Nikos Bozionelos

Mentoring provided: Relation to mentor’s career success, personality, and mentoring received

Abstract The relationship of a mentor’s perceptions of his/her career success, mentoring he/she received, personality, and the amount of mentoring he/she provided was investigated in a sample of 176 administrators. Results indicated that the amount of mentoring respondents reported they had provided was positively associated with their objective and their subjective career success and with the amount of mentoring they reported they had received. Mentoring provided mediated the relationship between mentoring received and subjective career success. Finally, the personality trait of openness was associated with mentoring provided over and above the contribution of human capital and demographics. The results were in line with suggestions in the literature that providing mentoring has positive consequences for the career of the mentor and that an individual who has been mentored is more likely to provide mentoring. However, the findings suggested a limited role for the personality of the mentor in providing mentoring. The implications for career development practices and tactics and for future research were considered, along with the limitations of the study.

Computer anxiety: relationship with computer experience and prevalence

The study investigated: (1) the form of the relationship between scores on computer anxiety and scores on computer experience; and (2) differences in computer anxiety scores and prevalence rates between groups of individuals with presumably differential early exposure to computer-based technology. Questionnaire data from three British samples, which included 228 managers and professionals, 67 graduate students and 220 undergraduate students, were analyzed. Logarithmic values of scores on computer experience were compared with raw computer experience scores in predicting scores on computer anxiety. Logarithmic values consistently entered the regression equations at the expense of raw values. Substantial computer anxiety prevalence rates were identified in all samples. The youngest sample with the presumably earliest exposure to computerization reported the highest computer anxiety scores and demonstrated the highest prevalence rates. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for data analysis tactics and for the trend regarding the presence and prevalence of computer anxiety.

The big five of personality and work involvement

The relationship between the big five of personality and work involvement was investigated in a questionnaire study with a sample of 279 white‐collar workers, who were employed on a full‐time basis in clerical, administrative and managerial positions. Hypotheses were tested by means of hierarchical regressions that controlled for the effects of demographics and human capital. Scores on agreeableness were negatively related to scores on work involvement and to total hours worked per week; and the extroversion × openness interaction made a positive contribution to scores on work involvement. Overall, the findings suggest the existence of an, albeit not strong or extensive, relationship between the big five of personality and work involvement. The limitations of the study and its implications for practice are discussed.

Playfulness: its relationship with instrumental and expressive traits

Abstract The relationship of instrumental and expressive traits with playfulness among adults was investigated. Questionnaire data from 182 women and 166 men who were university students were analysed. The results provided support for the additive model rather than for the balance or the emergent models. In general, scores on instrumentality and expressiveness made significant additive contributions to scores on playfulness, or to scores on the playfulness factors, above any contributions that were made by sex. The contributions to scores on playfulness that were made by scores on instrumentality were greater than the contributions that were made by scores on expressiveness. The Instrumentality×Expressiveness interaction made a significant contribution only in one model. The findings provide support for the validity of the Adult Playfulness Scale.

Five‐factor model traits and the prototypical image of the effective leader in the Confucian culture

The association between the “five‐factor model” of personality and the prototypical image of the effective leader, and the extent to which that image was linked to the features of transformational leadership were examined in a questionnaire study that involved a sample of 101 Chinese origin individuals in Hong Kong. High levels of extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, emotional stability and openness were perceived as characterizing effective leaders. In line with research on leader emergence in the Anglo‐Saxon culture but contrary to expectations, extraversion was the trait most potently associated with the prototypical notion of the effective leader. And that notion was linked to the features of transformational leadership. The findings also suggested that men and women may partly differ in the criteria they utilize to evaluate leaders. Additional research is necessary, but the findings imply that most of the conclusions on the relationship between personality traits and leader emergence drawn with Anglo‐Saxon samples are generalizable in Confucian societies.

The relationship of instrumental and expressive traits with computer anxiety

Abstract The relationship of instrumental and expressive traits with computer anxiety was investigated in a sample of 230 individuals who were university students. The instrumentality model was supported. Scores on instrumentality made significant contributions to the variance in scores on computer anxiety, after the effects of age, sex and computer experience were removed. Neither scores on expressiveness nor the Instrumentality×Expressiveness interaction term were significantly associated with scores on computer anxiety. A model that suggests a mediating role of instrumental traits in the relationship between computer experience and computer anxiety was evaluated and gained tentative support. The investigation expanded the literature on the relationship of instrumental and expressive traits with psychological well-being to the domain of well-being in the context of interaction with computer-based systems. The limitations of the study are considered and suggestions for future research are made.

Causal Path Modeling: What It Does and What It Does Not Tell Us.

This paper attempts to demystify the technique of causal path modeling for the non‐specialists by presenting aspects of its value for social science and management research and by illustrating common misunderstandings about its attributes. Special emphasis is placed on the real world validity of causal relationships depicted in causal path models and on the information that the data‐fitting properties of causal path models provide regarding this issue. Causal path models that are based on research in antecedents of career success are used to illustrate the points that are made. It is stressed that the validity of causal relationships depicted in causal path models is subject to exactly the same methodological restrictions as the validity of causality claims that are made without the use of causal path modeling; and that the purpose of using quantitative techniques in causal path modeling is not to improve certainty on causality direction.

Organizational downsizing and career development

Survivor employees and senior management perceptions of career development issues were examined in a downsizing organization. It emerged that the organization lacked a coherent strategy for survivors’ career development. The main career development structure, the performance management and appraisal scheme, was generally viewed as inadequate, while the other structures in place, although generally perceived as useful, were underutilized. A substantial proportion of employees considered lateral moves to potentially undermine advancement and security, and senior management views implied a potential lack of wide managerial support for widespread use of this tool. A senior management attitude for selective career development, targeted on an elite group of key employees, was also detected. The study concluded that proper downsizing planning must include a coherent career development strategy for survivors.

Disposition and demographic variables

The study investigated the relationship of the Five Factor Model of personality and general mental ability with an array of demographic variables that included age, socio-economic origin, educational attainment and marital status. Questionnaire data from 342 white-collar workers were analysed. Openness and mental ability were related to educational attainment, while mental ability was the only dispositional trait that was associated with socio-economic origin. Married individuals scored lower on openness than their non-married counterparts, and scores on extraversion were associated with length of marriage. The findings suggested that the profile of the white-collar worker in the public sector is that of an emotionally stable, introverted, agreeable and conscientious individual. It is suggested that additional research is needed, including studies to investigate the consistency of the identified relationship patterns across genders, and studies to map the processes that are involved in the association between dispositional traits and demographic group membership.

Computer interest: a case for expressive traits

Abstract The hypothesis that expressive traits contribute to computer interest was examined in a sample of 241 university students. Computer interest was conceptualised as a positive index of well-being in the context of interaction with computer-based technology. Scores on expressiveness and the Instrumentality × Expressiveness interaction term made significant contributions to variance in scores on computer interest, after the effects of age, sex and computer experience were removed. A causal path model with age and sex incorporated in the residual posited direct exogenous effects by instrumentality, expressiveness and their interaction on computer interest; which, in turn, influenced computer experience. The findings suggest a substantially more potent role for expressive traits than for instrumental traits in the development of computer interest. Furthermore, the findings support the emergent properties model and endorse the proposal that expressive traits are useful as predictors of positive indices of well-being. Suggestions regarding directions for future research on attitudes towards computer-based technology and on the contribution of expressive and instrumental traits to well-being are made.