Do Academics' Personality Traits Contribute to Their Organizational Commitment?

The primary objective of this study was to determine if academics' personality traits contribute to their organizational commitment. Three hundred and fifty-six academics from mainland China responded to the Organizational Commitment Inventory (OCI) and the NEO Five-Factor Inventory. Having ascertained the reliability and the validity of the relatively new OCI, the study showed that, as expected, extraversion and conscientiousness were the most conducive to adaptive organizational commitment, whereas neuroticism contributed to nonadaptive organizational commitment. Results further suggested that agreeableness was detrimental to almost all types of organizational commitment and that openness, unexpectedly, positively contributed to one type of nonadaptive organizational commitment. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to academics and university senior managers.