The Relationships among Cognitive Styles, Personality Priaits and Work Performance

Abstract

Cognitive style was defined as an individual's preferred behavioral traits or characteristics which shown in the cognitive aspect of information processing. Cognitive style is an adapted behavior which helps an individual to solve problems effectively. The purposes of the present study were to explore the relationships among the Jung's cognitive styles, personality traits and work performance. One hundred and ninty-seven bottom level managers of a state-owned corporation were studied. The major findings were that (1) the cognitive styles were unrelated with the manager's work performance such as annual performance ratings and behavior-anchored performance ratings, but which were related with the manager's work performance outcomes such as attendance behavior and job satisfaction level; (2) the managers of different cognitive styles were shown significant difference on aptitude tests, personality traits and managerial motivation; (3) the cognitive styles were unrelated with the choices of different jobs. A model was proposed to specify the relationship between cognitive styles and work performance.