The Interaction between Personality, Social Network Position and Involvement in Innovation Process

Abstract This dissertation proposal investigates how personality and individuals’ social network position affect individuals’ involvement into the innovation process. It posits that people would feel inclined to become involved into the different phases of the innovation process depending on their Big Five personality traits. Additionally, this research elaborates on personality antecedents of social relationships and network structure. Furthermore, it accounts for the dynamic relationship between stages in innovation process and social network structure. Finally, it posits that there is potentially a mismatch between social network structure in different stages of the innovation process, and that this mismatch is caused by individuals’ personality. The suggested conceptual framework contributes to the innovation literature by enriching our understanding of why people create markedly different patterns of social ties in the workplace and how this tie formation process and personality influence innovation process. An empirical study aimed at testing the suggested propositions is suggested

INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIOR: THE EFFECTS OF RELATIONALISM ON THE SELECTION OF INFORMATION SOURCES

In a world where \u27Google\u27 is a verb, this research asks the question \u27what influences an individual\u27s decision to select one information source over another?\u27 Previous works have discussed relational versus nonrelational information sources (Rulke, Zaheer, & Anderson, 2000). Other research focuses on the information quality (O\u27Reilly, 1982), source accessibility (Culnan, 1984, 1985), or source richness (Daft, Lengel, & Trevino, 1987; Daft & Macintosh, 1981) but all these prior works do not address the social aspects of information sources. This research defines and develops the construct of relationalism which is reflective of the social aspects of information sources. An important argument put forth in this work is that individuals will interact differently with a source based on its relationalism. Communication literature suggests that an individual will respond socially to another\u27s social invitation even if the \u27other\u27 is actually an inanimate object (Nass & Moon, 2000). For example, individuals responded to social cues given by a robot no differently than the same social cues from a three-year-old child. To investigate source selection this research uses two experiments and a survey. The experimental approach allows for a high level of control over the task design and other extraneous influences. The survey methodology utilizes knowledge workers in business organizations, and examines the profiles of sources used in a realistic work setting. While the experimental design improves the internal validity of the model, the survey approach allows for a superior assessment of the external validity. Such methodological triangulation provides for a robust testing of the model and greater confidence in its emerging prescriptions. The first experiment investigates the antecedents to relationalism. Objective design characteristics were found to be positively related to relationalism. Furthermore a socially oriented factor was also related to relationalism. The second experiment investigated the relationship between relationalism and source selection. This experiment also included task effects and controlled for personality variables. The relationship between relationalism and source selection depended on the nature of the task with more complex tasks indicating a stronger preference for higher relationalism sources. The findings from the survey of knowledge workers largely corroborated the findings from the experiments though some differences were seen. From the experimental and survey results implications for research and practice are developed. Further this research contributes to a deeper understanding of information source selection in a modern IT-enabled environment

Generating Artificial Social Networks with Small World and Scale Free Properties

Recent interest in complex networks has catalyzed the development of numerous models to help artificially generate and understand these networks. Watts and Strogatz presented a model (Watts Strogatz 1998) to explain how the two properties of small world networks, high clustering coefficient and low average path length appear in networks. (Barabasi and Albert 1999) gave a model to explain how networks with power-law degree distribution arise in networks. From these two ground breaking results, many researchers have introduced different models to explain the appearance of networks with small world and scale free properties in the real world. In this paper, we focus on social networks and comparatively study the structure of real world and artificially generated networks. The differences and similarities of different models are highlighted and their shortcomings are identified. Further more, we present a new model which produces networks with both small world and scale free properties which are structurally more similar to real world social networks

On Getting Along and Getting Ahead: How Personality Affects Social Network Dynamics

