| Research suggests that personality traits influence performance (i.e., Barrick & Mount, 1991), and elements of the work environment influence performance (i.e., Oldham, 1988). This study examined whether personality interacts with environment to explain important outcomes beyond main effects. Employees working in either an open or closed office layout for companies in the Midwest and Eastern part of the United States (N=100) participated. Bivarate correlations and moderated regression analyses were conducted to examine how traits (FFM) and the work environment (office layout, overall neatness, and number of personal items) influence work performance and job satisfaction. Conscientiousness was significantly related to self-ratings of performance (r = .42) and ratings of employees’ work environment were related to the employees' ratings of their own Conscientiousness (r = .24). No significant interactions were found between open offices and traits when predicting performance. Findings suggest that office layout might be too distal and insensitive to specific situational variables that drive organizational outcomes. Further primary study is suggested that would isolate the environmental variables that drive performance and affective outcomes. |
