Personality Traits and Agency Politicization: Neuroticism and Perceived Political Control in United States Federal Agencies

Not all federal employees experience the presence of political appointees in their agencies in the same way. Drawing on a 2022 survey of 1,306 federal bureaucrats in the United States, we show that personality traits—especially Neuroticism—condition how formal politicization translates into perceived political influence. Ordered logistic regression models reveal that, when formal politicization increases, more Neurotic employees are significantly more likely than their less Neurotic peers to say appointees wield “a great deal” of influence. Conscientiousness displays a weaker and somewhat more ambiguous moderating effect, while Openness, Extraversion, and Agreeableness are unrelated to perception. These findings suggest identical institutional structures can generate sharply heterogeneous psychological responses across individuals and that practitioners might do well to consider management strategies anticipating such variation in an effort to preserve morale and retention in the face of intensifying politicization.