HI6005 T2 2019: Work Motivation and Personality Study Research Paper

This report investigates the relationship between work motivation and personality, focusing on John Holland's RIASEC hexagonal themes and their application in understanding job preferences. It explores how job fit, the compatibility between an individual's personality and their job, influences motivation and performance. The report discusses the impact of personality traits on job selection and the importance of aligning job roles with individual interests to enhance dedication and reduce dissatisfaction. It also references research by Tims, Derks, Bakker, Neumann, and Kooij et al. to support the arguments, emphasizing the significance of job compatibility in fostering a motivated and productive workforce. The report serves as a tool for analyzing preferences, determining motivational factors, and assessing the impact of job fit on employee performance. This report is contributed by a student and is available on Desklib, a platform offering AI-based study tools for students.

Running head: WORK MOTIVATIONAND PERSONALITY STUDY
WORK MOTIVATIONAND PERSONALITY STUDY
Name of the student
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John Holland theory of personality types
John Holland defined the personality and choice of the persons towards their job
preferences through the enumeration of the RIASEC hexagonal themes. Among the six job
personality types Realistic is indicates the people who have a special preferences towards
mechanical activities through the inclusion of physical objects (Reardon 2017). It has been
noted that in most of the cases the athletes and the people with less skills in the conventional or
entrepreneurial fields opt for the realistic job roles. Investigative is rather defined as a
personality types which is influenced by the observant and analytical skills of the person and
thereby the prefer more of monitoring and evaluation kind of jobs like public servants (Reardon
2017).
The Artistic personalities are defined as people who is into creativity and innovation
based on the intuitional abilities. Social personality is encouraged by people who have an
inclination towards group functioning and are into social enterprises for supporting different
causes. Enterprising personality specifically reflects on the behaviors of the managers and the
leaders who prefers to manage and empower the operations in an organization or a group
(Reardon 2017). Conventional personality is reflected through the preferences of the people
while working in the different clerical and data driven jobs which offered structured situations.
The assessment of the different personality traits among the job seekers enables in
identifying the job fit and their motivation while operating as per the respective job
responsibilities. The assessment of the compatibility of the job as per the preferences is again an
important point of consideration for an individual’s performance at work. Therefore, Holland’s
model serves as a tool for analyzing the preferences as per the personalities to determine the
motivational factors and performance of the people towards their job.

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Figure 1: John Holland RIASEC hexagonal themes
(Source: Reardon 2017)
Job fit as an explanation of work motivation
Work motivation is specifically dependent on the compatibility of the job with the
interests or the personality of an individual. In this relation, Tims, Derks and Bakker (2016)
opined that the errors that are committed by an individual, belonging to a particular personality,
while doing incompatible jobs affects the rate of motivation and dedication of the person towards
the job. For an example, a creative minded person would never be compatible for a realistic or
laborious job which is out of his genre. On the other hand, Neumann (2016) opined that more

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than 87% of the job applicants fail to achieve their dream jobs and are persuaded to indulge in
activities which does not stimulate interest among the same. In this relation, the aspects of job
fits is specifically reliant on the nature of the job and its compatibility with the personality of the
job seeker. Kooij et al. (2017) stated that job fit also acknowledges the capabilities of the job
seeker which is necessary for completing he activities under the role played. Therefore, in this
relation, job fit influences motivation among the people and thereby brings forth changes in the
performance based on the compatibility and respectability of the job with the personality of the
job seeker.

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References
Kooij, D.T., van Woerkom, M., Wilkenloh, J., Dorenbosch, L. and Denissen, J.J., 2017. Job
crafting towards strengths and interests: The effects of a job crafting intervention on person–job
fit and the role of age. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(6), p.971.
Neumann, O., 2016. Does misfit loom larger than fit? Experimental evidence on motivational
person-job fit, public service motivation, and prospect theory. International Journal of
Manpower, 37(5), pp.822-839.
Reardon, R.C., 2017. Holland's Integration of Career Theory, Research, and Practice. Society for
Vocational Psychology: Integrating Theory, Research, and Practice.
Tims, M., Derks, D. and Bakker, A.B., 2016. Job crafting and its relationships with person–job
fit and meaningfulness: A three-wave study. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 92, pp.44-53.