Personality and Individual Differences: Big 5 insights to workplace stress and coping during COVID 19

Abstract

Purpose: The prime objective of the research is to determine the impact of five personality traits on susceptibility to workplace stress, across age, sex, and education, in times when the world economies such as India face public health concerns i.e., COVID 19. Approach: Evaluate the psychometric properties of the five-factor model utilizing NEO-FFI-3 on millennial employees born in the year 1981 to 2000 aged 21 to 40 working in the Indian organizational context. By ranking individuals on each of the five traits, it is possible to effectively measure individual differences in personality. Findings: Employees with higher conscientiousness and agreeableness personalities are less susceptible to workplace stress as found amongst higher educates (i.e., Ph.D. and Post-Graduates), besides also assessed by older millennials (age 31-40) during the beginning period of COVID 19. Contrariwise extraversion and openness to experience cope more with adapting engagement with new millennials (age 21-30). Besides, we also found professionals with Post-Graduates and Ph.D. qualifications connected more to the openness trait. Women reported more neuroticism, indicating inclined to harp on disengagement and frequently experience stressors at work; nevertheless, agreeableness was also reported higher by them; thus, countering social support often buffers the impacts of distressing occasions. Originality: The personality influences individual responses to cope under stressful situations, determining individual differences in big five personality at the workplace situation at times of COVID 19 deemed significant. Keywords: five-factor model, personality traits, workplace, stress, coping, COVID 19, engagement, disengagement, millennials.

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