Abstract

In recent decades, a large amount of research has emerged in organizational psychology regarding immutable personality traits and the intersection with organizational commitment and work engagement. There is a significant relationship between personality traits and employee engagement and organizational psychology due to the manner in which they affect organizational efficiency. The Big Five personality traits have been of high focus, particularly the enduring personality trait “conscientiousness.” This trait has been examined as a possible predictor of employee effort and organizational commitment. The current views on employee engagement perceive engagement as mercurial and primarily changing as a function of external factors including organizational culture, economic environment, salary, employee debt and several other factors. This article examines idiopathic motivations for employee engagement, namely the enduring trait of conscientiousness, introduces the term antecedent disengagement and examines the importance of personality-based hiring as a predictor of future engagement. Finally, the article concludes by identifying gaps in the literature regarding employee engagement and areas for future research.