Do brighter personalities matter? Relationship between personality and job satisfaction in working pharmacists

INTRODUCTION

Job satisfaction has been variously defined as the degree to which people like their jobs,^[1] or as a work attitude reflecting how people feel about their jobs, in terms of liking or disliking their jobs.^[2] This attitude is measurable at either the overall level or at individual levels of satisfaction for different aspects or facets of jobs such as pay, opportunities for promotion, nature of the work, operating conditions, and supervisors.^[2]

Behavioral science researchers are often interested in measuring predictors of job satisfaction because this construct has been shown to be related to employee motivation, job performance, organizational citizenship behaviors and organizational commitment.^[3] One associated premise for such interest is that individuals who are satisfied with their jobs are both likely to do well and to persist in their chosen careers.^[4] Furthermore, since humans find some of their identity in their work, people who are satisfied with their jobs are likely to be satisfied with other aspects of their lives.^[5]

The factors contributing to individuals being satisfied with their jobs can be categorized into extrinsic and intrinsic factors. One key intrinsic factor is an employee’s internal disposition or personality, a measurable construct. One dominant theory in personality measurements is the Five Factor Model (FFM)^[6] also known as the Big Five traits of neuroticism (N), extraversion (E), agreeableness (A), conscientiousness (C), and openness to experience (O).^[7] As personality is demonstrated to be stable over time, there is a role for person-job fit where individuals select themselves into jobs (and work environments) where they are likely to succeed.^[8,9] Personality as measured by the FFM has been shown to be a predictor of academic success^[10] and career success^[11] in addition to being predictive of life^[12] and career or job satisfaction.^[12,13] Of the five factors, E, C, and N are the three most strongly correlated with job satisfaction^[13] with consistently negative associations for N.

Studies have also shown a relationship, albeit modest, between job performance and job satisfaction^[9] although whether one leads to the other or vice versa is yet to be fully determined.

The Hogan’s Personality Inventory (HPI)^[14] is a personality measurement tool that is based on FFM. It was developed using socio-analytic theory and is used for predicting work effectiveness and occupational outcomes. The HPI which is linked with job performance^[15] was designed to measure the bright side of personality, by describing how we relate to others when we are at our best (or brightest).^[14,16]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw first-hand how pharmacists rallied on the front lines and gave their best at work, going over, and above their given job responsibilities. Prior to the executive order directing pharmacies to begin COVID testing in 2020, one of us conducted a pulse survey on a convenience sample of female pharmacists in the Minority Women Pharmacists Association. The main concern with their individual job performance as noted by respondents was the availability of organizational resources, including labor and equipment (unpublished data). It has been established that extrinsic factors like these, which make up facets of job satisfaction, can impact job satisfaction.^[1,2,17-20]

Studies conducted using the HPI, reported that the most robust predictors of job performance ratings (and job satisfaction) were emotional stability (the opposite of N) and C.^[15] Since pharmacy is a profession involving high levels of attention to detail and disciplined focus, people who describe themselves as conscientious may self-select into the profession. Based on this, we hypothesized that the FFM trait of C would significantly correlate with job satisfaction in working pharmacists. This current study therefore aimed to study the impact of the intrinsic personality factors and their relationship to job satisfaction using the HPI in a cluster sample of working pharmacists as identified through social media channels.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The original HPI is a 206-item instrument consisting of seven primary scales (higher-level constructs) and six occupational scales. The original HPI scales are adjustment, ambition, sociability, likeability (now labeled interpersonal sensitivity), prudence, intellectance (now inquisitive), and school success (now learning approach). The HPI scales and their associated FFM construct in parentheses are defined as follows: Adjustment is the degree to which a person is steady in the face of pressure, or conversely, moody, and self-critical (Emotional Stability). Ambition is the degree to which a person appears leader-like, and achievement-oriented (E). Sociability is the degree to which a person needs and enjoys social interaction (E). Interpersonal Sensitivity is the degree to which a person exhibits tact, social sensitivity, and perceptiveness (A). Prudence is the degree to which a person appears to be conforming and dependable, exhibiting self-control (C). Inquisitive is the degree to which a person seems imaginative, adventurous, and analytical (Intellect/O) and Learning Approach, the degree to which a person enjoys academic activities and values education as a suitable end (Intellect/O).

