Mind the context-The relevance of personality for face-to-face and computer-mediated communication

Julian Schulze; Pavle Zagorscak; Stephen G West; Martin Schultze; Stefan Krumm

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0272938

Mind the context-The relevance of personality for face-to-face and computer-mediated communication

PLoS One. 2022 Aug 25;17(8):e0272938. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272938. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Julian Schulze¹, Pavle Zagorscak², Stephen G West³, Martin Schultze⁴, Stefan Krumm¹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Psychological Assessment, Department of Education and Psychology, Differential and Personality Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
² Division of Clinical Psychological Intervention, Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
³ Department of Psychology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States of America.
⁴ Division of Psychological Methods with Interdisciplinary Focus, Institute of Psychology, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Abstract

A large body of research has examined the link between personality and face-to-face (FtF) communication knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs). With the rise of digital media, text-based computer-mediated (CM) communication KSAOs have gained increasing attention. We conducted two studies to investigate how personality relates to KSAOs in the different contexts of FtF and CM communication. Contrasting perspectives hypothesize that the results in the FtF and CM contexts would be very similar or distinctly different. In Study 1 (n = 454), an online panel study, the Big Five personality dimensions were assessed and their relationships to FtF and CM communication KSAOs were investigated. Structural equation models and relative weight regression analyses showed that these personality dimensions, mostly extraversion and neuroticism, explained more variance in FtF as compared to CM communication KSAOs. Study 2 (n = 173), conducted in a laboratory context, showed similar results compared to Study 1. In addition, when the Big Five personality dimensions were assessed with a CM frame of reference, more variance was explained in CM than in FtF communication KSAOs. These results point to the importance of considering context effects in communication and in personality research: FtF and CM communication KSAOs need to be differentiated. If not properly contextualized, the relevance of personality and communication competencies in predicting criteria may be underestimated due to contextual mismatches.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Communication
Computers
Extraversion, Psychological
Internet*
Personality*

Grants and funding

Stephen G. West was supported by a further research stay supplement to his Forschungspreis from the Alexander von Humboldt‐Stiftung. Freie Universität Berlin, Open Access Funding provided by the Freie Universität Berlin. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.