Relationship Between Personality And Risk Perception Of Construction Project Managers: The Mediating Role Of Risk Propensity

Construction project managers, as the major persons in charge of risk management, will face a variety of risks and risk decisions during the process of project implementation. Project managers of different personalities will make different assessments or judgments when in the same risk situations, and thus draw up different risk management strategies. Risk decision-making behavior is mainly affected by three clusters of factors, namely individual characteristics(individual differences), problem characteristics, and organizational characteristics. These factors indirectly influence risk decision-making behavior through two critical mediating variables, risk propensity and risk perception. From the individual level of project managers, this research aims to investigate and explore the relationship between personality and risk perception, as well as test and verify the mediating role of risk propensity on the relationship between personality and risk perception.We firstly have proposed four hypotheses concerning the relationship among big five personality of project managers, risk propensity, and risk perception, and constructed the model related to the hypotheses. Then, we have emailed the questionnaire to the managers in the construction industry in China and finally received and selected 102 effective data. SPSS 19.0 software was applied to deal with the obtained data. We employed correlation analysis, linear regression analysis, and hierarchical regression analysis to test the previously proposed hypotheses. The results imply that: 1) Extraversion and agreeableness factors of project managers significantly influence risk propensity. Specifically speaking, extroverted individuals tend to be more risk seeking while individuals with high levels of agreeableness tend to avoid taking risks. 2) Risk propensity is negatively and significantly related to risk perception. 3) Extraversion and agreeableness of project managers have significant effects on risk perception. More extraverted an individual is, higher levels of risk he would probably perceive, while agreeableness influences risk perception positively. 4) Risk propensity fully mediates the relationship between personality traits(extraversion and agreeableness) and risk perception, which means that personality indirectly influences risk perception through the role of risk propensity. Meanwhile, this research fails to verify the relationship between other personality traits of big five(conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience) and risk propensity or risk perception.This research makes theoretical contributions by introducing the mediating effect of risk propensity on the relationship between big five and risk perception, which helps explain and clarify how the personality traits affect individual risk perception. This to some extent expands the risk decision-making behavior theory. Additionally, findings of this research also have practical implications for managers in the construction industry. They can not only better predict the risk propensity and risk perception of project managers, but also have a deeper understanding of the way they perceive and respond to risks, which is beneficial for them to understand their risk behavior and risk management strategies.