Zooming their way through university: Which Big 5 traits facilitated students' adjustment to online courses during the COVID-19 pandemic

Many students struggled with the abrupt transition to online classes required by the COVID-19 pandemic. The present research used a self-determination theory framework to examine the role of the Big 5 personality traits in university students' adaptation to online learning, measured by their quality of motivation, subjective well-being, self-efficacy, online engagement, and online satisfaction. A longitudinal study was conducted across the 2020 fall semester and included a total of 350 university students who answered surveys in September and December. Results showed that conscientiousness and openness to experience were associated with higher self-efficacy and with different forms of autonomous motivation for online learning. Conscientiousness was related to identified motivation, whereas openness to experience was related to intrinsic motivation. In contrast, neuroticism was related to increases in controlled motivation. Only openness to experience was strongly related to engagement with online learning and higher levels of subjective well-being. These findings suggest that openness to experience may be an adaptive trait for students' transition to online classes during these times of uncertainty.