The Effect of Team Leaders’ Personality Traits on Team Performance in the Apparel Industry: Evidence from Southern Province, Sri Lanka
Keywords:
Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Neuroticism, Openness to experience, Team performanceAbstract
Personality is fundamentally a combination of emotional responses, attitudes, and behaviours, comprising various aspects of thoughts, feelings, and actions that make individuals distinctive. It serves as a key motivating factor for performance. This study investigates the relationship between personality dimensions and team performance among team leaders in the apparel industry of Sri Lanka’s Southern Province. Specifically, the study empirically evaluates the impact of five personality traits: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience on team performance. A quantitative research approach was adopted to test the proposed model. Primary data were collected from a sample of 170 team leaders with high involvement in team-based operations through a structured questionnaire. The findings reveal that team performance has a significant and positive relationship with conscientiousness. While extraversion, openness to experience, and neuroticism were found to be statistically insignificant, they, along with agreeableness, showed weak positive associations with team performance. Multiple regression analysis was used to assess the model, and it was found that all variables except agreeableness significantly contributed to the model. The study discusses relevant managerial implications based on these results and suggests directions for future research. This research contributes to the growing body of literature on team leadership and personality traits in the apparel industry within the Southern Province of Sri Lanka.
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