The six occupational scales based off the personality dimensions in the seven primary scales, describe attitudes and characteristics that have broad and general importance for job performance. They are described as follows:

1. Service orientation

Being attentive, pleasant, and courteous to customers.

2. Stress tolerance

Being able to handle stress, even-tempered, and calm under fire.

3. Reliability

Honesty, integrity, and positive organizational citizenship.

4. Clerical potential

Follows directions, pays attention to detail, communicates clearly.

Am J Pharmacother Pharm Sci • 2022 • 9 | 2

Iwuchukwu, et al.: Personality and Pharmacists’ Job Satisfaction

5. Sales potential

Energy, social skills, and the ability to solve problems for customers.

6. Managerial potential

Leadership ability, planning, and decision-making skills.

Since the HPI is a commercially licensed instrument, we used representative items measuring similar constructs in it from scales developed in the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP).^[16,21,22] A representative mapping of the IPIP scales to HPI’s primary scales and their associated FFM traits is shown in [Figure 1].

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Figure 1:

Representative map of international personality item pool constructs to the Hogan’s personality inventory and the five-factor model.

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Survey creation, sampling, administration, and analysis

We created a web-based survey composed of a 100-item, 10-dimension IPIP representation of the HPI^[16,22] and the 36-item, 9-facet, Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) developed by Paul Spector.^[23,24] The IPIP items consisted of positively or negatively worded brief descriptive statements such as “I rarely get irritated” and “I get stressed out easily.” Participants were asked to rate their agreement with statements using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Negatively worded items were reverse coded (1 = strongly agree to 5 = strongly disagree) before survey deployment and analysis. We also incorporated four open-ended questions to assess respondents’ perception of relationship between personality and pharmacists’ job satisfaction — Q1: How do you think your personality contributes to your success on the job? Q2: Would you consider your personality to have changed over time in the course of your job tenure? Q3: What other professions do you imagine that someone with your personality might be happy working in? and Q4: What are personality traits that might make someone in your current job successful at their job?

We deployed the survey from April to June 2021 using non-probabilistic, purposive voluntary response sampling of self-identified working pharmacists in the contiguous United States (US) through approved messages posted on social media channels. Surveys were administered using Qualtrics™ survey software. All statistical analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics version 28 — We determined survey items reliability using Cronbach’s alpha of 0.7 as the minimum cutoff for including each item in the final analyses. Descriptive statistics are reported as means ± standard deviation for continuous measures and frequencies for categorical variables. Finally, we carried out Pearson’s correlations and multiple regression analyses with two-tailed significance level set at P < 0.05. Beta weights and structure coefficients were used to evaluate importance of personality traits as predictors of job satisfaction after adjusting for defined demographic variables. For the open-ended items, descriptive adjectives for any terms relating to personality dimensions were extracted from the free text answers and tallied for ranking in terms of occurrence.

Job satisfaction cutoffs

The absolute approach as recommended by Paul Spector^[23] — the creator of the original survey — was used to create a logical cutoff for job satisfaction within our sample. Taking the sum of usable item responses for all nine facets of the JSS yielded a continuous variable defined as JSS Summed. Since our item responses were coded on a 5-point scale, using an absolute score of 175 for 35 usable items, we recoded our scales to match the original JSS 6-point scale. This allowed us to obtain appropriate numbers for extrapolating cutoffs for three JSS bands: Satisfaction, Ambivalence, and Dissatisfaction.

RESULTS

A total of 157 responses were returned within the administration window. Of these, only 102 responses were usable (defined as completed the Likert scale questions in the combined survey). In the final analysis, not all respondents gave usable responses to all items and as such, means for all dimensions may not add up to 102 (or 100%). This is reflected in [Table 1].

