Personality and the creativity of frontline service employees: linear and curvilinear effects

Abstract

Previous studies have investigated the relationship between the Five-Factor model of personality and creativity. As this model has been criticised for providing a limited account of an individual’s personality, this study considers additional personality traits that have recently been investigated in the literature as determinants of employee behaviour. Moreover, we also contribute to the existing body of literature by conducting this study in a service setting, for which we predict personality traits will exert differentiated effects on creativity when compared to other settings. Finally, while past research has focused on linear effects, this study examines the existence of non-linear effects between personality and creativity. The results indicate that personality traits apart from the Five-Factor model have an impact on creativity and that the effects of several personality traits on the creativity of frontline service employees differ from those obtained in other settings. Lastly, the findings also show that five of the personality traits have non-linear effects on creativity, and this may be a stimulus for a new stream of research in the human resources literature.     

Million dollar personality: a systematic literature review on personality in crowdfunding

Expressed personality traits can play a pivotal role in convincing investors in crowdfunding. Our study answers the research question: What is the current body of knowledge regarding the relationship between personality factors and crowdfunding success and where are knowledge gaps where the literature is silent? In our literature review, we therefore analyze and categorize (1) the results provided by quantitative studies on the relationship between the personality of entrepreneurs and crowdfunding success and (2) the research gaps identified by the authors investigating personality in crowdfunding. We find that studies investigating the entrepreneur's personality, i.e. the Big Five, other baseline personality traits (self-efficacy, innovativeness, locus of control, and need for achievement) and the Dark Triad, find positive relationships between openness and crowdfunding success, while narcissism shows an inverted u-shaped relationship with crowdfunding success across articles. However, the effects of other personality traits on crowdfunding success are largely inconclusive. Further, we identify four main gaps in the literature. First, future studies should examine non-linear relationships between expressed personality traits and crowdfunding success. Second, there is a need for more studies that employ different methods like qualitative or mixed-method approaches. Third, replication studies in similar and different contexts are urgently needed. Fourth, a plurality of personality perspectives would strengthen future research (e.g., investor perspective, third party perspective). To our knowledge this is the first literature review of personality traits in crowdfunding. Our work aims to enrich our understanding of individual-level components in the underexplored alternative finance market.

     

自我监控、互惠机会与考核目的对绩效评价结果的影响 ——一项准实验研究

绩效考核是人力资源管理的重要工作,考核结果出现偏差是绩效评价常见的问题。从评价者人格特质和考核情境因素入手,分析评价者的心理过程和行为表现,为理解考核结果偏差提供了新的视角。以学生评教准实验模拟绩效评价活动,数据分析表明:评价者自我监控水平、评价者和被评价者之间的互惠机会、评价目的对评价结果有独立的显著影响;自我监控水平和互惠机会、自我监控水平和考核目的、自我监控水平、互惠机会和考核目的对评价结果有交互影响;高自我监控水平的评价者,在有互惠机会和管理性考核时,有更多的高评行为。研究证实了评价者人格特质和考核情境因素对考核结果的主效应和交互效应,对指导绩效考核实践有一定的价值。     

Exploring the moderating effect of gender in the relationship between individuals' aspirations and career success among engineers in Peru

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to analyse the relationship between career success and individual career aspirations for engineers, and to test whether this differs according to gender. The primary hypothesis in this research is that gender does make a significant difference.

Design/methodological/approach: The sample consists of 1011 engineers who graduated from a prestigious Peruvian college between 1998 and 2005. Female graduates constituted only 4% of the sample, which is similar to the national statistics for engineers in Peru during this period. The relationships were primarily tested using multiple regression and structural equation modelling analyses.

Findings: Findings show a positive relationship between individual career aspirations and career success for men, but not necessarily for women; this supports the hypothesis that gender moderates this relationship. Females seek more secure career orientation than their male counterparts. In addition, females have shown that their career success is more related to feminine themes such as achieving ‘work–family balance’. The findings are in line with previously published results in other countries in which female engineers have career orientations with a preference for a balance between work and family as well as work stability.

Research limitations/implications: The sample is limited to graduates from a single Peruvian college of engineering. Although the sample has similar demographic characteristic to a national population, a more heterogeneous sample is called for in a future research. Moreover, additional moderators should be incorporated, such as family background, residency (large urban cities vs. small villages) and perhaps other variables.

Practical implications: Results can help Human Resource Managers to design better career plans, which consider gender in defining policies for the attraction and retention of competent female engineers.     

