IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0183216.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Data sharing as social dilemma: Influence of the researcher’s personality

Author

Listed:
  • Stephanie B Linek
  • Benedikt Fecher
  • Sascha Friesike
  • Marcel Hebing

Abstract

It is widely acknowledged that data sharing has great potential for scientific progress. However, so far making data available has little impact on a researcher’s reputation. Thus, data sharing can be conceptualized as a social dilemma. In the presented study we investigated the influence of the researcher's personality within the social dilemma of data sharing. The theoretical background was the appropriateness framework. We conducted a survey among 1564 researchers about data sharing, which also included standardized questions on selected personality factors, namely the so-called Big Five, Machiavellianism and social desirability. Using regression analysis, we investigated how these personality domains relate to four groups of dependent variables: attitudes towards data sharing, the importance of factors that might foster or hinder data sharing, the willingness to share data, and actual data sharing. Our analyses showed the predictive value of personality for all four groups of dependent variables. However, there was not a global consistent pattern of influence, but rather different compositions of effects. Our results indicate that the implications of data sharing are dependent on age, gender, and personality. In order to foster data sharing, it seems advantageous to provide more personal incentives and to address the researchers’ individual responsibility.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephanie B Linek & Benedikt Fecher & Sascha Friesike & Marcel Hebing, 2017. "Data sharing as social dilemma: Influence of the researcher’s personality," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(8), pages 1-24, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0183216
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0183216
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0183216
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0183216&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0183216?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chieh-Peng Lin, 2007. "To Share or Not to Share: Modeling Tacit Knowledge Sharing, Its Mediators and Antecedents," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 70(4), pages 411-428, February.
    2. Editors The, 2008. "From the Editors," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 2(2), pages 1-3, January.
    3. Andreoli-Versbach, Patrick & Mueller-Langer, Frank, 2014. "Open access to data: An ideal professed but not practised," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(9), pages 1621-1633.
    4. Zhen Wang & Lin Wang & Zi-Yu Yin & Cheng-Yi Xia, 2012. "Inferring Reputation Promotes the Evolution of Cooperation in Spatial Social Dilemma Games," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(7), pages 1-9, July.
    5. Benedikt Fecher & Sascha Friesike & Marcel Hebing & Stephanie Linek & Armin Sauermann, 2015. "A Reputation Economy: Results from an Empirical Survey on Academic Data Sharing," RatSWD Working Papers 246, German Data Forum (RatSWD).
    6. Adrian Furnham & Luke Treglown & Gillian Hyde & Geoff Trickey, 2016. "The Bright and Dark Side of Altruism: Demographic, Personality Traits, and Disorders Associated with Altruism," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 134(3), pages 359-368, March.
    7. Benedikt Fecher & Sascha Friesike & Marcel Hebing, 2015. "What Drives Academic Data Sharing?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(2), pages 1-25, February.
    8. Alawi A Alsheikh-Ali & Waqas Qureshi & Mouaz H Al-Mallah & John P A Ioannidis, 2011. "Public Availability of Published Research Data in High-Impact Journals," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(9), pages 1-4, September.
    9. Editors The, 2008. "From the Editors," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 3(1), pages 1-1, July.
    10. Matzler, Kurt & Renzl, Birgit & Müller, Julia & Herting, Stephan & Mooradian, Todd A., 2008. "Personality traits and knowledge sharing," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 301-313, June.
    11. Walters, Amy E. & Stuhlmacher, Alice F. & Meyer, Lia L., 1998. "Gender and Negotiator Competitiveness: A Meta-analysis," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 1-29, October.
    12. Benedikt Fecher & Sascha Friesike & Marcel Hebing & Stephanie Linek & Armin Sauermann, 2015. "A Reputation Economy: Results from an Empirical Survey on Academic Data Sharing," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1454, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. KWON Seokbeom & MOTOHASHI Kazuyuki, 2020. "Incentive or Disincentive for Disclosure of Research Data? A Large-Scale Empirical Analysis and Implications for Open Science Policy," Discussion papers 20058, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    2. Janan J Dietrich & Stefanie Hornschuh & Mamakiri Khunwane & Lerato M Makhale & Kennedy Otwombe & Cecilia Morgan & Yunda Huang & Maria Lemos & Erica Lazarus & James G Kublin & Glenda E Gray & Fatima La, 2020. "A mixed methods investigation of implementation barriers and facilitators to a daily mobile phone sexual risk assessment for young women in Soweto, South Africa," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(4), pages 1-20, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Linek, Stephanie B. & Fecher, Benedikt & Friesike, Sascha & Hebing, Marcel, 2017. "Data sharing as social dilemma: Influence of the researcher’s personality," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 12(8), pages 1-24.
