Personality traits, working conditions and health: an empirical analysis based on the German Linked Personnel Panel, 2013–2017

Abstract

AbstractWe conduct a comprehensive analysis of health determinants at the individual and workplace levels. Using a new individual-level German data set, we investigate the influence of these determinants on health, including collegiality, personality traits as measured by the Big Five, commitment to the company and job characteristics, while controlling for a set of standard sociodemographic and employment variables. We are interested in which determinants are important and which are less influential, whether interaction effects should be taken into account and whether the results depend on the modeling and estimation method used. Among the Big Five factors, conscientiousness, agreeableness and emotional stability are positively correlated with good overall health. The influence of job characteristics such as having substantial decision-making authority, not having physically demanding tasks, having pleasant environmental conditions, facing minimal time pressure and not being required to multitask are also positive. If employees frequently receive help when needed from their colleagues and do not feel unfairly criticized by others in the firm, they usually have fewer health problems. Each Big Five item influences mental health, whereas no statistical significance could be found for these items’ relationships with the number of days workers were absent due to sickness, except for neuroticism. These results are, for the most part, robust to different modeling and estimation methods.