Is there a relationship between leaders’ personality traits and organizational commitment among their associates? • A quantitative research design tested the relationship between leaders’ personality traits and organizational commitment Apparel and Consumer Packaged Goods organizations • New York and New Jersey markets • Leaders’ personality traits assessed utilizing the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) • Associates’ levels of organizational commitment measured utilizing the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) • Findings: There is a significant relationship between specific leaders’ personality traits and organizational commitment among their associates

1. A Dissertation Presentation
Leadership and Commitment:
The Relationship Between
Leaders’ Personality Traits
and
Organizational Commitment
Matt T. Argano

2. Abstract
• Is there a relationship between leaders’ personality
traits and organizational commitment among their
associates?
• Five Apparel and/or Consumer Packaged Goods
organizations
• New York and New Jersey
• Leaders’ personality traits
• Measured with the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI)
• Associates’ organizational commitment
• Measured with Organizational Commitment
Questionnaire (OCQ)
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3. • A quantitative research design tested the relationship
between leaders’ personality traits and organizational
commitment
• Findings:
• There is a significant relationship between:
• Specific leaders’ personality traits and organizational
commitment in associates
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4. 4

5. Introduction
Today’s leaders face complex & rapidly changing landscapes
When strong leadership is not demonstrated, “teams lose,
armies are defeated, economies dwindle, and nations fall.”
Hogan, Gordon, Curphy, and Hogan (1994)
Talent is one of the most important resources in organizations
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6. Personality
“An individual's characteristic patterns of thought, emotion,
and behavior, together with psychological mechanisms behind
those patterns." (Funder, 2001)
Personality
IQ EQ
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7.  Organizational Commitment
 “Employee participation in, sense of belonging to, and
emotional attachment with the organization.” (Meyer & Allen, 1996)
• Support & acceptance of the goals, objectives & values
• A willingness to exert effort on behalf of the organization
• A desire to retain membership with the organization
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8. Types of Commitment
Affective Commitment Employee remains because they WANT to
Continuance Commitment Employee remains because they NEED to
Normative Commitment Employee remains because they OUGHT to
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9. Problem Statement
• IF RESEARCH indicated that specific personality traits in
leaders’ maximized levels of organizational commitment in
associates
• Organizations would be well positioned to utilize the
findings to make informed decisions concerning human
capital
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10. Purpose of the Study
• To examine how leaders’ personality traits influenced
organizational commitment among their associates
• Q1: Are there differences in leaders’ personality traits based on
gender and ethnicity?
• Q2: What are the relationships between personality traits in
leaders and organizational commitment among their
associates?
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11. • Competitive landscape & high-quality leadership
• Organizational excellence:
• Clear vision
• Principled leadership
• Reciprocal relationships and
• High degrees of follower trust
• When employees and followers feel genuinely respected and
nurtured by their leaders
Organizations are positioned for:
- Greater levels of productivity
- Performance
- Employee commitment
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12. Five Factor Model of Personality
Extroversion:
Sociability, assertiveness, gregarious, and social interaction
Agreeableness:
Good-natured, sympathy, trust, and cooperation
Conscientiousness:
Competence, dependable
Neuroticism:
Calm, self-confident, secure (positive) versus anxious,
depressed, insecure, volatile (negative)
Openness to Experience:
Imaginative, inquisitive, sensitivity, and intellectualism
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13. Five Factor Model and Hogan Scale Comparison
Five Factor Model Hogan Taxonomy
Neuroticism Adjustment
Extraversion Ambition and Sociability
Agreeableness Interpersonal Sensitivity
Conscientiousness Prudence
Open to Experience Inquisitive & Learning Approach
(Hogan, 1992)
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14. Research Design & Methodology
• The impact of leaders’ personality traits on organizational
commitment in Apparel and/or Consumer Packaged Goods
organizations
• New York and New Jersey
• Annual revenues exceeding $500 million
• Descriptive statistics
• Mean & standard deviation
• Two way analysis of variance (ANOVA)
