Composition, process, and performance in self-managed groups: The role of personality

Abstract

Using the five factor model with an emphasis on extraversion and conscientiousness, the authors investigated how personality is related to small group processes and outcomes. Graduate students (N = 289) assigned to 4-and 5-person teams in 61 groups engaged in a series of creative problem-solving tasks over a period of several weeks. Extraversion was associated with group processes and outcomes at both individual and group levels of analysis. At the individual level, extraverts were perceived by others as having greater effect than introverts on group outcomes. Covariance structure modeling suggested that extraverts induce these perceptions through the provision of both socioemotional and task-related inputs. At the group level, the proportion of relatively extraverted members was related curvilinearly to task focus and group performance. Contrary to expectations, Conscientiousness was unrelated to processes and outcomes at either the individual or group level.