Relationship between choice of a business major type (thing-oriented versus person-oriented) and Big Five personality traits Sawsen Lakhal * , Éric Frenette, Serge Sévigny, Hager Khechine Laval University, Local 0519, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada article info Article history: Received 2 September 2011 Received in revised form 2 March 2012 Accepted 26 March 2012 Keywords: Gender Personality Big Five model Business majors Thing-oriented versus person-oriented abstract The present study sought to contribute to the little-existing literature (Fallan, 2006; Martin & Bartol, 1986; Noël, Michaels, & Levas, 2003; Pringle, Dubose, & Yankey, 2010) by examining whether personality as defined by the Big Five model predicts students’ choice of a thing-oriented as opposed to a person-oriented business major. Success in identifying personality patterns that distinguish between students enrolled in different business majors could help to develop personality profiles that might be used to assist undecided students in their choice of a business major and to provide information to decided ones regarding the value of their choice. However, before these profiles can be used with confidence, more research on the relationship between personality and choice of business majors should be conducted (Borges & Osmon, 2001). The present study aims to further this knowledge. A sample of 109 university students enrolled in a compulsory under- graduate business course completed an online questionnaire. The results of the multiple hierarchical logistic regression analyses showed that gender and personality (neuroticism, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) account for 42.2% of the variance in business majors’ choice, while controlling for gender. Results are discussed in light of their implications in choice of business major and academic success. Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Choosing an academic major is not always an easy task for students, especially since they must make this choice at a relatively young age. This important decision will often determine their academic achievement (Graunke & Woosley, 2005) as well as their future career and life orientation. On the one hand, students’ satisfaction with academic major choice leads to satisfaction with the academic field of study and with future occupation and career (Logue, Lounsbury, Gupta, & Leong, 2007), whereas dissatisfaction with the selected academic major can be a reason for failure and dropout from university (Graunke & Woosley, 2005). On the other hand, choice of academic major influences occupational opportunities and rewards, as some majors lead to more lucrative careers than others (Simpson, 2001). It is thus important to determine factors that could influence this choice and to try to see how these factors could be used to better guide students in order to increase the likelihood of successful student outcomes. Over recent years, several studies have examined demographic and personal factors that seem to influence students’ choice of academic major. Among these demographic factors are parents’ occupation (Leppel, 2001), parents’ educational level (Ware, Steckler, & Leserman, 1985), ethnic origins (Simpson, 2001), as well as students’ socio-economic status, gender * Corresponding author. E-mail address: Sawsen.Lakhal@fsa.ulaval.ca (S. Lakhal). Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect The International Journal of Management Education journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijme 1472-8117/$ – see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijme.2012.03.003 The International Journal of Management Education 10 (2012) 88–100