Regression analysis

Using the job satisfaction cutoff determined for our sample showed that 44% of pharmacists (n = 43) were satisfied, 44% (n = 43) were ambivalent defined as neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, and 11% (n = 11) were dissatisfied with their jobs [Figure 2].

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Figure 2:

Job Satisfaction category counts job satisfaction survey summed score total = 175 satisfaction—score > 119 ambivalent— score ≥ 91 ≤ 119 dissatisfaction—score < 91.

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The final hierarchical regression model of personality traits and job satisfaction had a total of eight predictors, of which three were statistically significant [Table 6]. The model showed a moderately strong relationship with personality measured with the HPI scales (multiple r = 0.579). E was the only FFM personality trait negatively predicting job satisfaction in this model (B = −0.509). Two occupational scale traits; stress tolerance and reliability (B = 0.348 and 0.271) positively predicted job satisfaction. As a demographic variable, race was a significant negative predictor (B = −0.248) of job satisfaction [Table 5]. A relationship map constructed for race and job satisfaction reflects Black respondents reporting greater ambivalence and job dissatisfaction compared with other races [Figure 3].

Table 6: Regression table with coefficients^a.

Model		Unstandardized coefficients		Standardized coefficients	t	Sig.		Collinearity statistics
		B	Std. Error	Beta			Tolerance	VIF
1	(Constant)	61.849	21.925		2.821	0.006
	Leadership	−19.354	6.863	−0.509	−2.820	0.006*	0.240	4.172
	Dutifulness	−8.302	5.394	−0.186	−1.539	0.127	0.537	1.862
	Quickness	8.372	4.593	0.194	1.823	0.072	0.694	1.440
	Happiness	12.816	5.045	0.348	2.540	0.013*	0.416	2.402
	Cooperation	11.261	5.311	0.271	2.120	0.037*	0.480	2.082
	Race	−13.459	4.944	−0.248	−2.722	0.008*	0.939	1.065
	Size Establishment	0.873	0.714	0.112	1.224	0.224	0.932	1.073
	Toughness	15.794	8.459	0.366	1.867	0.065	0.203	4.917
Model summary
Model	R	R square	Adjusted R square		Std. Error of the estimate
1	0.579a	0.335	0.272		19.09960
ANOVA
Model		Sum of squares		Df	Mean square		F	Sig.
1	Regression	15614.507		8	1951.813		5.350	<0.001b
	Residual	31007.536		85	364.795
	Total	46622.043		93

aPredictors: (Constant), Leadership, Dutifulness, Quickness, Happiness, Cooperation, Toughness, Race, Size Establishment. ^bDependent variable: JSS summed *P< 0.001, JSS: Job satisfaction survey

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Figure 3:

Relationship map for the demographic variable race and job satisfaction.

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DISCUSSION

To the best of our knowledge, our study is the first of its kind to probe relationships between personality and job satisfaction in US pharmacists using the HPI or bright side personality inventory measure. In this sample of working pharmacists, C, despite appearing positively correlated with job satisfaction, was not predictive in the regression model. This is in contrast with studies showing both positive correlations and predictiveness for C and job satisfaction.^[13,25] Our study is however not anomalous in showing correlation without a predictive relationship for C and job satisfaction. In studies of bank employees in the Southeastern US^[8] and police officers in Cyprus^[26] for example, there was no significant relationship between this FFM trait and job satisfaction. A study by Nillsen et al.^[27] examined the relationship between calling, congruence (job-person fit) and personality as predictors of job satisfaction and length of tenure on the job across different occupations and found a lack of prediction for C and job satisfaction in some occupations.^[27] The moderating role of this FFM trait on job satisfaction in pharmacists can be further explored. Could it be that pharmacy selects for people already high in C and so this trait may not be suitable for predicting job satisfaction in jobs with high attention to detail such as pharmacy, banking, and policing?

