The role of individual personality in conceptualizing and measuring group characteristics

Abstract

In previous research, group characteristics have often been measured without taking the individual perspective of the group members into account. Therefore, the influence of individual personality (and other individual-level characteristics) on group characteristic ratings beyond the influence of the actual group remains largely unexplored. Additionally, some studies use group means of individual personality as group characteristics, however, evidence for interrelations or differences between these approaches has not yet been empirically based. In the present study, we employed a sample of 301 individuals from 54 teams, all of which rated both characteristics of themselves and their teams. By averaging both self-ratings and group-ratings within each team, we were able to compare both approaches to group characteristics and found them to likely measure unrelated constructs. We also found influences of individual Extraversion and Agreeableness from the HEXACO model on direct group characteristic ratings beyond the influence of the actual group. Years of work experience and work strain operationalized through burnout symptoms did not predict group characteristic ratings beyond the influence of the actual group and individual personality. Our findings imply that individual ratings of a group characteristic are influenced to a larger degree by the raters’ individual perspectives than by the presumed actual group characteristic itself. Further implications for research applying individual personality to groups are discussed.

The influence of individual personality traits and team characteristics on training transfer: A longitudinal study

“…As explained in the method section, we split the analyses for each variable into one analysis for the individual-level predictors and another for the team-level predictors. These analyses can be compared in terms of significance and effect size (explained slope variance) because the variables used in each are highly unlikely to be intercorrelated: Past research has shown that calculating team-level variables using the procedure applied here causes them to be independent of the characteristics of the individuals rating them (Deckers et al, 2020)-in other words, intercorrelations, which are the main reason why comparisons between different models are usually not permissible (Hox et al, 2017;Judd et al, 2017), likely do not play a role here. Together, the results that no significant interactions were found for the individual HEXACO domains and no slope variance was explained by them, yet significant interaction effects were found for some team characteristics and these were able to explain slope variance, lead us to conclude that team characteristics play a larger (but, as mentioned, still rather limited) role in predicting training transfer in this specific context than individual personality does.…”

“…When examining the team characteristics, we also sought to compare the direct and indirect approaches to conceptualising and measuring these team characteristics (for an overview, see Deckers et al, 2020). In this study, we found evidence for the importance and merit of both approaches-both team-level means of individual personality characteristics and team-level means of team characteristic ratings were found to influence training transfer (and were also associated with differences in psychological strain cross-sectionally).…”

“…As mentioned in the introduction, this study also further differentiates team-level effects based on two different approaches to conceptualising and measuring group characteristics. In the direct approach, individuals directly rated their group's characteristics, and these ratings were then averaged for the group (for a detailed explanation, see Deckers et al, 2020). Thus, in this approach, group characteristic scores were calculated based on group members' direct ratings of the group characteristics of interest.…”

“…This approach is common in the literature on group characteristics and typically employs group members' individual personality characteristics (for an overview, see Barrick et al, 1998;Dang & Ilgen, 2006). This approach also has been discussed critically (Chan, 1998;Dang & Ilgen, 2006;Deckers et al, 2020;Shoda et al, 2002).…”

Team Leadership Behaviors from the Viewpoints of Healthcare Team Members: A Qualitative Study

“…Prior research provides robust evidence suggesting that team composition and teambuilding are essential determinants of team performance. Demographic diversity and team-level abilities have been linked to team processes such as team members' cohesion and helping behavior (Michael Holmes Jr. et al, 2021), team conflicts (Jones et al, 2019), communication (Deckers et al, 2020;Keller, 2001), and coordination (Dahlin, Weingart, & Hinds, 2005), team creativity (Pirola-Merlo & Mann, 2004;Taggar, 2002).…”