The influence of personality traits on journalists’ work behaviour: An exploratory study examining a Bangladeshi sample

Abstract

Following on from Henningham’s inquiry into the personality of journalists, an attempt is made here to provide a wider theoretical platform for analysis of news people’s characteristic tendencies along the lines of their unusual occupational activities. This study, which uses only Bangladeshi samples, also aims at broadening the domain for psychology based research more closely related to the actual performance of journalists with a view to putting forward this particular issue to the cross-cultural arena. Eysenck’s test of three personality dimensions was applied to a sample of 100 journalists from various media organizations in Bangladesh. The personality trait of extraversion was significantly related to engaging strongly with news sources. Neuroticism, another dimension of personality, was found to be significantly related to feelings of discomfort in noisy newsrooms and agonizing about errors. Neuroticism was also related to news-missing apprehension and being worried of deadline pressure. Implications of these findings for journalism and the newsroom environment are discussed.