Who is late and who is early? Big Five personality factors and punctuality in attending psychological experiments

Punctuality is an important social behavior at the workplace and in everyday life. This study analyzed the influence of personality on behavioral indicators of punctuality in a real-life setting. The study consisted of two parts: participants first completed a personality questionnaire at home and then joined a psychological group experiment some days later. Analyses focused on three objective behavioral indicators of punctuality: time of arrival, earliness, and lateness. As expected, the Big Five personality factors predicted punctuality: conscientiousness was related to all aspect of punctuality, agreeableness predicted time of arrival as well as earliness and neuroticism was related to earliness. Possible directions for future research are outlined.