Knowledge Workers: How Are They Different? (And Why Does It Matter?)

Abstract

In this study, we integrate research in educational psychology, a field that partly has focused on the global effects of higher education on individuals to conceptualize and test a model that explains how knowledge workers can be thought to differ from other groups of workers. Conceptualizing a common constellation of personality dispositions associated with knowledge workers (i.e., ambiguity tolerance, need for closure, dogmatism, authoritarianism, and cognitive ability), we propose multiple outcome pathways by which individual-level education affects the five personality traits under study. Based on a nest5ed sample of 351 employees across 54 workgroups, the results were consistent with our predictions.