Microeconomics SeminarPersonality Traits and Career Success: Understanding Workplace DynamicsHideo Owan (Waseda University), VMP 5 (Room 0031)

21 April 2026, 5:15 pm

Abstract: How do personality traits affect career outcomes? We study the role of personality in career advancement using detailed personnel records from a business solutions firm. Employees with higher levels of extraversion are significantly more likely to be promoted, while those with higher neuroticism scores face lower promotion probabilities. Gender differences in extraversion partly explain the observed gender gap in promotions. Role and task assignments largely mediate the link between personality and promotion—employees who receive “stretch assignments” are promoted faster. Guided by our theoretical model, we identified three channels through which personality traits influence role and task assignment and find support for two. First, interpersonal skills are a key determinant of assignment, and extraverts possess superior skills from the outset, enabling them to continue excelling after promotion. Second, extraverts have an advantage in building relationships with supervisors, which may lead to better developmental assignments based on trust and favoritism, yet supervisors with more extraverted subordinates do not perform better. Our findings illustrate how personality-driven social dynamics shape internal labor markets and affect leadership pipelines and organizational equity