Personality Traits and the Annual Sales of U.S. Travel Agents

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative correlational-predictive study was to examine if, and to what extent, there was a relationship among Conscientiousness and Extraversion, as measured by the Big Five Inventory, and the Annual Sales of travel agents in the United States. Trait theory, viewed from the perspective of the Five-Factor Model, served as the study’s theoretical foundation. The convenience sample of 246 self-employed, leisure-oriented travel agents were recruited from the memberships of two leading retail travel industry organizations in the United States. Multiple linear regression was used to explore whether Conscientiousness and Extraversion, both collectively and individually, predict the Annual Sales of travel agents in the United States. Data collected from an anonymous online survey were analyzed and failed to satisfy the assumptions for linearity and normally distributed residuals. The overall regression model was not statistically significant, and the results indicated that F(2, 243) = 0.388, p > 0.05. The correlation coefficient (R = 0.056) and the coefficient of determination (R² = 0.003) indicated no relationship between Conscientiousness and Extraversion and Annual Sales. Individually, Conscientiousness (p = 0.480) and Extraversion (p = 0.705) did not have a statistically significant effect on Annual Sales. The study’s post-hoc power analysis was 0.999.