The “CEO” of women's work lives

How Big Five Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and Openness predict 50 years of work experiences in a changing sociocultural context

Bibliographic Data

ID6202376
AuthorsLinda G George (University of California, Berkeley), Ravenna Helson (University of California, Berkeley), Oliver P John (0000-0003-0171-0971, University of California, Berkeley)
Year2011
Volume101
Issue4
Pages812-830
Publication date2011-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Personality and Social Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-3514 • E-ISSN: 1939-1315
PublisherAmerican Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1037/a0024290
PMID21859225
OpenAlexW2005781411
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited4

Few long-term longitudinal studies have examined how dimensions of personality are related to work lives, especially in women. We propose a life-course framework for studying work over time, from preparatory activities (in the 20s) to descending work involvement (after age 60), using 50 years of life data from the women in the Mills Longitudinal Study. We hypothesized differential work effects for Extraversion (work as pursuit of rewards), Openness (work as self-actualization), and Conscientiousness (work as duty) and measured these 3 traits as predictor variables when the women were still in college. In a prospective longitudinal design, we then studied how these traits predicted the women's subsequent work lives from young adulthood to age 70 and how these effects depended on the changing sociocultural context. Specifically, the young adulthood of the Mills women in the mid-1960s was rigidly gender typed and family oriented; neither work nor education variables at that time were predicted from earlier personality traits. However, as women's roles changed, later work variables became related to all 3 traits, as expected from current Big Five theory and research. For example, early personality traits predicted the timing of involvement in work, the kinds of jobs chosen, and the status and satisfaction achieved, as well as continued work participation and financial security in late adulthood. Early traits were also linked to specific cultural influences, such as the traditional feminine role, the women's movement, and graduate education for careers

Big Five personality traits · Conscientiousness · Context (archaeology) · Developmental psychology · Extraversion and introversion · Longitudinal study · Openness to experience · Personality · Gender Diversity and Inequality · Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior · Personality Traits and Psychology · Psychology · Social Psychology

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