Hoe gaan mensen met elkaar om binnen organisaties? In dit proefschrift wordt onderzocht hoe persoonlijkheid en interpersoonlijke waarnemingen de dynamiek van sociale netwerken beïnvloeden. Hierin worden twee studies gepresenteerd die ons begrip over het ontstaan van vriendschap binnen organisaties vergrooten. Het eerste onderzoek bestudeert hoe de persoonlijkheidskenmerk ‘proactive persoonlijkheid" – het vermogen van een individu om zichzelf of haar / zijn omgeving te veranderen (Bateman & Crant, 1993) – bijdraagt aan de vorming van de perceptie van competentie en vriendschap binnen teams. Het tweede onderzoek bestudeert hoe de Five Factor persoonlijkheidskenmerken bijdragen aan de dynamiek van vriendschaps- en conflictnetwerken, alsmede hoe vriendschap en conflict elkaar beïnvloeden.How people get along and get ahead socially within the organizations? This dissertation studies the role of personality and interpersonal perceptions in social network dynamics. It presents two studies that advance our understanding on how friendship unfolds within the organizations. The first study looks into how proactive personality - individuals’ inclination to shape their environment and foster change - contributes to the formation of perceptions of competence and friendship in teams. The second study looks into how Five Factor personality traits add to dynamics of friendship and conflict networks and looks into how friendship and conflict mutually influence each other

Adolescent Peer-Related Computer-Mediated Communication and Its Relationship to Social Anxiety

Adolescents are adopting computer-mediated communication (CMC) at a higher rate than any other age group, with CMC becoming integral to their social relationships. This is particularly significant given the role peer relationships play in adolescent mental health. The purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental study was to explore the relationship between adolescent CMC and social anxiety. The research was guided by Erikson\u27s theory of psychosocial development and Kock\u27s media naturalness theory. This multiwave panel study included a convenience sample of 58 adolescents ages 11 to 18. Surveys were completed on participant\u27s social skills and introversion, and daily data were gathered on CMC, face-to-face communication, and social anxiety. Three regression models were produced from each day\u27s data. Results indicated a modest relationship between daily CMC and social anxiety. Results also indicated CMC users with lower social skills or higher in introversion may be at greater risk for social anxiety. Lower face-to-face communication was also found to be related to increased social anxiety in CMC users. Findings may be useful to researchers seeking to identify specific populations who are at greater risk for negative outcomes in CMC use. Findings may also be useful to clinicians, educators, and parents interested in CMC\u27s role in adolescent mental health or its impact on the quality of adolescent peer relationships

Capturing the effect of personality on teams with agent-based modelling

Continuing advances in information and communication technology (ICT) have changed the landscape of project management. Now there are increasing occurrences of short-term projects staffed by ad hoc assemblies of temporary team members who have been quickly recruited from a candidate population. However, there is little in the way of general guidelines available concerning how to manage these volatile situations. In particular there are no established approaches for more effective assembly of ad hoc project teams with respect to the collective psychological makeup of the team members. This thesis makes a contribution in this area by providing an examination into improved ways of assembling ad hoc project teams with respect to the psychological (personality) profiles of team members in order to produce more effective project outcomes. This thesis is divided into three main sections. In the first section, we investigate how the strategies that determine the composition of teams can affect team performance. Because of the autonomous nature of team members, we employ agent-based modelling techniques that can be used to predict the assembly of teams and their ensuing performance. Our agent-based simulations in the first section of this thesis demonstrate emergent effects based on different parametrisations. In order to compare the outcomes of these models with real-world situations, a practical method of simply determining individual personality types is needed. In this regard, we have used the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) index to identify personalities. In the second part of the thesis, we develop a team formation model to explain how self-assembly teams tend to evolve in the area of software development. In order to develop an agent-based model intended to predict the teams’ compositions, we describe our assumptions about the factors affecting team formation. A model is developed to explain the mechanism behind team formation and the extent to which our assumptions can predict the compositions of teams. Our model has been validated against a case study known as the “Python Enhancement Proposal” (PEP), which is used by small ad-hoc software teams to enhance the Python programming language. In order to discover the personality of a PEPs developer, we make an additional contribution in this thesis: that is, developing a novel model that infers the MBTI specification of personality from the candidate team members’ writing styles. By comparing PEPs data with the results produced from our agent-based simulations, we can identify the factors that explain the mechanisms behind team formation. In this study, we identified four significant input factors that affect team composition and performance: previous performance, teammate familiarity, MBTI Feeling personality, and MBTI Perceiving personality. The third part of this thesis focuses on the relationships between the personalities of a team and the team’s group performance. We introduced a data-driven methodology that can be customised for different organisations to discover the relationship between personality and team performance. In addition, we identified the team compositions that can result in better performance. One hypothesis that was tested and confirmed in this connection is the positive effect of personality heterogeneity on the performance of software development teams. The thesis makes several methodological and practical contributions. In this thesis, not only have we developed and tested how people do form into a team, but also we investigate how people should form into a team. The models and techniques developed in this thesis can be used to guide and help managers to investigate the assembly and evolution of temporary ad-hoc work teams. Managers can apply these models in connection with conducting various “what-if” analyses by simulating the behaviour of teams under different circumstances

