Relationship Between Personality Traits and Perceived Job Performance of Secondary School Teachers in Adamawa State, Nigeria

This study investigated the relationship between personality traits and perceived job performance of secondary school teachers in Adamawa State, Nigeria. Three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. Correlational survey research design was adopted for the study. The population was 6071 teachers. Total samples of 624 teachers were sampled for the study. The study employed the multistage sampling procedure. The instruments used for data collection were the Big Five Personality Inventory of Personality Traits (BFPT) and Teachers’ Job Performance Questionnaire (TJPQ). The instruments were validated by experts from the Department of Environmental and Life Sciences Education. The reliability of the instruments was tested using Cronbach Alpha statistic. The reliability coefficients obtained were 0.79 for BFPT and 0.80 for TJPQ. The findings of the study revealed that teachers demonstrated high levels of: conscientiousness personality trait (grand mean of 4.26), and agreeableness personality trait (grand mean of 3.98). There is a significant positive relationship between openness to experience personality trait and perceived job performance of teachers in secondary schools in Adamawa state (r= 0.78, p = 0.00 < 0.05), There is significant positive relationship between conscientiousness personality trait and perceived job performance of teachers in secondary schools in Adamawa state (r= 0.68, p = 0.00 < 0.05). There is a strong and positive significant relationship between agreeableness personality trait and perceived job performance of teachers in secondary schools in Adamawa state (r=0.81, p = 0.00 < 0.05). Lastly, there is a strong and positive relationship between personality traits and perceived job performance of teachers in secondary schools in Adamawa State (r= 0.74, R2= 55%, F (5, 618) = 151.27, p = 0.00 < 0.05). The study concluded that personality traits have relationship with teacher’s job performance in public secondary schools in Adamawa State. Based on these findings, it was recommended that government should make it a policy matter to evaluate teachers’ personality traits on quarterly basis to improve effective administration and job performance in secondary schools. Authorities concerned should assess the personality traits of teachers while promoting them to the rank of principals.