Using the big five inventory to evaluate the personality traits of Australian pharmacists

Objectives: Pharmacist personality traits may explain the incomplete uptake of extended scope pharmacy practice roles. The objective of this study was to explore the personality traits of Australian pharmacists using the Big Five Inventory (BFI). Methods: A cross-sectional survey of Australian pharmacists was undertaken. Pharmacists were asked to complete a short demographic survey and the BFI, a 44-item survey that measures the Big Five personality traits: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness. Each trait can be scored out of a maximum of 5. The BFI and multivariate linear regression were used to assess associations between personality traits and demographic variables. Key findings: A total of 122 responses were available for analysis. The majority of study participants were female (79.5%), were aged between 30 and 39 years (32.0%) and worked in hospital pharmacy (46.7%). Pharmacists scored (mean (standard deviation)) 3.4 (0.7) for extraversion, 3.9 (0.5) for agreeableness, 4.2 (0.5) for conscientiousness, 2.5 (0.8) for neuroticism and 3.5 (0.6) for openness. Associations were found between agreeableness and qualifications and location of pharmacy practice, neuroticism and working in a practice location (rural versus metropolitan) and age, and openness and practice location (rural versus metropolitan) and principle role in pharmacy. Conclusions: Pharmacists displayed high scores on the traits of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness and scored moderately on the trait of openness. Confirmation with a larger sample size and evaluation in the context of pharmacy practice change may assist in overcoming barriers to change in the pharmacy profession.