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Conscientiousness in the Workplace: Evidence from a Field Experiment in West Africa

Mathias Allemand¹; Martina Kirchberger²; Sveta Milusheva³; Carol Newman²; Brent W. Roberts⁴; Vincent Thorne⁵

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Zurich and Research and Development, University of Teacher Education Schaffhausen · ² Department of Economics, Trinity College Dublin · ³ Development Impact Evaluation Department, The World Bank · ⁴ Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and University of Tübingen · ⁵ Department of Regulation, Environment and Market, Paris School of Economics

Abstract Despite extensive evidence on the importance of non-cognitive skills for labor market outcomes, to what extent training can affect specific skills in adulthood remains an open question. We conducted a randomized controlled trial with low-skilled employed workers in Senegal where workers were randomly assigned to receive a training intervention designed to affect conscientiousness-related skills. We found that treated workers were significantly more likely to stay in their job, had higher earnings and better performance grades post intervention. Our findings suggest that non-cognitive skills can be affected later in the life cycle and targeted training can have substantial labor market returns.

DOI

10.1162/rest.a.1622

Pages

1-28

Language

en

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