    2. Claire M Mason & Paul J Box & Shanae M Burns, 2020. "Research data sharing in the Australian national science agency: Understanding the relative importance of organisational, disciplinary and domain-specific influences," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(8), pages 1-17, August.
    3. Rosalie L Tung & Günter K Stahl, 2018. "The tortuous evolution of the role of culture in IB research: What we know, what we don’t know, and where we are headed," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(9), pages 1167-1189, December.
    4. Laurent, Catherine E. & Berriet-Solliec, Marielle & Kirsch, Marc & Labarthe, Pierre & Trouve, Aurelie, 2010. "Multifunctionality Of Agriculture, Public Policies And Scientific Evidences: Some Critical Issues Of Contemporary Controversies," APSTRACT: Applied Studies in Agribusiness and Commerce, AGRIMBA, vol. 4(1-2), pages 1-6.
    5. Hsu, Dan K. & Burmeister-Lamp, Katrin & Simmons, Sharon A. & Foo, Maw-Der & Hong, Michelle C. & Pipes, Jesse D., 2019. "“I know I can, but I don't fit”: Perceived fit, self-efficacy, and entrepreneurial intention," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 311-326.
    6. Lude, Maximilian & Prügl, Reinhard, 2021. "Experimental studies in family business research," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 12(1).
    7. Batistič, Saša & Černe, Matej & Kaše, Robert & Zupic, Ivan, 2016. "The role of organizational context in fostering employee proactive behavior: The interplay between HR system configurations and relational climates," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 579-588.
    8. Dan K. Hsu & Johan Wiklund & Richard D. Cotton, 2017. "Success, Failure, and Entrepreneurial Reentry: An Experimental Assessment of the Veracity of Self–Efficacy and Prospect Theory," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(1), pages 19-47, January.
    9. Krueger, Norris & Bogers, Marcel L.A.M. & Labaki, Rania & Basco, Rodrigo, 2021. "Advancing family business science through context theorizing: The case of the Arab world," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 12(1).
    10. Jana Schmutzler & Edward Lorenz, 2018. "Tolerance, agglomeration, and enterprise innovation performance: a multilevel analysis of Latin American regions," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 27(2), pages 243-268.
    11. Choi, James J. & Haisley, Emily & Kurkoski, Jennifer & Massey, Cade, 2017. "Small cues change savings choices," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 378-395.
    12. Catherine Welch & Eriikka Paavilainen-Mäntymäki & Rebecca Piekkari & Emmanuella Plakoyiannaki, 2022. "Reconciling theory and context: How the case study can set a new agenda for international business research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(1), pages 4-26, February.
    13. Sirola, Nina & Pitesa, Marko, 2018. "The macroeconomic environment and the psychology of work evaluation," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 11-24.
    14. Weber, Ellen & Büttgen, Marion & Bartsch, Silke, 2022. "How to take employees on the digital transformation journey: An experimental study on complementary leadership behaviors in managing organizational change," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 225-238.
    15. Sturt W Manning & Brita Lorentzen & Lynn Welton & Stephen Batiuk & Timothy P Harrison, 2020. "Beyond megadrought and collapse in the Northern Levant: The chronology of Tell Tayinat and two historical inflection episodes, around 4.2ka BP, and following 3.2ka BP," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(10), pages 1-38, October.
    16. Milazzo, M.F. & Spina, F. & Primerano, P. & Bart, J.C.J., 2013. "Soy biodiesel pathways: Global prospects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 579-624.
    17. Ravi KANBUR & Lucas RONCONI, 2018. "Enforcement matters: The effective regulation of labour," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 157(3), pages 331-356, September.
    18. Meuleman, Miguel & Wright, Mike, 2011. "Cross-border private equity syndication: Institutional context and learning," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 35-48, January.
    19. Ferreira, Manuel Portugal & Li, Dan & Guisinger, Stephen & Serra, Fernando A. Ribeiro, 2009. "Será o ambiente internacional de negócios o contexto efetivo para a pesquisa em negócios internacionais?," RAE - Revista de Administração de Empresas, FGV-EAESP Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo (Brazil), vol. 49(3), July.
    20. Louis Sevitenyi Nkwatoh & Yahya Zakari Abdullahi & Chika Usman Aliyu, 2019. "Past and Current European Monetary Union Crises: Lessons for the Envisaged West African Monetary Union," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 9(4), pages 50-59.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0183216. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.