IJRSS Volume 6, Issue 2 ISSN: 2249-2496 _________________________________________________________ A Monthly Double-Blind Peer Reviewed Refereed Open Access International e-Journal - Included in the International Serial Directories Indexed & Listed at: Ulrich's Periodicals Directory ©, U.S.A., Open J-Gage, India as well as in Cabell’s Directories of Publishing Opportunities, U.S.A. International Journal of Research in Social Sciences http://www.ijmra.us 466 February 2016 The impact personality traits, role conflict and work family conflicton customer orientation: a review of extant literature Sudarshan Seshanna, Ph. D. * Meera Seshanna ** Paper Abstract A review of extant literature explores the role stress variables such as role conflict and work- family conflict that ŵodeƌate the ƌelatioŶship ďetǁeeŶ a seƌǀiĐe eŵploLJees peƌsoŶalitLJ tƌaits and customer orientation. The paper discusses studies that have established the link between personality traits and customer orientation, and provides an overview of existing theory as well as practice in a relatively unexplored area of interdisciplinary business research. Findings The evidence from the extant literature therefore can be used to propose a moderating role for role conflict in the relationships between the big-five personality traits and customer orientation. This is mainly based on the findings that (i) role conflict and work family conflict directly affeĐts seƌǀiĐe eŵploLJees aďilitLJ to deliǀeƌ good seƌǀiĐe to Đustoŵeƌs aŶd ;iiͿ ƌole conflict and work-family conflict causes emotional exhaustion among service employees, which leads to an inability on the part of the service employee to empathize with customers and to enjoy customer interactions. Keywords: personality traits, role conflict, customer orientation, work-family conflict * CMS Business School, Jain University, Bangalore ** Dayanand Sagar Business Academy, Bangalore