Date of Award

3-2008

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Engineering Management

Department

Department of Systems Engineering and Management

First Advisor

Kent C Halverson, PhD

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to provide insight into the effect of physical attractiveness on social network location and performance in a military environment. This study sought to prove five hypotheses regarding the many interactions among physical attractiveness, social network location, and objective and subjective performance ratings. Specifically, a mediation and moderation model were proposed to capture the relationships among the three variables. For mediation, a causal relationship was found from physical attractiveness to centrality to performance. In other words, physical attractiveness influences centrality, which in turn influences performance. Moderation results suggest that physical attractiveness influences the relationship between social network centrality and both objective and subjective performance. That is, physical attractiveness appears to hinder the relationship between centrality and performance such that more attractive individuals with high centrality perform worse than less attractive individuals of similar centrality.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-GEM-ENV-08-M12

DTIC Accession Number

ADA482739

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