On the other hand, numerous studies found E to be positively correlated with job satisfaction.^{[4,12,13,28,29]} This was not the case in our study where E was a significant negative predictor of job satisfaction. Although our study is not the first to report no or negative prediction for E and job satisfaction,^[8,30,31] this is nevertheless an interesting finding. One may postulate that because pharmacy is a profession in which social interactions abound, people who are extroverted are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs. This conception, backed by the open-ended item regarding personality descriptors for successful job performance in pharmacists (Q4). In those textual responses, adjectives like confident, assertive, and outgoing, all related to E were some of the most highly ranked descriptors.

Since our sample consisted mostly of respondents identifying as female (94%), one wonders if the inverse relationship between E and job satisfaction is mediated by gender. Although we were not able to conduct second level interaction effects for gender, one study of personality and job satisfaction among South African Anesthetists showed negative correlation with E and positive correlation and increasing job satisfaction with male gender.^[32] Other studies, including those with specific focus on pharmacists have shown job satisfaction correlating with self-reported gender; females reporting greater satisfaction than males.^[33-36]

The other aspect of this relationship between E and job satisfaction considers interpersonal job context as a dimension of person-job fit. It has been shown that the relationship between E and job satisfaction is magnified by the extent to which job holders are exposed to social interactions on the job.^[37] If increased job satisfaction has been associated with E and male gender,^[3,26,32] it stands to reason that the preponderance of females in our sample of a high social interactivity profession may account for this trait being a negative predictor of job satisfaction.

Race was also negatively associated with job satisfaction with respondents who self-identified as Blacks reporting greater dissatisfaction. Looking at the different facets of job satisfaction, there was a significant negative correlation between Black race and promotion. In this study sample, we also observed a somewhat moderating effect of age on C with older pharmacists self-reporting as more conscientious than younger pharmacists. A study by Topino et al.^[25] showed a moderating effect of age as well but in the opposite direction, with younger workers showing greater positive correlations between C and job satisfaction.

We note that two occupational scale traits: stress tolerance and reliability from the HPI, positively predicted job satisfaction in this sample of working pharmacists. The nature of pharmacy work in certain practice areas such as private for-profit retail corporations involves a high amount of stress; therefore, working pharmacists with self-reported higher stress tolerance may be more likely to report greater job satisfaction. Job satisfaction has been shown to vary by practice setting, with community pharmacists reporting lower levels of satisfaction compared with other settings.^[17-20,36]

In terms of the individual facets of job satisfaction, there was no correlation with pay for all personality traits. Although studies on American workers have shown dissatisfaction with the pay facet of their jobs,^[38] the lack of correlation in our study may be because pharmacy professionals are generally well-paid,^[36] and no huge pay discrepancies within roles exist. Finally, emotional stability, although not significantly predictive of overall job satisfaction (or JSS summed), when broken down by facets was correlated with the highest number of job satisfaction facets, followed by O. This is in line with numerous studies that have shown either C to be positively correlated^[3,4,12,29] and N (the opposite of stability) to be negatively correlated with job satisfaction.^{[13,25,26,32,39]}

CONCLUSION

Our study showed that pharmacists are either generally satisfied or ambivalent about their jobs, but that this satisfaction may be moderated by race. We confirm previous studies showing a relationship between personality and job satisfaction, with E being a significant negative predictor for pharmacists in our sample.

Taking the means for individual facets of job satisfaction into consideration, we suggest two interventions for pharmacy leaders to elevate professional pharmacy work to reflect the International Labor Organization’s definition of decent work.^[41] These include improving work operating conditions and assuring all employees fair chances at promotion and leadership development.

Future studies of this kind could be developed for different pharmacy sectors using representative samples of pharmacists for demographic variables such as age, sex, race, and type of organization. This will enable proper interrogation of the moderating roles of any such variables on the relationship between personality and job satisfaction.