MBTI Type, Age, and Occupation Play a Significant Role in Workplace Happiness [Whitepaper]
Global Marketing
New research lead by the CPP Asia Pacific office in Australia reveals personality type plays a role in workplace well-being. The study—Well-being and MBTI® Personality Type in the Workplace—investigates how differences in well-being are influenced by personality type, gender, age, geography, occupation, and activities.
“Research shows that higher well-being of workers adds to a company’s bottom line,” said Martin Boult, Sr. Director of Professional Services and International Training at CPP Asia Pacific. “Happy workers are more energetic, creative, cooperative, and work harder. Businesses with high worker satisfaction are more productive, experience lower turnover and higher customer loyalty, and have a higher share value.”
Well-being was measured by the five factors of Martin Seligman’s PERMA well-being model: Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment. Findings of the study include:
Differences by Personality Type
People with a preference for Introversion show lower levels of workplace well-being than those with a preference for Extraversion:
- Those with preferences for ISTP (Introversion, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving) show the lowest levels of well-being, and people with a preference for ENFP (Extraversion, Intuition, Feeling, Perceiving) show the highest well-being
- ENFP respondents had especially high Engagement and Relationship PERMA scores
Personality type also influences the activities people use to support their happiness:
- Social interaction was scored by most Extraverts as effective in maintaining well-being
- Introverts reported activities such as reading, playing video games, or meditation most effective
Differences by Gender, Age and Geography
- Well-being increased with the age of the respondents
- Women rated their well-being higher than men
- Effectiveness of activities that increase well-being differs by region—African respondents indicated that the two items associated with religion and spirituality were effective, while European respondents rated those two activities as less effective
Differences by Occupation
- “Community and social services” and “Education, training, and library” occupations reported the highest overall levels of workplace well-being
- “Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media” and “Office and administrative support” occupations reported the lowest levels of workplace well-being
“The results of this study show that organizations seeking to support workplace well-being should consider personality types and offer a range of activities. You want to avoid relying on a one-size-fits-all approach.” said Boult. “Findings also suggest that organizations in different parts of the world should consider localized approaches to supporting well-being at work.”
For a copy of the complete study, visit http://bit.ly/MBTIandwellbeing