Heterogeneous returns to personality:: the role of occupational choice

Katrin John; Stephan L. Thomsen

doi:10.1007/s00181-013-0756-8

Heterogeneous returns to personality: the role of occupational choice

Katrin John
, Stephan L. Thomsen^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Institute of Economic Policy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review

Abstract

We analyze the role of personality in occupational choice and wages using data from Germany for the years 1992 to 2009. Characterizing personality by use of seven complementary measures (Big Five personality traits, locus of control, and a measure of reciprocity), the empirical findings show that personal characteristics are important determinants of occupational choice. Associated with that, identical personality traits are differently rewarded across occupations. Hence, breaking down the analysis on the level of occupational groups provides more detailed results of returns to personality. By evaluating different personality profiles, we additionally estimate the influence of personality as a whole. The estimates establish occupation-specific patterns of significant returns to particular personality profiles. These findings underline the importance to consider the occupational distribution when analyzing returns to personality due to its heterogeneous valuation.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	553-592
Number of pages	40
Journal	Empirical economics
Volume	47
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s00181-013-0756-8
Publication status	Published - 20 Nov 2013

Keywords

Big Five personality traits
Locus of control
Measures of reciprocity
Occupational choice
SOEP
Wage differentials

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Statistics and Probability
Mathematics (miscellaneous)
Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
Economics and Econometrics

Access to Document

10.1007/s00181-013-0756-8

Cite this

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title = "Heterogeneous returns to personality:: the role of occupational choice",

abstract = "We analyze the role of personality in occupational choice and wages using data from Germany for the years 1992 to 2009. Characterizing personality by use of seven complementary measures (Big Five personality traits, locus of control, and a measure of reciprocity), the empirical findings show that personal characteristics are important determinants of occupational choice. Associated with that, identical personality traits are differently rewarded across occupations. Hence, breaking down the analysis on the level of occupational groups provides more detailed results of returns to personality. By evaluating different personality profiles, we additionally estimate the influence of personality as a whole. The estimates establish occupation-specific patterns of significant returns to particular personality profiles. These findings underline the importance to consider the occupational distribution when analyzing returns to personality due to its heterogeneous valuation.",

keywords = "Big Five personality traits, Locus of control, Measures of reciprocity, Occupational choice, SOEP, Wage differentials",

author = "Katrin John and Thomsen, \{Stephan L.\}",

note = "Funding information: We thank Robert M. Kunst and an anonymous referee, Deborah Cobb-Clark, Kristin Kleinjans, Christoph Schmidt, and Barbara Grave for helpful comments as well as discussants at the research seminar at the University of Magdeburg, the labor market and social policy workshop at ifo Institute Dresden 2011, the Doctoral Meeting Montpellier 2011, the Canadian Economics Association Conference 2011, the Statistische Woche 2011 of the Deutsche Statistische Gesellschaft, and the Society of Labor Economists Conference 2012. Financial support from the Stifterverband f{\"u}r die Deutsche Wissenschaft (Claussen-Simon-Stiftung) and Wissenschaftszentrum Sachsen-Anhalt Lutherstadt Wittenberg (WZW) in the course of the project “Analyse des Bestands und der {\"o}konomischen Bedeutung kognitiver und nicht-kognitiver F{\"a}higkeiten in Sachsen-Anhalt zur Identifikation (bildungs-)politischer Handlungsbedarfe” is gratefully acknowledged. The data used in this publication were made available by the German Socio Economic Panel Study (SOEP) at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Berlin.",

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doi = "10.1007/s00181-013-0756-8",

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N2 - We analyze the role of personality in occupational choice and wages using data from Germany for the years 1992 to 2009. Characterizing personality by use of seven complementary measures (Big Five personality traits, locus of control, and a measure of reciprocity), the empirical findings show that personal characteristics are important determinants of occupational choice. Associated with that, identical personality traits are differently rewarded across occupations. Hence, breaking down the analysis on the level of occupational groups provides more detailed results of returns to personality. By evaluating different personality profiles, we additionally estimate the influence of personality as a whole. The estimates establish occupation-specific patterns of significant returns to particular personality profiles. These findings underline the importance to consider the occupational distribution when analyzing returns to personality due to its heterogeneous valuation.

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