How Do They Become Nodes? Revisiting Team Member Network Centrality

ABSTRACT

The present study examines the antecedents of team member network centrality using a sample of 207 team members. Team member network centrality indicates how closely the individual is linked to others in the group. The authors investigated the role of personality traits, interpersonal citizenship behavior (ICB), education, and team tenure on an individual's network centrality. The authors also examined the mediating effect of ICB on the relationship between personality traits and team member network centrality. Results supported the relation between (a) personal traits—conscientiousness and agreeableness—and (b) ICB and network centrality. In addition, ICB mediated the relation between conscientiousness and network centrality and between agreeableness and network centrality, respectively. That is, people who are more conscientious and agreeable manifest more ICB and therefore more possibly become nodes within their teams’ social network. Further, results supported the idea that education and team tenure are positively related to network centrality. The authors discuss the theoretical contributions and implications.

Keywords:

• interpersonal citizenship behavior
• network centrality
• personality