Attraction–Selection–Attrition Theory in the Public Organization: The Effects of Personality Traits on Psychological Ownership with Regard to the Mediating Role of Emotional Intelligence

Personality traits and their relation with emotional intelligence and psychological ownership (PO) have to be considered in public-sector organizations, because employees who work in the public sector may have fewer mechanisms to increase their feelings of PO toward their organization. Thus, with regard to conditions of public organizations, more attention should be paid to structural and organizational contexts while investigating the relations between personality traits, emotional intelligence and PO. The aim of the research is to probe the effect of personality traits on PO in a public organization with regard to the mediating role of emotional intelligence. SPSS and Smart PLS software applications were used to test the research hypotheses. Data were collected from 384 participants, engaged in a public organization administrative department. The results revealed that traits, including extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness and neuroticism influence emotional intelligence; emotional intelligence, in turn, is positively associated with PO; these personality traits are directly associated with PO and influence PO indirectly through emotional intelligence.