ANALYSIS OF ORGANIZATIONAL PERSONALITY TRAITS

PERCEIVED BY FUTURE EMPLOYEES

Madhukar Pandey

ABSTRACT
India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world with most young and competitive
workforce. Millions of graduates are hitting the job market every year and eventually joining
the organizations. It is important to understand the perception of these job seekers about
organization and measure the gap between the same & reality. The paper analyses and
assess the perception of future employees about an organization based on five
organizational traits (Trustworthiness, Innovativeness, Style, Thrift and Dominance) given by
Slaughter et al 2004. The analysis validates the five important traits perceived by future
employees that a organization must have. The responses were collected by a self designed
questionnaire from postgraduate students. The principal component analysis divided traits
into five factors. The paper finds that organizational personality traits suggested by
Slaughter et al 2004 are valid for future employees and self designed measurement scale
used in the study to collect responses conforms to the traits mentioned by the Slaughter et al
2004 in Indian context too.

Keywords – Employee perception, world class organisation, Innovation, Thrift, Dominance,

etc.

1. Introduction
A. Background of the study

In a highly volatile environment, the modern day organisations are undergoing major changes
to compete in the market. To achieve targets, managers will need to be more prepared to
incorporate new ideas, design new approaches and change attitudes. Globalisation,
improvements in information technology and innovation are important to develop an
organisation at all levels. In this dynamic environment, organisations explore new markets
and opportunities to grow.
This study brings about the perception of entry level employees towards the world class
organisations. The study attempts to find the perception of entry level employees and test
whether the factors which affect the perception of current employees hold good for future
employees too. Organisational environment affects the values, beliefs, aspirations and
employee satisfaction level that support the organizational goals.

B. Objectives of the study

 To study the perception of future employees towards world class organisation.
 To study the factors affecting the perception of world class organisation.
 To study the test whether factors given by Slaughter 2004 holds good for future
employees.
 To measure the importance of the factors affecting perception of future employees
towards organisations.
C. Organisational perception
Perception towards an organisation may be formed based on the products it offers, physical
location of business, their employees, users of the products and social information attained
about the organisation. Individuals assign characteristics to themselves, others individuals,
branded products, etc to make decisions and differentiate between what they want and what
they do not want. In a similar manner, it is possible that individuals may describe an
organisation with some characteristics which they would like to see in them. Thus, Slaughter
et al. 2004 have developed a measure that captures the characteristics perceived to be related
with an organization. Thus, organizational perceptions helps measure the social reputation of
the organization.

2. Literature Review
A lot of research has happened to measure employee perception towards branded products,
organisational culture, brand personality (Aaker, 1997; Plummer, 1985), etc. However, little
evidence is available about the measurement of organisational personality as perceived by
future employees.

Cable & Turban, 2001 developed the concept of employer knowledge. The paper provides
different dimensions, information sources of employer knowledge, and how these sources are
processed by job seekers. It also explains how and why the employer knowledge obtained by
the job seeker becomes a valuable asset to the organizations.
A pioneer work done by Slaughter et al, 2004 has provided a framework for building
organisational personality as inferred by the employees. They recruited students who were
assigned to different companies to base their ratings of organizational personality. Their
research suggested that the organizational differences are based on five perception scales:
Boy Scout, Innovativeness, Dominance, Thrift, and Style. They also suggested that scales
used to measure organisational personality are not the same as used to measure human
personality.
Lievens et al, 2005 have used Cable and Turban’s (2001) employer knowledge framework to
find possible factors which affect organizational attractiveness towards military
organizations. The Results showed that gender, familiarity, perceptions of job and
organizational attributes, and trait explain the attraction of the potential applicants’ to military
organizations. Among these factors trait inferences are the most important. They found
evidence of interactions among the factors. When familiarity is high, there is a strong effect
of trait inferences and job and organizational attributes.

