CONTRIBUTION OF SUB-ASSISTANT AGRICULTURE OFFICERS’ PERSONALITY TRAITS AND SKILLS TO THEIR PERFORMANCE IN EXTENSION SERVICE

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to assess the Sub-Assistant Agriculture Officer’s (SAAOs’) performance in carrying out extension activities from farmers’ perspectives. Attempts were also made to describe the selected personality traits and skills of the SAAOs’ and to explore the influence of personality traits and skills on their performance. Five Factor Model (FFM) and Skill-based Approach were used to determine the selected personality traits and professional skills of professionals. Four villages from Jaldhaka upazila of Nilphamari district were randomly selected as the study area. Out of 428farmers, 131 were interviewed to assess Sub-Assistant Agriculture Officer’s (SAAO) performance and selected characteristics during the period of 10 February to 27 February,2018. Descriptive statistics show that majority of the respondents (99.2%) were found highly satisfied at SAAOs’ performance. Multiple regressions analysis indicates that neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, technical skill and human skill significantly influenced professionals’ performance while openness, conscientiousness and conceptual skills had no significant influence. However, alike neuroticism, extroversion was foundto have negative influence on performance. Although extraversion has been considered as a positive contributor of performance, highly extrovert person might be perceived differently by majority of the respondents of the farming community. All the factors jointly explained 31.4% (R 2 =0.314) of the variances of extent of SAAOs’ performance. The F value (6.977) indicates the model is significant (significant at 0.1 % level). Therefore, extension service providers should pay proper attention to the development of SAAOs’ personality characteristics and their skills for the success of extension service.