Does Personality Influence Agency Problems? The Role of the ‘Big Five’ Personality Dimensions

John Politis, N. J. Politis

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference Paper published in Proceedingspeer-review

    Abstract

    This study examines the role that personality plays in the four determinants of agency problems, known in the literature as direct wealth transfer, asset substitution, underinvestment and overinvestment. The study involves a questionnaire-based survey of employees from the banking sector in Cyprus. A total of 231 full time employees assessed the
    personality traits of 58 supervisors, a few months before the 2013 financial crisis. The findings do not support the relation between the personality dimensions and agency problems. However, the findings revealed that the reverse-scoring of the negatively-keyed items of conscientiousness supported the independence of another construct, which we have chosen to
    name ‘non-conscientiousness’. Non-conscientiousness was significantly and positively related with one of the four agency
    problems (i.e., under investment). This finding suggests that taking into account the components of conscientiousness and
    ‘non-conscientiousness’ might provide the beginning of understanding which of the personality traits influence ethical leader
    behaviour and its consequences on agency problems in the financial sector. The limitations of the study and directions for future research are discussed.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationECMLG 2016 - Proceedings for the 12 European Conference on Management Leadership and Governance
    EditorsFlorina Pinzaru, Constantin Bratianu
    Place of PublicationBucharest, Romania
    PublisherACPIL
    Pages231-239
    Number of pages8
    ISBN (Electronic)9781911218197
    ISBN (Print)9781911218203
    Publication statusPublished - 2016
    Event12th European Conference on Management Leadership and Governance - Bucharest, Romania, Bucharest, Romania
    Duration: 10 Nov 201611 Nov 2016
    http://www.academic-conferences.org/conferences/ecmlg/ecmlg-future-and-past/

    Conference

    Conference12th European Conference on Management Leadership and Governance
    Abbreviated titleECMLG 2016
    Country/TerritoryRomania
    CityBucharest
    Period10/11/1611/11/16
    Internet address

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