Stemming the gender gap in STEM entrepreneurship – insights into women’s entrepreneurship in science,technology, engineering and mathematics

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields are notably important for innovation and technological development, which in turn are seen as drivers of social and economic growth. Hence, researchers and policy-makers have paid substantial attention to analyzing and promoting high-growth ventures in STEM fields. However, STEM fields are highly gender-skewed, regardless of whether the population considered is students, faculty members, graduates, top managers, or entrepreneurs. This is noticeable in the small number of women entrepreneurs with STEM backgrounds. This underrepresentation of women in innovation-driven business startups highlights existing gender biases and systemic disadvantages in social structures, making visible the double masculinity that exists at the intersection of STEM and entrepreneurship. This article addresses this issue by combining insights from research about women’s entrepreneurship and research about the gender aspects of STEM fields. We emphasize institutional, organizational, and individual factors influencing women’s entrepreneurship in STEM fields, laying the foundation for the articles included in this special issue. Finally, we discuss the way forward for research on the gender aspects of STEM entrepreneurship to help us create the knowledge needed to close this gender gap.

     

Revenge Exacerbates the Effects of Interpersonal Problems on Mentors’ Emotional Exhaustion and Work‐Family Conflict: A Self‐Defeating Perspective

Drawing on conservation of resources theory, this study examined the link between negative mentoring experiences (i.e., interpersonal problems) perceived by mentors and their work‐family conflict (WFC) by focusing on the mediating role of emotional exhaustion and the moderating role of revenge. The results of a field survey of 187 mentors in China supported all of our hypotheses, indicating that interpersonal problems perceived by mentors were positively related to their WFC. This relationship was also found to be mediated by the mentors’ emotional exhaustion. In addition, revenge against protégés was found to moderate the main effect of interpersonal problems on emotional exhaustion and the indirect effect of interpersonal problems on WFC. Specifically, revenge exacerbated the positive relationship between interpersonal problems and emotional exhaustion. Further, emotional exhaustion mediated the indirect effect of interpersonal problems on WFC when the level of revenge was high, but not when it was low. The findings of this study provide insightful theoretical contributions and managerial implications that indicate new directions for research related to mentoring and work‐family relationships. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Accounting Students and Communication Apprehension: A Study of Spanish and UK Students

ABSTRACT

Accounting is about measuring and communicating. Accounting bodies and employers have expressed opinions, which have been supported by research results, advocating that greater emphasis is placed on the development of communication skills throughout the education and training of accountants. Consequently, an increasing number of accounting programmes now include communication skills as educational objectives or learning outcomes, and have integrated activities into the curriculum specifically to develop these skills. It is important to recognise that certain factors can severely restrict the development of communication skills; a major factor is communication apprehension. Research suggests that the existence of high levels of communication apprehension will make efforts to improve communication skills ineffective. Previous research findings indicate that accounting students have high levels of communication apprehension. This paper compares and contrasts the levels and profiles of communication apprehension exhibited by accounting students at the (UK University) and those at the (ESP University). The levels of communication apprehension are also compared with those of students from other disciplines at the same institutions. The results confirm the high levels of communication apprehension in European accounting students. There are notable differences between the two countries however in certain underlying factors.     

College students’ and Mechanical Turk workers’ environmental factors while completing online surveys

Few studies have investigated the environmental factors of participants completing online self-report surveys, such as the presence of others and engagement in multitasking. The current study examined the environmental factors of 1023 participants drawn from two popular convenience populations—college students (n?=?512) and Mechanical Turk workers (n?=?511). All participants completed online measures of computer self-efficacy, the five-factor model of personality, and social desirability, as well as a questionnaire about their environment and activities when completing the measures. The two samples differed in terms of environmental factors, with college students significantly more likely to report: (1) being in a location other than their place of residence, (2) interacting with others, (3) being interrupted, (4) engaging in multitasking, (5) being under the influence of alcohol or other substances, and (6) completing the study using a laptop computer. The presence of others interacted with sample to predict personality and social desirability scores. Additionally, both presence of others and engaging in multitasking predicted longer completion time.

     

Development of a service quality model for academic libraries

The purpose of this research is to develop a model for the measurement of library service quality. 1629 students studying in different universities and degree awarding institutions responded to a survey. Confirmatory factor analysis developed a valid and reliable service quality measurement scale with 6 dimensions and 30 items. This research contributes to the measurement of service quality by developing a valid and reliable measurement scale in a previously neglected population. The model developed in this research can be used by librarians to measure, control and improve the service quality provided to students. This research also provides a framework for researchers to develop further library service quality scale development studies so that more concrete generalizations can be made.     