Slaughter & Greguras, 2009 attempts to understand how perception of the individual is
influenced initial attraction with the firms to the extent to which they demonstrate traits. The
interaction of big five traits of personality characteristics and dimensions of organisational
personality were used to influence perception. The results show significant variation in initial
organizational interaction and degree to which firms display the perceived traits.
Schreurs et al, 2009 examined the role of the Big Five personality factors in the relationship
between organizational attractiveness, five symbolic attributes to jobs and organizations and
five traits on which organisational attributes are inferred(Sincerity, Excitement, Competence,
Prestige, and Ruggedness). They analysed data from a sample of 245 participants which
showed significant two-way interactions between the traits and organizational attractiveness.
The results showed positive relation between sincerity and organizational attractiveness for
those participants who had high level of Conscientiousness, and that those who are high on
Openness showed a positive relation between Excitement and organizational attractiveness.
Anderson et al, 2010 have shown that people make perception about the organizations and
these perceptions help draw inferences about the organization. These inferences affect their
perceptions of organizational attraction. Due to several limitations, relationship between
personality trait inferences and organizational attraction cannot be established. They present
evidence on the same through data on a much larger number of firms, using a multi-cultural
sample. Their results suggest that personality trait inferences are related to perceptions of
organizational attraction.
Kausel & Slaughter, 2011 conducted research on organizational attractiveness in which they
showed that while considering the fit of an employee to the organisation, narrow facets of
candidate’s personality must be considered. In addition, they also suggest that organizations
must adopt different recruitment strategies to meet the needs of the preferred candidate. This
will help organisations to get those candidates who are more likely to accept job offers.
To summarize, a lot of research has happened by numerous learned researches on the topic of
employee perception, organizational attractiveness and organizational traits. However, the
future employee perception has not been measured in Indian context. The studies focus on
potential employees who establish relationship between big five personality traits,
organizational attractiveness, and organizational traits. This paper focuses on potential
employees in Indian context and assesses the applicability of the organizational traits given
by Slaughter et al 2004.

3. Methodology
3.1 Research Design

The type of research used in this study is qualitative as well as quantitative research. The
qualitative variables are examined through observations in numerical representations
measured on Likert scale and through statistical analysis. Self designed questionnaires were
given to respondents with seventeen questions measured on Likert scale with five options
from not important to most important. The respondents in this research were from a sample of
253 postgraduate students who have completed their year 1 of the Post Graduate Diploma in
Management (PGDM). The purpose of choosing the sample is to find the perception of the
future employees as they are the entry level employees who may get placements in year 2 and
might be a part of world class organizations.

3.2 Statistical tools

The tools used for analysis are:

 Factor Analysis
 Multiple regression analysis
 Reliability Analysis
 Frequency Analysis
4. Data Analysis
As per Slaughter et al (2004), factors which measure the employee perception variance

among organizations are: Factor 1, Trustworthiness; Factor 2, Innovativeness; Factor 3,

Style; Factor 4, Thrift; and Factor 5, Dominance. The questions asked were analysed and

grouped under the five heads mentioned above. The grouping was done using principal

component analysis. The questions asked were grouped as:

4.1 Factor Analysis

Factors/ Traits perceived by future employees’ towards organization

1. Trustworthiness
According to Slaughter et al 2004, organizations are considered trustworthy which are
perceived to be friendly, pleasant, attentive to people, family oriented, personal, helpful,
honest, cooperative, etc. According to the factor analysis of the survey conducted in this
study, transparency in the processes and activities, fair supervision and unbiased
attitude, easy approachability to supervisor and HR department for any concern &
issues, and easy reach to the top management are the traits of the organizations which
provide ability to the employee to be able to place his complete trust in the organization.

transparency in
the processes and
activities

Easy
Easy
approachability to
approachability to
HR for any
supervisor
concern

Trustworthiness

Easy Fair supervision

approachability to and unbiased
top management attitude

2. Innovativeness
According to Slaughter et al 2004, innovativeness trait of an organization is measured
through their creative, exciting, interesting, original and unique. They push research and
development continuously. This helps the organizations to develop reputation of
excellence. The study supports the definition. Focus on innovation, good office
infrastructure, brand name and innovation and employee skill upgradation
programs are some of the important traits perceived by future employees for a world
class organization.

