Effects of personal states and personality traits on work performance of commissioning workers in nuclear power plants

Objective Although previous research has indicated that human errors represent the primary cause of incidents in nuclear power safety, few studies have investigated the potential impact of psychological factors on the performance of operators. This study makes a pioneering contribution to the field by integrating the effect of personal states and personality traits on work evaluation.Method A total of 101 commissioning workers in nuclear power plants were recruited and monitored for ten consecutive workdays. The research collected their personality traits and personal states which were indexed by cognitive tasks before daily work. The participants rated their work performance after work as the dependent variable.Results The results of the LASSO regression analysis indicated that the perceptual speed, visual selective attention, and executive control before work were significantly correlated with the self-rated work performance. Furthermore, the interaction between personal states and personality traits exhibited moderating effects, with the effect of mindfulness being the most prominent.Conclusion The present study enhanced understanding of how personality traits may moderate the effect of pre-work personal states on daily work performance. It also provided practical insights for the selection and support of commissioning workers, with a particular focus on the role of appropriate personality traits and robust personal states.