Diferenças individuais nos traços de personalidade de líderes organizacionais no Brasil

Abstract

The organizational environment influences and reflects the behavior of individuals and groups within companies. These individuals manifest individual differences in motivations, intelligence, values, knowledge, behaviors, and personality traits that contribute to the overall performance of the organization. Leadership is a key element of organizational behavior, as it is determinant in guiding the team towards the achievement of goals and implementation of the Organization's strategy. The absence of leadership can provoke lack of direction, negative impacts on organizational culture, illness, high turn-over and operational inefficiency for the Business. Extensive literature demonstrates that there are specific leadership traits and behaviors that contribute to the effectiveness of organizational performance, however, there is a lack of robust studies, mainly from a psychobiological perspective, that validate these characteristics in Brazilian organizational leaders. Thus, the objective of this study was to investigate secondary and primary personality traits, in particular, sensation seeking and fearlessness in leaders of private companies located in Brazil. The sample was composed of 612 respondents, of both sexes (F=281, 46%; M=331, 54%), with an average age of 39 years, of which 291 were leaders (47.5%) and 321 were non-leaders (52.5%). The instruments used were applied online, they are: NEO PI R Personality Inventory - which evaluates the big five; Canto Blanco Socialization Scale - which evaluates the Sensation Seeking, Fearlessness and Impulsivity traits; and RG136 - which evaluates intelligence. The results indicated that leaders showed significant differences in secondary traits in favor of Extroversion, Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability, added to low Agreeableness, and in several primary traits, notably Sensation Seeking and Fearlessness. When comparing by sex, the male leaders stood out in the traits of Extroversion and Conscientiousness and the female leaders in the traits of Extroversion, Impulsivity and Fearlessness. These differences remained even when controlling for age and intelligence. Overall, the results were consistent with the literature that points out specificity in the personality traits of organizational leaders. The results of this research offer the human resources areas of companies, a rich repertoire on psychological characteristics of leaders of private companies in Brazil. This study will contribute to more assertive actions related to selection and leadership development, practices that will also contribute to reduce psychic illness and improve the organizational health of companies.