10.1177/0021943604272028 JOURNAL OF BUSINESS COMMUNICATION Tidwell, Sias / PERSONALITY AND INFORMATION SEEKING PERSONALITY AND INFORMATION SEEKING Understanding How Traits Influence Information-Seeking Behaviors Michael Tidwell Truman State University Patricia Sias Washington State University Organizationalnewcomers go through various socialization processes before becoming organizational veterans. Information seeking (a self-socialization process) involves newcomers’ proactively seeking new information, most times to reduce uncertainty. This study assessed how personality traits, specifi- cally, Costa and McCrae’s Big Five, affect this process. Multiple regression analyses indicate that cer- tain traits influence information seeking directly and via the mediation of social costs. Of particular note are the results surroundingextroversion. Specifically, the data suggest a direct relationship between extroversion and covert relational information seeking, whereas perceived relational social costs also mediate this relationship. Several important extensions to the literature are discussed herein. Keywords: information seeking; personality; Big Five; socialization; acculturation Information seeking is a proactive behavior enacted by organizational newcomers to reduce uncertainty (Ashford & Cummings, 1985). With implications for role adaptability, role clarity, individual performance, the regulation of employee behavior, and the development of one’s self-image (Jablin, 1987; Katz, 1978; Miller & Jablin, 1991; Morrison, 1993a, 1993b), research in information seeking has grown in popularity over the years as inquiries have loosely defined its bound- aries (e.g., frequency, source, and strategy) as a predictor variable. However, when considering predictors of information seeking, inquiries have generally been con- fined to situational factors such as type of information needed, information source, or perceived source credibility. Largely ignored is the possible contribution of a dispositional explanation. Michael Tidwell (Ph.D., Washington State University, 2002) is an assistant professor of organizational behavior in the Division of Business at Truman State University. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dr. Michael Tidwell, Truman State University, Division of Business, Kirksville, MO 63501; e-mail: mtidwell@truman.edu. Patricia Sias (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin, 1993) is an associate professor of communication studies in the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication at Washington State University. Journal of Business Communication, Volume 42, Number 1, January 2005 51-77 DOI: 10.1177/0021943604272028 © 2005 by the Association for Business Communication