Cultural Hybrid Personalities? Clustering Nations According to the Big Five Personality Traits

Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) Research Paper No. 009

26 Pages Posted: 23 Nov 2012

See all articles by Tina Ladwig

Tina Ladwig

Technical University Hamburg-Harburg (TUHH)

Nicole Richter

Technical University Hamburg-Harburg (TUHH)

Christian M. Ringle

Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH)

Nicolas Heitger

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: November 22, 2012

Abstract

While the current motto when leading employees from different cultures is that one size does not fit all, researchers have of late indicated that globalization promotes the interaction and thus adaptation of cultures to a global culture. We therefore explore the key question whether culturally hybrid personalities have emerged referring to the big five personality traits (extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience) collected among the working population (in the context of the International Social Survey Program). We propose a clustering of nations based on personality traits and analyze whether these so called employee motivation dispositional drivers can be summarized into the cultural clusters developed in past research. Our results indicate that there are still seven clusters of different personalities rather than one top layer of global personality or culture; nonetheless, new 'culturally hybrid' personality clusters have emerged, especially among the European cultures.

Keywords: culture, GLOBE, Hofstede, big five personality traits, cluster analyses, personality cluster, ISSP

JEL Classification: M00

Suggested Citation

Ladwig, Tina and Richter, Nicole and Ringle, Christian M. and Heitger, Nicolas, Cultural Hybrid Personalities? Clustering Nations According to the Big Five Personality Traits (November 22, 2012). Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) Research Paper No. 009, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2179435. or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2179435

Tina Ladwig

Technical University Hamburg-Harburg (TUHH) ( email )

Schwarzenbergstrasse 95
Hamburg, DE Hamburg 21073
Germany

Nicole Richter (Contact Author)

Technical University Hamburg-Harburg (TUHH) ( email )

Schwarzenbergstrasse 95
Hamburg, DE Hamburg 21073
Germany

Christian M. Ringle

Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) ( email )

Am Schwarzenberg-Campus 4
Hamburg, 21073
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.tuhh.de/hrmo

Nicolas Heitger

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

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