Extroversion and media richness: An analysis of media preferences of high extroverts within sales organizations.

摘要

Personality traits and vocational acumen have been the source of research in recent years. Using personality measures such as the Five Factor model, researchers have sought to find common traits which may predict success in critical organizational roles. Communication needs and desires, including media richness choices, have also been the subject of past research. The purpose of this thesis is to tie these two themes together. Using a survey instrument containing both a personality inventory and a questionnaire examining media preferences in different scenarios, the author gathered data from sales professionals, client service professionals, and managers to evaluate similarities and differences in personality traits. Then, to tie prior themes together, the same population was asked to evaluate preferred communication media for different scenarios of incoming and outgoing messages. The resulting data showed overall high expectations for the richest media for incoming messages without regard for personality type. Those high in Extroversion, however, showed higher preference for communicating with others by face-to-face interaction.