Focus on
innovation

Good office Brand name and

Innovativeness
infrastructure innovation

Employee skill
upgradation
programs

3. Style
According to Slaughter et al 2004, style trait of organization is defined as the culture and
work environment i.e. modern, contemporary, or trendy provided by them. According to
this study, style involves no office politics, strong sexual harassment policies, equality
of opportunity to both genders. Style has been identified as an important trait which
decides the work culture and work environment of the organization.

no office
politics

Style

equality of
strong sexual
opportunity
harassment
to both
policies
genders

4. Thrift
According to Slaughter et al 2004, organizations perceived high on this factor involves
simple, low class or sloppy. The study suggests employee engagement activities and flat
hierarchy structure as traits which they perceive the organisations to follow. It is
important to have simpler communication structure which improves decision making and
avoids duplication of work.
Flat hierarchy
structure

Thrift

Employee
engagement
activities

5. Dominance
According to Slaughter et al 2004, organizations which are perceived as dominant are
successful, popular, active, busy etc. The organizations gain popularity through the four
factors described above. However, employees working in an organization play an
important role by helping an organization to achieve such status. Thus, higher salary
payouts than other organizations in the same industry, number of leaves, five days
 working policies are perceived important for any organization.

Higher salary
payouts than
other
organizations in
the same
industry

Dominance

Number of Five days

leaves working policies

4.2 Reliability Analysis

It is important to test the reliability of the self designed questions so that the results can be
validated. Thus, Cronbach alpha test has been done for all seventeen questions and the overall
score of Cronbach alpha test is 0.769 which is more than 0.7. Thus this test establishes the
reliability of the questions asked in the questionnaire. The score of each question was also
tested and the score was found to be more than 0.7 which provide us the reason that the
questions asked to measure perception were valid and reliable.

Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's N of Items
Alpha

.769 17

4.3 Frequency Analysis

There were seventeen parameters which were used to measure the perception of the future
employees. These questions were then reduced to five major factors which affect entry level
employee perception towards a world class organisation. It is important to know the response
of the future employees on each parameter to get detailed insight about the parameter which
was considered most important and which one was considered least important. Rate from 1 to
5 where 1= Unimportant, 2= Of little importance, 3= Moderately important, 4=Important,
5=Very important.The table below gives the option which was most occurring for each of the
seventeen parameters.

Questions Mode of ratings given by respondents

Higher salary payouts than other organizations in Important

same industry

Employee engagement activities Important

Transparency in processes and activities Very Important
Fair supervision & no biased attitude Very Important
Easy approachability to supervisor Very Important
Easy approachability to HR for any concern & Very Important
issues
Easy approachability to top management Important
Flat hierarchy Important
Focus on innovation Very Important
Good office infrastructure Very Important
Brand name & reputation Very Important
Employee skill upgradation programs Very Important
No office politics Very Important
Strong sexual harassment policies Very Important

Equal spread of genders Very Important

Number of leaves Very Important
Five days working Very Important

The model of each item shows maximum number of times a response has occurred. This tells

us how important a particular parameter was for the future employees. Surprisingly, higher

salary payouts than other organizations in same industry, employee engagement activities,

easy approachability to top management, flat hierarchy were considered important and not
very important. However, the other parameters such as infrastructure, transparency,

harassment policies, number of leaves, working days, equality, politics, reputation, etc. were

considered to be very important. Thus it can be inferred that organisational environment and

structure are considered more important than monetary incentives by the future employees. In

terms of Slaughter et al. 2004, the traits which were perceived to be most important were:

innovativeness, style and Boy Scout.

