A Study of the Correlation between Personality Traits and Observance of Professional Ethics and Individual Accountability of Counselors and Psychologists

Professional ethics and accountability are of considerable importance for professionals who provide professional services. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of personality traits in professional ethics and individual accountability. This study was performed as a descriptive-correlational study on all counselors and psychologists working in Tabriz city in 2014. The samples (N=110) were selected by convenience sampling. The data were collected using standard questionnaires. Data were analyzed by Pearson's correlation coefficient and multiple regressions tests. In this study, there was a significant positive correlation between personality traits and individual accountability (p<0.05). Forty-one percent of the professional ethics variance was related to the independent variables of conscientiousness (B=0.55, p<0.001) and agreeableness (B=0.23, p<0.001) and 17 percent of accountability variance was related to the independent variables of conscientiousness (B=0.33, p<0.001) and agreeableness (B=0.18, p<0.04). The results of the present study showed that personality traits of conscientiousness and agreeableness are related to the improvement of accountability and professional ethics to clients. Therefore, these findings can help health planners to provide conditions for creating the necessary ground for more compatibility of counselors with these traits in order to improve their performance. Moreover, it is suggested that in future studies on professional ethics and accountability of counselors, personality aspects also be taken into account.