The relationships between personality and Facebook photographs: A study in Taiwan

Abstract

The current study aimed to investigate the relationships between Facebook users’ personality traits and Facebook photos categories relating to the users’ daily life events. Five hundred and seventy-five Facebook users participated in this study. The results indicated that Extraversion was the strongest significant predictor for most photo categories. The other four personality traits, i.e. Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Emotional stability, and Agreeableness, were also related to certain photo categories. The current study’s findings expand literature a new field to explore Facebook users’ underlying dispositions and extend current knowledge to a deeper understanding of what kinds of photo being predicted by what dispositions, and provides a new approach to assessment of applicants’ and employees’ personality in addition to self-reported personality tests.

Keywords:

• personality
• human resource management
• self-expression
• Facebook photos
• social networks
• room with a cue model (RCM)

Public Interest Statement

This paper will answer the question that for each Facebook photo category which personality traits are good predictors. This paper provides significant results beyond previous researches that investigate the relationships between personality and Facebook usage and behavior. This paper’s findings of the relationships between personality and photos could have implications in human resource management.

Additional information

Funding

The author received no direct funding for this research.

Notes on contributors

Cheng-Liang Yang

Cheng-Liang Yang is an Associate Professor of Information Management at the University of Tatung. His research interests include human resource management, organizational behavior and system simulation. He got his PhD in business studies from the University of Edinburgh in 1993.