Personality and Knowledge Management Behavior [The Big Five Theory of Personality]

In this theory of the week we focus on the Big Five Theory of Personality.  They are five broad factors or dimensions of personality developed through lexical analysis. This model is considered to be the most comprehensive empirical or data-driven inquiry into personality.

Introduction

The Big Five Model of Personality consists of a cluster of more specific traits that correlate together. The Big Five factors and their constituent traits can be summarized as follows:

• Openness – appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas, curiosity, and variety of experience.
• Conscientiousness – a tendency to show self-discipline, act dutifully, and aim for achievement; planned rather than spontaneous behavior.
• Extraversion – energy, positive emotions, surgency, and the tendency to seek stimulation and the company of others.
• Agreeableness – a tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather than suspicious and antagonistic towards others.
• Neuroticism – a tendency to experience unpleasant emotions easily, such as anger, anxiety, depression, or vulnerability; sometimes called emotional instability.

There has been a lot of research focused at looking at the effects of these traits on organizational performance, and also more specifically to knowledge management. This research has shown that two of the five factors influenced knowledge behavior: Openness and Extraversion.

Openness and Knowledge Behavior

Openness involves active imagination, aesthetic sensitivity, attentiveness to inner feelings, preference for variety, and intellectual curiosity. People who score low on openness are considered closed to experience. They tend to be conventional and traditional in their outlook and behavior. They prefer familiar routines to new experiences, and generally have a narrower range of interests. They could be considered practical and down to earth (Costa & McCrae, 1992).

Openness to Experience was found to have a significant relationship with individual engagement to share knowledge in organizations (Cabrera, Collins & Salgado, 2006). In other studies its also associated with training proficiency, and the capacity to better cope with change (Barrick & Mount, 1991). Both these characteristics are also of influence when implementing something new like a knowledge management strategy.

Extraversion and Knowledge Behavior

Extraversion is “the act, state, or habit of being predominantly concerned with and obtaining gratification from what is outside the self”. Costa & McCrae (1992) found that ‘People who are extraverted enjoy being around and interacting with others…’. Extraverts tend to enjoy human interactions and to be enthusiastic, talkative, assertive, and gregarious. They take pleasure in activities that involve large social gatherings, such as parties, community activities, public demonstrations, and business or political groups. An extraverted person is likely to enjoy time spent with people and find less reward in time spent alone. Extraversion has been found to be related to job performance in occupations where interactions with others are a significant portion of the job (Ashton, 1998). Furthermore, if working in a team, higher scores on extraversion would be expected to be related to more effective teamwork (Barrick & Mount, 1991). It also seemed to have a positive effect on performance levels in knowledge sharing and performance in training (Cabrera, Collins & Salgado, 2006).

How to focus on personality in knowledge processes

The awareness that the amount of activity in knowledge behavior can partly be explained by a person’s personality is important for knowledge leadership. If someone has a closed to experience outlook in life, they might not be as active as those that are more open in searching for new knowledge or experiences for example. That does not mean that this person find it more difficult or less valuable. It’s just the way they do it. The same counts for extraversion. An introverted personality might have a hard time sharing knowledge face-to-face or in group discussions.  That does not mean that they don’t think knowledge sharing is important or that they don’t have anything useful to say. In both cases it’s the personality setup of the individual that partly explains their (lack of) behavior. Changing someone’s personality is one of the most difficult things to do, if not impossible. Some people need a different way of motivating them to become active.

If you want your staff to have the best personalities for the most flourishing knowledge management culture, attention can be given to personality in the recruitment and selection of new employees. Psychological tests can give some insights in the psychological nature of the candidates and give some direction in assessing whether or not they are internally inclined to be active in knowledge processes. However, such a test should be done by someone qualified to do so, ensuring a sound analysis of the results. And the results of such an psychological assessment do not lead to universal truths. But as an element in the recruitment and selection process it is usable to help selecting the right staff if knowledge management is a number 1 priority.

Conclusion

The psychological make-up of the staff in your organizations  has shown to influence knowledge behavior. Awareness of this influence can help in making the right attribution and taking the right approach in stimulating knowledge behavior.

If you think the personalities of the people in your organization should be best fit to for a culture of sharing and seeking then giving attention to this in recruiting and selecting such individuals could be an option.