The Social Networks of High and Low Self-Monitors: Implications for Workplace Performance

This article examines how different personality types create and benefit from social networks in organizations using data from a 116-member high-technology firm to test how self-monitoring orientation and network position related to work performance.

Abstract

This article examines how different personality types create and benefit from social networks in organizations. Using data from a 116-member high-technology firm, we tested how self-monitoring orientation and network position related to work performance. First, chameleon-like high self-monitors were more likely than true-to-themselves low self-monitors to occupy central positions in social networks. Second, for high (but not for low) self-monitors, longer service in the organization related to the occupancy of strategically advantageous network positions. Third, self-monitoring and centrality in social networks independently predicted individuals' workplace performance. The results paint a picture of people shaping the networks that constrain and enable performance.