This study explores the influence of personality traits on leadership styles within the UAE banking sector. It specifically examines how traits such as neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness correlate with transformational, transactional, and empowerment leadership styles. Using a convenient sampling method, data were collected from 24 banking leaders through the NEO Personality Inventory and the Birkman Method. Correlation analysis revealed that extraversion (M = 77.58, SD = 13.95) is significantly positively correlated with transformational leadership (r = 0.435, p = 0.034), suggesting that more extroverted individuals are more likely to exhibit transformational leadership behaviors. Conversely, agreeableness (M = 74.00, SD = 17.23) is negatively correlated with empowerment leadership (r = -0.427, p = 0.038), indicating that higher agreeableness may be linked to lower levels of empowerment leadership. Other personality traits displayed weak or non-significant correlations with the leadership styles assessed. Despite these insights, the study has limitations. The use of a small and convenient sample may affect the generalizability of the findings. Additionally, the cross-sectional design limits the ability to draw causal conclusions about the relationships between personality traits and leadership styles. Future research should aim for larger and more diverse samples and consider longitudinal approaches to better understand these dynamics.
Nawaz et al. (2025) studied this question.