The impact of a STEM-based entrepreneurship program on the entrepreneurial intention of secondary school female students

Despite dedicated effort and research in the last two decades, the entrepreneurship field is still limited by little evidence-based knowledge of the impacts of entrepreneurship programs on the entrepreneurial intention of students in pre-university levels of study. Further, gender equity continues to be an issue in the entrepreneurial sector, particularly in STEM-focused entrepreneurship. In this context, this study was designed to explore the effects of a one-day female-focused STEM-based entrepreneurship program (for brevity, we call it the OzGirlsEntrepreneurship program) on the entrepreneurial intention of secondary school female students. The study collected data from two surveys completed by 193 secondary school female students, aged 14–16 years, who participated in the OzGirlsEntrepreneurship program. This program encouraged girls to develop and implement creative computational solutions to socially relevant problems, with an Internet of Things (IoT) component using the micro:bit device. The findings reveal that a key factor in the development of entrepreneurial attitudes in young female students is associated with soft-skills development, particularly in the areas of creative thinking, risk-taking, problem-solving, and leadership development. The importance of meaningful human connections, including positive role modelling and peer to peer learning were also important factors in fostering entrepreneurial intent. With these factors in mind, our findings highlight that the OzGirlsEntrepreneurship program substantially increased the entrepreneurial intention of secondary school female students. In addition, this study offers actionable implications and recommendations to develop and deliver entrepreneurship education programs for secondary school level students.

     

Female entrepreneurial leadership factors

This article presents the foundations, current structure and trend of academic research into leadership factors in female entrepreneurship to provide scholars in the field with an overview of the followed research directions and to explore whether the same traditional patterns are reproduced in gender studies on entrepreneurship and leadership. For this purpose, a bibliometric analysis of the Web of Science database from 2000 to 2020 was used. With a performance analysis of variables (e.g. authors, publications, journals and countries), and thanks to scientific mapping, the links among these variables were studied. The results show that the trend of publications increased from 2015, but with little influence and output. The most influential and productive countries are the USA and Spain. 35% of the journals are based in the USA and 25% in England. The most influential ones deal with entrepreneurship, business, management and leadership. Although the foundational base is influenced by the author Ahl, known for calling for new research directions related to women entrepreneurs from a social construction perspective, the most influential articles continue to investigate gender with a dominant male bias. The network analysis reveals cooperation between different countries and authors with the USA dominating. The ambiguity of entrepreneurial leadership field due to the overlap of entrepreneurship and leadership disciplines reveals through the co-citation of journals different specialisation areas: business and entrepreneurship, management and psychology, organisational behaviour. This work provides researchers with an overview that encourages them to overcome the dominant male normative lens from new epistemological perspectives.

     

网络成瘾大学生的人格特质研究

为了解大学生网络成瘾状况并对网络成瘾大学生的人格特质进行研究,采用Young网络成瘾诊断问卷、艾森克人格问卷对685名大学生的网络成瘾状况和人格特质进行调查。结果发现:685名被试中网络成瘾率为6.3%;网络成瘾者中性别差异显著,男生比女生更容易沉溺于互联网;在人格特质上,网络成瘾组的精神质、神经质得分显著高于非成瘾组,掩饰程度显著低于非成瘾组,而内外向得分的差异无统计学意义。提示大学生网络成瘾者具有一些特定的人格特质。     

品牌延伸评价研究:个性匹配视角

本文从消费者个性角度探讨消费者与品牌延伸之间的相互关系。研究以消费者性别人格个性为出发点,依照个性源于消费者人格并赋予品牌的逻辑,尝试运用Aaker(1997)的五维个性量表测量消费者、品牌和延伸产品个性,并聚类三者个性展开品牌延伸实验。实验数据统计及ANOVA分析结果表明,个性匹配能带来较高品牌延伸评价和对品牌正面反馈效应,不匹配品牌延伸品牌稀释效应不显著。同时,验证Aaker(1997)个性量表测量中国消费者、品牌及延伸产品的可行性。     

Gender and organisational position: predicting victimisation of cyberbullying behaviour in working life

