THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERSONALITY AND DISCRETIONARY HELPING BEHAVIORS1

  • van EMMERIK, HETTY IJ.
  • JAWAHAR, I. M.
  • STONE, THOMAS H.

  • 1Department of Sociology Utrecht University

    2Department of Management and Quantitative Methods College of Business Illinois State University

    3Department of Management College of Business Administration Oklahoma State University

1Address correspondence to IJ. Hetty van Emmerik, Utrecht University, Willem C. Van Unnikgebouw kr 1426, Heidelberglaan 1, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands or e-mail (H. [email protected]).

Accepted July 1, 2004.

Psychological Reports 95(1):p 355-365, August 2004.

Summary.

The relationship between personality and helping behaviors in three different contexts was examined in a field study. In a sample of 178 employees from three professional organizations, measures of the Big Five Personality factors were found to be related to discretionary helping behaviors performed in the context of one's home, workplace and the larger society. Collectively, the five personality factors accounted for 7% of the variance in Household Activities and Chores, 26% of the variance in Organizational Citizenship Behaviors and 10% of the variance in Volunteerism. Implications of these relations are discussed.

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