; Vol 53, No 1 (2022); 9 pages 2078-5976 2078-5585
 
Language eng
 
Relation
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https://sajbm.org/index.php/sajbm/article/view/2745/2212 https://sajbm.org/index.php/sajbm/article/view/2745/2213 https://sajbm.org/index.php/sajbm/article/view/2745/2214 https://sajbm.org/index.php/sajbm/article/view/2745/2215
 
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Rights Copyright (c) 2022 Renata Schoeman, Willem F. Kotzee https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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