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Personality, Group Decision-Making and Leadership

Author

Listed:
  • Seda Ertac

    (Department of Economics, Koç University)

  • Mehmet Y. Gurdal

    (Department of Economics, TOBB-ETU)

Abstract

This paper explores the effect of personality traits on: (1) the willingness to make risk-taking decisions on behalf of a group, (2) the nature of "choice shifts", i.e. the difference between the amount of risk taken in the group context and individually. Openness and agreeableness emerge as significant determinants of the willingness to lead: non-leader women and non-leader men score lower on openness and higher in agreeableness compared to both leader men and leader women. Neuroticism explains the within-gender variance in individual risk-taking among women, who are on average more risk-averse than men. Subjects in general behave more cautiously when they are making risky decisions on behalf of a group. Among men, a higher agreeableness score implies higher caution in group decisions, while conscientiousness leads to less caution. In contrast, among women, a higher conscientiousness score implies higher caution in the group context, suggesting that the two genders might interpret the social norms in group decision-making differently.

Suggested Citation

  • Seda Ertac & Mehmet Y. Gurdal, 2012. "Personality, Group Decision-Making and Leadership," Koç University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum Working Papers 1227, Koc University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum.
    • Handle: RePEc:koc:wpaper:1227
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Weidmann, Ben & Vecci, Joseph & Said, Farah & Deming, David & Bhalotra, Sonia, 2024. "How Do You Find A Good Manager?," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 715, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    2. Jeroen Nieboer, 2013. "Risk taking in diverse groups: Gender matters," Discussion Papers 2013-06, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
    3. Ertac, Seda & Gurdal, Mehmet Y., 2019. "Preference Communication and leadership in group decision-making," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 130-140.
    4. Nieboer, Jeroen, 2015. "Group member characteristics and risk taking by consensus," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 81-88.
    5. Jim Engle‐Warnick & Sonia Laszlo & Nagham Sayour, 2020. "Experimental evidence on personality traits and preferences," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(3), pages 288-317, July.
    6. Omanyo Abraham Otieno & Omae Peter Onderi & Disiye Margaret Awuor, 2021. "The Big Five Personality as a Correlate of Involvement in Violence among Students in Secondary Schools in Nyando Sub-County, Kenya," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 5(09), pages 244-256, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Personality; leadership; gender; group decision-making; risk; choice shifts; experiments.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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