Date

4-7-2026

Department

School of Behavioral Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD)

Chair

Angela Rathkamp

Keywords

leadership, personality, personality traits, remote, virtual teams, virtuality, Big Five, Leader-Member Exchange, LMX, Transformational Leadership, IPIP, LPI

Disciplines

Business | Psychology

Abstract

This quantitative correlational study examined the relationship between leadership performance and personality traits among leaders in the technology sector, who work across the spectrum of virtuality. Personality traits were measured using the Big Five model: extraversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism, using the IPIP-NEO-60 instrument. Leadership performance was measured using the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) and interpreted through both the Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) and Transformational Leadership theories. Holistically this is viewed through a Transformational Christian worldview. This study also examined the role of virtuality, defined as the extent to which an individual works from an office or remotely. Participants were drawn from the technology sector and were a mix of first line leaders, higher-level leaders, and informal leaders. A factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the relationships between personality traits and leadership performance, while examining the moderating effect of virtuality. The results indicated that conscientiousness demonstrated a statistically significant positive relationship with leadership performance F(1, 79) = 4.59, p = .035, while the other personality traits and virtuality were not significant predictors. These findings contribute to the growing body of knowledge on how personality influences leadership within technology organizations.

Download

Share

COinS