Personality Traits and the Use of Performance Information: Enthusiastic and Diligent Public Managers

Abstract Drawing on a survey of 385 municipal public managers in Italy, this article investigates the potential association between managers’ personality traits and their use of performance information. Using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), the results show that conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness emerge as relevant personality traits that help explain public managers’ use of performance information. Moreover, the study points to the presence of two distinct groups of users of performance information, which we label “enthusiastic” and “diligent” managers. For “enthusiastic managers”, performance information use is mainly associated with extraversion and openness, while for “diligent managers”, conscientiousness and agreeableness drive its use. Implications for the theory and practice of performance management are discussed.