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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the role of personality traits in affecting employees' work performance.Design/methodology/approachUsing a self‐administered questionnaire, 582 employees from a duty‐free organization are surveyed in order to examine the hypotheses of the study.FindingsSome personality traits are found to be significant in predicting employees' work performance. Some demographic factors such as gender are found to be mediating the links between traits and performance.Practical implicationsThe theoretical and managerial implications of the results are discussed in the paper, together with some recommendations for practitioners and researchers.Originality/valueThe paper examines the above‐mentioned links for the first time in the duty‐free industry in the United Arab Emirates and the Middle Eastern context.