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate possible predictors of cyberbullying behaviour in working life by examining previously known predictors of face-to-face bullying as well as demographic variables such as gender and formal position in the work organisation. Multiple regression analyses were conducted on a random sample of 3371 respondents. The results show that a poor social climate at work predicted exposure to cyberbullying behaviour. The study also found differences related to gender and organisational position. While low support from managers was related to higher exposure to cyberbullying behaviours for men managers, men non-managers and women non-managers, this relation did not apply to women managers. For women managers alone, low support from colleagues was associated with exposure to cyberbullying behaviours. Further, only for women managers age had no protective effect of exposure to cyberbullying behaviour. These findings imply that men and women have different social experiences in terms of holding power in working life. As women managers are in a minority in working life, other factors may be involved in predicting exposure to cyberbullying behaviour for women managers than for the other three groups. This article contributes to the sparse knowledge on cyberbullying in working life by recognising triggering factors.     

The Global Leadership Life Inventory: development and psychometric properties of a 360-degree feedback instrument

The purpose of this paper is to describe the design of Global Leadership Life Inventory (GlobeInvent), a 360-degree leadership feedback instrument. This instrument is presently used in executive programmes to help identify the operational mode of individual executives. Proper use of this instrument enables the user to determinate those areas of leadership behaviour where improvement is needed.

Because most studies pay attention only to the surface manifestations of leadership, most leadership feedback instruments, in turn, are not concerned with the psychodynamic processes that underlie leaders' character and behaviour. To address this gap, the GlobeInvent is based on a clinical orientation to the study of leadership. This approach provides a more complete analysis of the ‘inner theatre’ of leaders?–?that is, what makes them tick?–?as well as measuring the dynamic, two-way relationship between leaders and followers.

The first step in designing the instrument was to pinpoint significant themes pertaining to exemplary leadership. To that end, semi-structured interviews with senior executives were held. The leadership dimensions that emerged from that process were then tested on an international sample of senior executives. Analysis of the data from the testing confirmed the existence of twelve robust dimensions with a high reliability and internal consistency.

Because the GlobeInvent is a 360-degree feedback instrument, this article addresses differences between ‘Self’ scores and scores given by others (‘Observers’), gender differences in scoring and the influence of nationality, management experience and age on test results. The implications of using such an instrument as a 360-degree feedback tool are reviewed, and suggestions for future research are offered.     

Effects of multimedia teaching integrated social story on autistic children’s social interaction

Most autistic students suffer from the problems of social interaction and interpersonal communication, and most teachers and peers do not know how to get along with their special and irrational behaviors and limited communication methods. Some autistic students could present interests and motivation on interpersonal interaction and are proactive, but it becomes the one-way and age-unmatched weird performance. Assisting autistic students in adapting to school life, enhancing appropriate interactive behaviors, and reducing improper social interaction are the challenges for teachers. Nonequivalent pretest posttest control group design is utilized in this study for the quasi-experimental research. Total 72 students in two classes of a special education school in Fujian Province are selected as the research subjects. The research results reveal (1) significant effect of multimedia teaching on social interaction, (2) remarkable effects of Social Story on social interaction, and (3) the optimal effect of multimedia teaching on the promotion of social interaction with Social Story. Finally, suggestions, according to the results, are proposed, expecting to help autistic students survive in the environment, appropriately interact with people, and effectively enhance the training of social interaction.

     

Effect of mobile teaching on students who need special education

The purpose of this study is to test the mobile application designed for the teaching purposes of students who need special education. Many mobile applications and software are available for teaching, thus this study will point the effect of using such technologies in teaching activities as an assistive method to the teacher. The tests are done using our previously designed mobile application that is designed to teach the basic concepts. As it is indicated in the design, the process starts with the testing of the basic abilities of the children, therefore, our tests include these kind of pretests and after that testing phases that will measure the effect of the application to learning. Students who need special education are the focus of the study. The tests are carried out in a special education centre, in Nicosia, Northern Cyprus on two students. Test results show that the mobile application developed in its current form, is a good tool to assist the teachers to enhance and speed up the learning process.

     

Gender and entrepreneurial orientation: a multi-country study

The purpose of this comparative study is to investigate the role of gender and culture in entrepreneurial orientation (EO) among students in the selected nations. EO dimensions are important variables in the study of organizational performance. We adopted Lumpkin and Dess’ EO dimensions. We statistically analyzed the collected data from 389 university students in the US (96), Korea (114), Fiji (80), and Malaysia (99). The results showed significant differences in most EO dimensions between genders and among the nations. Thus, it is important that customized approaches based on gender and unique cultural context are needed for developing EO among college students.