THE FIVE-FACTOR MODEL IN EXPLAINING THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF ROMANIAN STUDENTS
Keywords:
personality factors, academic performance, agreeableness, conscientiousness, opennessAbstract
The aim of this article is to highlight the
relationship between the personality factors of the Five-
Factor model and the academic performance for 751
Romanian students within the same university. In
investigating the personality parameters, we have used the
NEO PI-R Personality Inventory and the semi-structured
interview technique. The results were correlated with the
academic performance achieved by the students in different
exam sessions. The academic performance have strong
connections with at least 3 factors of the five-factor model
of personality; for romanian students, Conscientiousness,
Agreeableness and Neuroticism (emotional stability) are
key elements in achieving a high academic performance.
Assertiveness dimension (Extraversion factor), along with
the Openness and Conscientiousness factors are significant
predictors for romanian academic performance. Further,
limits and implications of the research were discussed.
References
Alhathli, M., Masthoff, J., & Siddharthan, A. (2017). Should Learning
Material’s Selection be Adapted to Learning Style and Personality?
Personalization Approaches in Learning Environments. In Adjunt
Proceedings of UMAP Conference. ACM, 6. UMAP’17, July 9-12,
Bratislava, Slovakia.
Almagor, M., Tellegen, A, & Waller, N.G. (1995). The big-seven model: A
cross-cultural replication and further exploration of the basic
dimensions of natural language trait-descriptors. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 69, 300-307.
Anderson, G. & Viswesvaran, C. (1998, April). An update of the validity of
personality scales in personnel selection: A meta-analysis of studies
published after 1992. Paper presented at the 13th Annual Conference of
the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Dallas, TX.
Barrick, M.R. & Mount, M.K. (1991). The big five personality dimensions and
job performance: a meta-analiysis. Personnel Psychology, 1991, 44, 1-
Barrick, M.R., Stewart, G. L., Neubert, M.J., & Mount, M.K. (1998). Relating
Member Ability and Personality to Work-Team Processes and Team
Effectiveness. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83(3), 377-391.
Barrick, M.R. & Mount, M.K. (1993). Autonomy as a moderator of the
relationship between the Big Five personality dimensions and job
performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 111-118.
Barrick, M.R., Mount, M.K. & Strauss, J.P. (1993). Conscientiousness and
performance of sales representatives: Test for the mediating effect of
goal setting. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 715-722.
Barrick, M. R., Mount, M. K., & Judge, T. A. (2001). Personality and
Performance at the Beginning of the New Millennium: What Do We
Know and Where Do We Go Next. International Journal of
Selection and Assessment, 9 (1/2), 9-30.
Benet-MartÃnez V. & John, O.P. (1998). Los Cinco Grandes Across Cultures
and Ethnic Groups: Multitrait Multimethod Analyses of the Big Five in
Spanish and English. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75,
, 729-750.
Benet-Martinez, V., & Waller, N.G. (1997). Further evidence of the crosscultural
generality of the Big Seven model: indigenous and imported
Spanish personality constructs. Journal of Personality, 65, 567-598.
Bouchard T.J., Jr. (1997). The genetics of personality. In: Blum, K., Noble E.P.,
Sparkes, R.S., Chen, T.H.J., (Eds.) & Cull, J.G., Handbook of Psychiatric
Genetics. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 273–296.
Bouchard T.J.Jr, & Loehlin, J.C. (2001). Genes, evolution and personality.
Behavior Genetics, 31(3), 243-73.
Cheung, F. M., & Leung, K. (1998). Indigenous personality measures: Chinese
examples. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 29, 233-248.
Cheung, F. M., Cheung, S. F., Zhang, J., Leung, K., Leong, F., & Hui Yeh, K.
(2008) Relevance of Openness as a Personality Dimension in Chinese.
Aspects of its Cultural Relevance, Journal of Cross-Cultural
Psychology, 39(1),81-108.
Costa, P. T. Jr. & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Normal personality assessment in
clinical practice: The NEO Personality Inventory. Psychological
Assessment, 4, 5-13, 20-22.
Costa, P.T., Jr. & McCrae, R.R. (2009) adaptat Iliescu, D., Minulescu, M.,
Nedelcea, C., Ispas, D. NEO PI-R Manual tehnic, Alba Iulia: Editura
Sinapsis.
Derue, S. D., Nahrgang, J.D., Wellmann, N., & Humphrey, S.E. (2011). Trait
and behavioral theories of leadership: an integration and meta-analytic
test of heir relative validity. Personnel Psychology; 64, 7–52.