4.4 Regression Analysis
The principal component analysis was used to reduce seven parameters to five major

components. The components with eigen values greater than one were accounted for as major

factors affecting the perception of employees. The structure matrix was used to reduce the

large number of parameters to five major heads. However, it is important to find out how the

parameters affect the major components. Therefore, to test the cause and effect relationship

between the component and its associated parameters regression analysis was done.
Model 1: The relationship between trustworthiness and five constituents of trust
worthiness
Trustworthiness was regressed against five independent variables: Transparency in processes
and activities, Fair supervision & no biased attitude, Easy approachability to supervisor, Easy
approachability to HR for any concern & issues, Easy approachability to top management.
The results suggest that the five constituents of trustworthiness perfectly explain
trustworthiness.

Model 2: The relationship between innovativeness and factors constituting

innovativeness

Innovativeness was regressed on four factors which are focus on innovation, Good office
infrastructure, Brand name & reputation and Employee skill upgradation programs. The
results show that innovativeness is perfectly defined by these four variables.

Model 3: The relationship between style and factors constituting style

Style has been regressed on three independent variables i.e. no office politics, strong sexual
harassment policies and equal spread of gender. The results show that the three factors
perfectly define style as a measurement trait to measure the perception of future employees.

Model 4: The relationships between thrift and factors constituting thrift

Thrift is regressed on employee engagement activities and flat hierarchy structure. The results
show that the two factors perfectly explain thrift as a perception of future employees towards
world class organisations.

Model 5: The relationship between dominance and factors affecting dominance

Dominance regressed on higher salary payouts than other organizations in same industry,
number of leaves, five days working. The results show that the three factors completely
explain the dependent variable.

5. Conclusion and Recommendations

There exist a consensus that there exist direct relation between employee perception about
organizational personality traits and organizational attractiveness. As human’s are described
on the basis of personality traits, this criteria is used to describe organizations as well. Thus,
this paper analyzes the perception of future employees through a self designed questionnaire.
The attributes asked conform to the traits mentioned by Slaughter et al 2004. The study
shows that the traits suggested by Slaughter et al 2004 are valid in Indian context and clearly
define the perceptions of future employees too. This study will help organizations to know
which traits attract future employees towards them and how can they retain employees by
reducing variance of the perceptions before joining and after joining the organization. More
detailed study is required with larger sample to test the applicability in multi cultural and
different demographic settings.

6. References
 Slaughter, J. E., Zickar, M. J., Highhouse, S., & Mohr, D. C. (2004). Personality
trait inferences about organizations: development of a measure and assessment of
construct validity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(1), 85.
 Kausel, E. E., & Slaughter, J. E. (2011). Narrow personality traits and
organizational attraction: Evidence for the complementary
hypothesis. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 114(1), 3-
14.
 Cable, D. M., & Turban, D. B. (2001). Establishing the dimensions, sources and
value of job seekers' employer knowledge during recruitment. In Research in
personnel and human resources management (pp. 115-163). Emerald Group
Publishing Limited.
 Schreurs, B., Druart, C., Proost, K., & De Witte, K. (2009). Symbolic attributes
and organizational attractiveness: The moderating effects of applicant
personality. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 17(1), 35-46.
  Aaker, J.L. (1997) Dimensions of Brand Personality. Journal of Marketing
Research, 34, 347–356.
 Plummer, J.T. (1985) How Personality Makes the Difference. Journal of
Advertising Research, 24, 27–31.
 Cable, D.M. and Turban, D.B. (2001) Establishing the Dimensions, Sources, and
Value of Job Seekers’ Employer Knowledge During Recruitment. In: Ferris, G.
(ed.), Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management. Amsterdam:
Elsevier Science, pp. 115–163.
 Anderson, M. H., Haar, J., & Gibb, J. (2010). Personality trait inferences about
organizations and organizational attraction: An organizational-level analysis based
on a multi-cultural sample. Journal of Management & Organization, 16(01), 140-
150.
 Lievens, F., Hoye, G., & Schreurs, B. (2005). Examining the relationship between
employer knowledge dimensions and organizational attractiveness: An application
in a military context. Journal of Occupational and Organizational
Psychology, 78(4), 553-572.