Facing the Faceless - On the Determinants and Effectiveness of Social Capital in the Labour Market

Recruitment, which is the attraction and selection of qualified employees, is one of the major challenges of firms. In practice, both employers and employees lack relevant information about each other at the risk of a poor person-organisation (P-O) and/or person-job (P-J) fit. To overcome these mutual information asymmetries, labour market participants could utilise their social capital in the form of personal contacts to fill vacancies or find new jobs. In analogy to the concept of human capital as the embodiment of knowledge in an individual, Coleman (1988) defines social capital as the “structure of relations between actors and among actors”. Social capital could therefore serve as a superior means in the job search or recruitment process for both sides of the labour market compared to other search channels (e.g. printed or online adverts, employment agencies). Albeit empirical research has addressed the relation between post-hire outcomes and recruitment channels, there are certain gaps in the literature this dissertation aims to fill. Based on data on the German labour market derived from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), this dissertation investigates the following aspects: First, determinants of recruitment channel usage are analysed. Second, outcomes of finding a job through social ties, e.g. wages, job satisfaction, and turnover, are investigated. Third, these two steps are integrated into one model to account for selection effects since finding a job through a given channel is unlikely to be random. In addition to this, it is elucidated whether personality traits (Big Five, locus of control, reciprocity) affect finding a job via social ties as well as post-hire outcomes. Fourth, search effort and outcomes of this search of unemployed job seekers is investigated. Finally, leisure time activities are interpreted as determinants of social capital generation and labour market outcomes of these activities are estimated

The effect of personality, emotional intelligence and social network characteristics on sales performance: The mediating roles of market intelligence use, adaptive selling behaviour and improvisation

Today’s account management is complex. The market is extremely competitive, technology is making alternatives and low-distribution methods possible, product lifecycles are accelerating, and customers are becoming less loyal and more sophisticated while at the same time, becoming more demanding. A key challenge facing firms is to determine how to deploy highly effective account managers in order to perform in this complex environment. In this dissertation, I tested whether account manager (1) personality traits, (2) social network characteristics, and (3) emotional intelligence affected their sales performance. I then tested whether these three independent variables affected sales performance through various mediating variables including: (1) market intelligence use, (2) improvisation, and (3) adaptive selling behaviour. Finally, I tested the model by comparing between the Muslim and non-Muslim account managers due to the understanding that Islamic values influence the personality and behaviour of its followers. The research setting involved Muslim and non-Muslim account managers in Malaysia who managed sales of financial products such as shares, bonds, unit trusts, foreign exchange, and futures markets. A combination of mail and in-person survey was used to collect the data. A pilot test was conducted prior to final survey administration. Eighteen randomly selected account managers participated in the pilot test. Results and observations from the pilot test were used to finalise the survey. The finalised questionnaire was sent to 2,122 account managers drawn randomly from the 29 registered finance companies, stock brokers, and banks in Malaysia. Four hundred ninety four usable questionnaires were returned yielding a 23.3 percent response rate. Of the 494 replies, 280 were from Muslim account managers while the remaining 214 were from non-Muslim account managers. Data was analysed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The Goodness of Fit Index GFI, Comparative Fit Index CFI, and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation RMSEA were used as model fitness indicators. The missing data was analysed using Maximum Likelihood (ML). Overall, the results of the data illustrated strong support for the conceptual model. Market intelligence use and improvisation was found to mediate the relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable. More specifically, market intelligence use and improvisation were observed to mediate the relationship between openness to experience and sales performance, conscientiousness and sales performance, and network size and sales performance. Adaptive selling behaviour was found to mediate the relationship between emotional intelligence and sales performance. Finally, no significant statistical differences were observed between Muslim and non-Muslim managers. The results of this study contribute to sales management literature by understanding the role of mediators in the personality trait-sales performance relationship, social network characteristics-sales performance relationship, and emotional intelligence-sales performance relationship. Consequently, these findings indicate several managerial implications for recruitment, training, work practices, internal and relationship marketing, and policies at the workplace