• Multiple regression analysis
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15. • The criterion variable was organizational commitment
• The predictor variables were the HPI’s five traits
• Adjustment • Ambition
• Sociability • Interpersonal Sensitivity
• Prudence
• A Two-Way ANOVA
• The effect of multiple levels of two factors with multiple
observations at each level (gender, ethnicity and individual
Hogan traits)
• Multiple regression analysis
• The effects of 2+ independent variables on 1 dependent
variable
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16. Participants’ Demographics
Leader Population
Ethnicity Total Male Female
Caucasian 16 8 8
African-American 11 5 6
Hispanic 12 6 6
Asian 11 6 5
Other 0 0 0
Total 50 25 25
Associate Population
Ethnicity Total Male Female
Caucasian 77 42 35
African-American 35 16 19
Hispanic 63 30 33
Asian 29 18 11
Other 0 0 0
Total 204 106 98
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17. Instrumentation
Two Instruments:
Leaders: Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI)
206 T/F questions
Associates: Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ)
15 questions 7 point Likert scale
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18. Validity
Performance Hogan Personality Assessment (HPI)
Conformity to Assessment Profile
(Hogan, 1992)
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19. Study Results
• Associates were generally committed to their organizations
• A significant relationship between
• Specific personality traits in leaders &
• Impact upon organizational commitment
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20. • No relationship between gender, ethnicity & Hogan personality
traits
• Associates respond more favorably to
Leaders with higher degrees of:
- Emotional stability
- Greater interpersonal skills
• Interpersonal Sensitivity & Adjustment traits
Influenced levels of organizational commitment
• Remaining traits showed weak relationships
With organizational commitment
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21. • Adjustment and Interpersonal Sensitivity traits
• Focus on the more social aspects of human interaction
• Manifests in the leader’s ability to:
- Effectively manage relationships with others
• Female leaders high Interpersonal Sensitivity & Sociability
• Male leaders high Adjustment, Ambition & Prudence
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22. • Male leaders scored high in Ambition, with the Ambition mean for
male leaders (M = 74.20, SD = 22.46) being higher than the mean
for female leaders (M = 67.24, SD = 26.41). Hogan’s Ambition trait
is characterized by competitiveness, goal orientation, and a desire
to seek out leadership roles
• Males scored slightly higher than females on Hogan’s Prudence
trait. The Prudence mean for male leaders (M = 65.68, SD =
25.38) was only six points higher than the mean for female
leaders (M = 59.76, SD = 21.92). Hogan described Prudence as the
degree to which an individual seems conscientious, conforming,
and often dependable
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23.  The research study reflected that after controlling for all other variables:
Ambition/Organizational
Weak, negative relationship
Commitment
Adjustment/Organizational
Moderate, positive relationship
Commitment
Sociability/Organizational
Weak, positive relationship
Commitment
Prudence/Organizational
Very weak relationship
Commitment
Interpersonal
Definite, but not quite moderate, positive
Sensitivity/Organizational
relationship
Commitment

24. Implications for Practice
• The study supported prior research that:
Self management and emotional awareness in leaders
remains a critical cornerstone in
developing and maintaining relationships in organizations
• Relationship management is essential in the leaders’ ability to
- Effectively communicate, collaborate and influence others
for the greater good of the organization
• Leadership is a personal journey
• Leadership directly impacts organizational function
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25. • Leaders who are:
Self aware and manage emotions & behavior
are well positioned to become
high performing organizational stewards
• Leaders who fail:
Will find it difficult to develop & maintain relationships
resulting in underperforming teams & organizations
•Leaders who effectively manage:
Stress, ambiguity and conflict will
increase their success and effectiveness
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26. • The study also reflected a negative relationship
between lower scores on Ambition
with higher levels of organizational commitment
• Associates become de-motivated or disengaged
when they perceive that their leader is:
- Narcissistic
- Self promoting
- Placing personal gain above organizational good
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27. • Female leaders appear more inclined to:
develop and nurture followers’ interests
into common organizational goals
by leveraging their personality traits
• Female leaders
may be better positioned to
understand and respond to followers’ needs
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