Explicating the Openness to Experience Construct and its Subdimensions and Facets in a Work Setting

Recent meta-analyses (e.g. Barrick, Mount, & Judge, 2001) found openness to experience, a factor in the five-factor model of personality, to be uncorrelated with job performance. We argue that, among others, insignificant validity is due to the broad and heterogeneous nature of the construct. In line with our hypotheses, we found internal structure of openness to be multidimensional. Further analyses on subdimensional and facet level revealed large differences in criterion- and construct-related validity. It could be demonstrated that a subdimension labeled epistemic curiosity and, especially, the facet openness to ideas, which includes aspects like curiosity, flexibility, willingness to learn, and creativity, are highly relevant for work-related criteria and so far understudied in organizational research.