The Big Five Personality Traits and the art of Virtual Leadership.

Abstract

The goal of this study is to examine the influence of the 'big five personality traits' on the variables of Art of Virtual Leadership on a utilities organization operating in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which is managing remote workers and virtual teams. The study also investigates the psychometric properties of the newly developed Art of Virtual Leadership measurement instrument. As for the originality of the study, it is the first to examine the affect of the well established 'big five personality traits' on the newly developed Art of Virtual Leadership dimensions in the UAE. The paper is aspiring to assist firms in the UAE to identify which of the 'big five personality traits' are likely to influence the Art of Virtual Leadership dimensions, which in turn could assist managers to communicate, supervise and lead employees from a distance. A path analysis was performed, applying SEM, using AMOS. Overall the findings support the positive relationship between the 'big five personality traits' and the variables of the Art of Virtual Leadership, with the exception of neuroticism. As anticipated, neuroticism showed a negative relationship with the dimensions of improve virtual communication and handle virtual meetings. Moreover, the study has found agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness to experience to be the most important traits for managers leading remote workers and virtual teams. Finally, the data supported the psychometric properties of the newly developed Art of Virtual Leadership dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]