Personality correlates of key roles in informal advice networks

• We use Social Network Analysis to identify key players in informal advice networks.
• We develop a case study and map the advice network of a learning environment.
• We find significant associations between key roles and personality traits of students.
• We find significant associations between key roles and individual performance.

Prior research has emphasised the importance of informal advice networks for knowledge sharing and peer learning. We use Social Network Analysis to detect individuals who play a strategic role in advice networks. Even if roles have been extensively described, how to identify people within them is still an open issue. Furthermore, we investigate whether an association between key players and the big five personality traits exists, by means of nonparametric statistics. To achieve this, we present a case study which involves roughly 180 university students. We found 21 of them playing a key role. Results give evidence of significant associations between key positions and Conscientiousness, Neuroticism and Agreeableness; whereas no evidence is found for a relationship with Extraversion or Openness to Experience. Consistently, personality emerges as a relevant indicator for predicting people who are more likely to play a strategic role, even when connection patterns are unknown.