It’s long been thought that in order to succeed in life you need to think only of yourself and ignore the needs of others. New research, however, suggests the exact opposite is true and being nice to others actually makes you more likely to be successful. The scientists found that ‘givers’ were more likely to share knowledge, and in turn gain more information themselves.
Researchers divided participants into three groups based on a personality test: givers, takers and matchers. In a social dilemma
（困境）task, participants were given a made-up donation which was equal to the amount of £240 ($400). They were then asked to decide how much of their money they would give to a shared group pool.
They were told that the money in the pool would be doubled and divided equally among all group members. Thus, it would be more beneficial to the group as a whole if everyone contributed their individual donations. However, it would be more beneficial for the individual if everyone else from the group contributed, while the individual kept his or her own money.
The researchers used this strategic（策略的）information sharing task to examine how much and which pieces of information participants shared: the less important and already known information or the really important information only known by the individual.
The results showed that givers are less self-oriented and self-loving than takers. Givers shared not only more money with the group, but they also shared important information. Takers on the other hand kept both the money as well as different types of information.
The findings suggest that it may not be enough to simply provide knowledge management tools in order to make the best of knowledge exchange in a group of people. It may be necessary for leaders and managers to keep in mind the personality styles of their employees. Specifically, they should be aware that takers may keep the important information for themselves.
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