Summary
In contrast to prevailing views that personality doesn't matter in understanding social network advantages, my research shows consistent differences between people in the social worlds they occupy in organizations. For example, high self-monitors (relative to low self-monitors) flexibly adapt their attitudes and behaviors, and skillfully bring others into line with their purposes. Thus, high self-monitors tend to occupy brokerage positions connecting those who are disconnected; and tend to have higher performance and to be promoted faster. One caveat: the occupation of a social network position can be crucial to the emergence of the individual's personality.
Relevance
Prior to this work, scholars neglected or ignored the possibility that different types of people tended to occupy different social worlds in organizations, with consequences for their performance and careers. This research shows that the personalities people bring to work affect the network advantages they obtain, the performance outcomes they experience, and the career mobility they accomplish.
Selected publications
Link to the publication’s UCL Discovery page