APPENDIX
1. Questionnaire

In your opinion, what is the importance of following traits in any organization for it to be
considered a world class organization? Rate from 1 to 5 where 1= Unimportant, 2= Of little
importance, 3= Moderately important, 4=Important, 5=Very important

a. Higher salary payouts than other organizations in same industry.

b. Employee engagement activities
c. Transparency in processes and activities
d. Fair supervision & no biased attitude
e. Easy approachability to supervisor
f. Easy approachability to HR for any concern & issues
g. Easy approachability to top management
h. Flat hierarchy
i. Focus on innovation
j. Good office infrastructure
k. Brand name & reputation
l. Employee skill upgradation programs
m. No office politics
 n. Strong sexual harassment policies
o. Equal spread of genders
p. Number of leaves
q. Five days working

Regression Results

Model 1:

Model Summary

Model R R Square Adjusted R Std. Error of the

Square Estimate

1 1.000a 1.000 1.000 .00000

a. Predictors: (Constant), G. Easy approachability to top

management, D. Fair supervision & no biased attitude, E.Easy
approachability to supervisor, C. Transparency in processes and
activities, F. Easy approachability to HR for any concern &
issues

ANOVAa

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Regression 1897.257 5 379.451 . .b

1 Residual .000 247 .000

Total 1897.257 252

a. Dependent Variable: sumfactor1

b. Predictors: (Constant), G. Easy approachability to top management, D. Fair supervision
& no biased attitude, E. Easy approachability to supervisor, C. Transparency in
processes and activities, F. Easy approachability to HR for any concern & issues

Model 2:

Model Summary

Model R R Square Adjusted R Std. Error of the

Square Estimate

1 1.000a 1.000 1.000 .00000

a. Predictors: (Constant), L. Employee skill upgradation
programs, I. Focus on innovation, K. Brand name &
reputation, J. Good office infrastructure

ANOVAa

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Regression 890.182 4 222.545 . .b

1 Residual .000 248 .000

Total 890.182 252

a. Dependent Variable: sumfactor1

b. Predictors: (Constant), L. Employee skill upgradation programs, I. Focus on
innovation, K. Brand name & reputation, J. Good office infrastructure

Model 3:

Model Summary

Model R R Square Adjusted R Std. Error of the

Square Estimate

1 1.000a 1.000 1.000 .00000

a. Predictors: (Constant), O. Equal spread of genders , M.

No office politics, N. Strong sexual harassment policies

ANOVAa

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Regression 1575.043 3 525.014 . .b

1 Residual .000 249 .000

Total 1575.043 252

a. Dependent Variable: sumfactor1

b. Predictors: (Constant), O. Equal spread of genders , M. No office politics, N.
Strong sexual harassment policies

Model 4:

Model Summary

Model R R Square Adjusted R Std. Error of the

Square Estimate
a
1 1.000 1.000 1.000 .00000
a. Predictors: (Constant), Q. Five days working, A.Higher salary
payouts than other organizations in same industry., P. Number of
leaves

ANOVAa

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

2359136761352
Regression 755.202 3 251.734 .000b
6768.000
1
Residual .000 249 .000

Total 755.202 252

a. Dependent Variable: sumfactor1

b. Predictors: (Constant), Q. Five days working, A.Higher salary payouts than other organizations in
same industry., P. Number of leaves

Model 5:

Model Summary

Model R R Square Adjusted R Std. Error of the

Square Estimate

1 1.000a 1.000 1.000 .00000

a. Predictors: (Constant), Q. Five days working, A.Higher salary

payouts than other organizations in same industry., P. Number of
leaves

ANOVAa

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

2359136761352
Regression 755.202 3 251.734 .000b
6768.000
1
Residual .000 249 .000

Total 755.202 252

a. Dependent Variable: sumfactor1

b. Predictors: (Constant), Q. Five days working, A.Higher salary payouts than other organizations in
same industry., P. Number of leaves