Answer to Question 1
The Big Five personality dimensions represent a cluster of personality traits that has been studied in terms of job performance. These five dimensions have become good predictors of job performance. They are: extroversion (sociable, outgoing, talkative, active, ambitious); emotional stabilityinstabilit y (anxious, depressed, embarrassed, insecure); agreeableness (likeable, good-natured, cooperative, forgiving, tolerant); conscientiousness (careful, thorough, dependable, organized, hard-working, achievement oriented, persevering); openness to experience (imaginative, cultured, curious, broad-minded, intelligent).
Answer to Question 2
Job characteristics, or the content of the job, influence motivation and performance because of the psychological response that the employee has toward the work. If the employee feels a sense of responsibility for the results of the work, if the employee believes that the work matters, and if the employee knows that he or she is being effective in performing the work, then motivation and performance will increase. These three factors: task variety, task identity, and task significance have come to be known as the Job Characteristics Model (jm).