Di Blas, L. & Forzi, M. (1998). An alternative taxonomic study of personality
descriptors in the Italian language. European Journal of Personality, 12
(2), 75-101.
Grama, B.G., Botone, D.N., & Raulea C. (2016). The psychological profile of
the medical student. Acta Medica Transilvanica. 21; 2: 6-39.
Gurven, M., von Rueden, C., Massenkoff, M. Kaplan, H., & Lero Vie, M.
(2013). How universal is the Big Five? Testing the five-factor model of
personality variation among forager–farmers in the Bolivian
Amazon. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104(2), 354-
Harris K., English, T., Harms, D.P., Gross J.J., & Jackson J.J. (2017). Why are
extraverts more satisfied? Personality, social experiences and subjective
well-being in college. European Journal of Personality, 31 (2); 170-186.
Henrich, J.,Heine, S.J. & Norenzayan, A. (2010). Most people are not WEIRD.
Nature, 466; 29.
Hofstede G., Hofstede G. J., & Minkov M. (2010). Cultures and
Organizations: Software of the Mind, Third Edition. USA:
McGraw Hill.
Hunter, J.E. & Schmidt, F.L. (1990). Methods of Meta-analysis, Newbury Park,
CA: Sage Publications.
Jarrell, A., Harley, J.M., Lajoie, S. & Naismith, L. (2017). Success, failure and
emotions: examining the relationship between performance feedback
and emotions in diagnostic reasoning. Educational Technology
Research and Development, 65 (5), 1263-1284.
Jing Yu Zhang & Jung Kee Kim (2017). The Relationships between
Communication Factors and Educational Effects: Focusing on
Confucius Institutes’ Students. Speech and Communication. Korean
Communications Association. Volume 16, 33, ISSN: 1598-77522002,
-72
Judge, T.A., Piccolo, R.F. & Kosalka, T. (2009). The bright and dark sides of
leader traits: A review and theoretical extension of the leader trait
paradigm. The Leadership Quarterly, 20 (6), 855–875.
Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for
cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98(2), 224-
Markus, H. R & Kitayama S. (2013). Cultures and Selves: A Cycle of Mutual
Constitution. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5(4) 420–430.
McCrae, R. R. (1994), Openess to Experience: Expanding the boundaries of
Factor V. Eur. J. Pers., 8: 251–272.
McCrae, R. R. (1996). Social consequences of experiential
openness. Psychological Bulletin, 120(3), 323-337.
McCrae, R.R., Costa, P.T., Del Pilar, G.H., Rolland, J.P., & Parker W.D.,
(1998). Cross-Cultural Assessment of the Five-Factor Model. The
Revised NEO Personality Inventory. Journal of Cross-Cultural
Psychology, 29 (1), 171-188.
McCrae, R.R. & Costa, P.T. Jr. (1997) Personality Trait Structure as a Human
Universal. American Psychologist, 52, (5), 509-516.
Motel, L., & Stoll. A. (2015, November 21). The changing face of leadership: A
meta-analysis of personality traits as predictors of leadership
effectiveness over time. Essay presented at National Communication
Association 101st Annual Conference, Las Vegas, NV;
Ones, D.S., Dilchert, S., Viswesvaran, C. & Judge, T.A. (2007). In Support of
personality assessment in organizational settings. Personnel Psychology,
, 995-1027.
Salgado, J.F. (2003). Predicting job performance using FFM and non-FFM
personality measures. Journal of Occupational and Organizational
Psychology; 76, 323-346.
Salgado, J.F. (1997). The Five-Factor Model of Personality and Job
Performance in the European Community. Journal of Applied
Psychology, 82 (1), 30-43.
Strickhouser, J. E., Zell, E., & Krizan, Z. (2017). Does personality predict
health and well-being? A metasynthesis. Health Psychology, 36(8), 797-
Szirmak, Z. & DeRaad, B. (1994). Taxonomy and structure of Hungarian
personality traits. European Journal of Personality, 8, 95-117.
Tett, R. P., Jackson, D. N. & Rothstein M. (1991). Personality measures as
predictors of job performance: a meta-analytic review. Personnel
Psychology, 44, 703-742.
Yamagata, S., Suzuki, A., Ando J.,Ono, Y., Kijima, N., Yoshimura, K.,
Ostendorf, F., Angleitner, A., Riemann, R., Spinath, F.M., Livesley, W.
J. & Jang, K.L. (2006). Is the Genetic Structure of Human Personality
Universal? A Cross- Cultural Twin Study From North America, Europe,
and Asia. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90(6), 987-
