Relationship between competence and job performance in junior officers: mediating role of personality traits and mental resilience

Objective To explore the mediating role of personality traits and mental resilience in the relationship between competence and job performance among junior officers. Methods Competency Inventory, 25-Item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-25), short version of the Big Five Personality Scale [Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI)], and Chinese Perceived Stress Scale (CPSS) were used as assessment tools to survey 586 junior officers selected by convenience sampling. Results ① For junior officers, their competence was positively and moderately correlated with job performance, openness personality, extroversion personality, agreeableness personality, responsibility personality, and total score and score for each dimension of psychological resilience (P < 0.01), and negatively and moderately correlated with neuroticism personality (P < 0.01). ② Significantly mediating role was observed in personality and mental resilience for competence and job performance in junior officers, with an indirect effect of 20.68% for personality and 33.18% for mental resilience. Conclusion Personality and mental resilience mediate significantly between competence and job performance in junior officers. Our findings provide a theoretical basis for the action mechanism of competence in job performance for junior officers.