We may think it obvious that our personality plays a big role in our performance at work, but research from the University of Arkansas reminds us that the impact very much depends on the unique demands of each individual job.

“Although past studies made statements about the effects of personality traits on job performance in general, the specifics of these relationships really depend on the job,” the researchers explain. “More interesting findings exist when we take a deeper look at performance within the different jobs.”

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The researchers examine the role the big five personality traits play on job performance in nine different occupational groups: customer service, law enforcement, clerical, healthcare, military, management, skilled/semi-skilled, professional, and sales.  For each role, they also took into account the complexity of the job and the relevance of personality traits to the job requirements.

The researchers found that there was a high degree of variance in the relationship between performance and personality across the different occupational groups, with the bulk of this difference being due to the complexity of the occupation.

One trait that was beneficial in all occupations, however, was conscientiousness, although even this was stronger in jobs that require low to medium levels of cognitive demand.  In jobs with medium levels of cognitive complexity, extraversion was stronger.

Other personality traits showed a stronger effect when they were specifically relevant to the particular requirements of an occupation, such as in healthcare, where agreeableness was a key requirement, or extraversion in sales roles.

“These findings should prove useful for scholars pursuing a richer understanding of personality—performance relations and for organizations honing employee talent identification and selection systems,” the researchers conclude. “They should also benefit individuals trying to choose the right vocation and, really, society at-large, which would reap the collective benefits of better occupational performance.”