Five-factor Model

What is Five-factor Model?

Five-factor model based on the big five personalities is a theory to identify human behavior and their personalities. Big Five personality traits are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. These traits help human resource management in identifying and representing the stable differences among the employees in their feelings, experiences, and behaviors.

What are the 5 factors of a personality test?

Researchers in psychology have broadly classified human personality into 5 types, commonly known as Big Five. Every human reacts differently to the same situation as they all possess different personalities.

The big five personality tests are :

Openness

The characteristics of people possessing this trait are always open to new ideas, imaginative, like taking adventures and wanting to try new things. And people who do not prefer changes and resist new ideas are low on the scale of openness.

Conscientiousness

People high on conscientiousness tend to be organized, always plan priorly, and complete the task correctly in the set schedule. And low conscientious people do not follow schedules and fail to complete the assigned tasks.

Extraversion

Extraversion can be termed as the extroverts who always enjoy initiating conversations and get energized when people are around. People who do not have these characteristics are introverts that find it challenging to have conversations and have tiny groups.

Agreeableness

The characteristics of people possessing this trait are empathetic, they think about people, are kind, and ready to help others. And those who don't care about others' feelings and are often insulting others are low on agreeableness.

Neuroticism

Necroticism measures emotional stability. People high on this trait are not emotionally stable, experience anxiety, mood swings, and quickly get irritated. Conversely, those who are stable emotionally and can handle stress and difficult situations are low on neuroticism.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does the five-factor model benefit HRM?

Human resource managers can screen the personality traits to identify the most suitable candidates according to the job positions. further, they can also determine the employees high in neuroticism and initiate programs to make them emotionally stable.

What factors can affect and impact the five traits?

Research has shown that environmental and biological factors affect personality traits. For example, people tend to react as per their surroundings.

Is the five-factor model universal?

Yes, the Model is universally applicable. But, some of the researchers do not agree with this and believe that the traits and factors may differ due to biological factors.