The Big Five model in rural Southeast Asia: Validation, stability, and its role in household income*

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Authors

  • Dorothee Bühler
  • Rasadhika Sharma
  • Wiebke Stein

External Research Organisations

  • Bavarian Ministry for Economic Affairs
  • German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval)
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Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1364-1380
Number of pages17
JournalJournal of personality
Volume91
Issue number6
Early online date19 Jan 2023
Publication statusPublished - 2 Nov 2023

Abstract

Objective: We investigate the applicability of the Big Five model in rural Southeast Asia and thereby challenge recent concerns about the validity of the model in developing countries. Method: We use a novel data set on personality traits from rural Thailand and Vietnam (N = 3811 individuals). In our analysis, we (i) assess the factor structure of the data, (ii) test the internal consistency of the items, (iii) compare the traits across two consecutive survey waves, and (iv) employ regressions to demonstrate the economic relevance of the traits. Results: The results demonstrate a five-factor structure that fits the Big Five model. We observe changes in personality traits over time but Cohen's d coefficients only range between 0.06 and 0.21. The average rank-order stability, measured by the test–retest correlation of the Big Five between the two consecutive waves, lies at 0.21. Individual changes in personality traits over time relate to experienced shocks and appear to be largely independent of age, gender, and education. We further find that openness and emotional stability positively correlate with rural incomes. Conclusions: While there is skepticism, pertaining to the use of personality trait models in developing countries, our study demonstrates that their importance and usage cannot be rejected.

Keywords

    Big Five model, income determination, personality traits, Southeast Asia, TVSEP

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Cite this

The Big Five model in rural Southeast Asia: Validation, stability, and its role in household income*. / Bühler, Dorothee; Sharma, Rasadhika; Stein, Wiebke.
In: Journal of personality, Vol. 91, No. 6, 02.11.2023, p. 1364-1380.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Bühler D, Sharma R, Stein W. The Big Five model in rural Southeast Asia: Validation, stability, and its role in household income*. Journal of personality. 2023 Nov 2;91(6):1364-1380. Epub 2023 Jan 19. doi: 10.1111/jopy.12813
Bühler, Dorothee ; Sharma, Rasadhika ; Stein, Wiebke. / The Big Five model in rural Southeast Asia : Validation, stability, and its role in household income*. In: Journal of personality. 2023 ; Vol. 91, No. 6. pp. 1364-1380.
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AU - Bühler, Dorothee

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N1 - Funding Information: We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the German Research Foundation (DFG) via the Thailand Vietnam Socio Economic Panel (TVSEP) (Project No. 283672937). All data can be accessed via the TVSEP project team. Data were analyzed using Stata (Version 14) and all do‐files will be made available on the authors’ websites. This study was not preregistered. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.

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N2 - Objective: We investigate the applicability of the Big Five model in rural Southeast Asia and thereby challenge recent concerns about the validity of the model in developing countries. Method: We use a novel data set on personality traits from rural Thailand and Vietnam (N = 3811 individuals). In our analysis, we (i) assess the factor structure of the data, (ii) test the internal consistency of the items, (iii) compare the traits across two consecutive survey waves, and (iv) employ regressions to demonstrate the economic relevance of the traits. Results: The results demonstrate a five-factor structure that fits the Big Five model. We observe changes in personality traits over time but Cohen's d coefficients only range between 0.06 and 0.21. The average rank-order stability, measured by the test–retest correlation of the Big Five between the two consecutive waves, lies at 0.21. Individual changes in personality traits over time relate to experienced shocks and appear to be largely independent of age, gender, and education. We further find that openness and emotional stability positively correlate with rural incomes. Conclusions: While there is skepticism, pertaining to the use of personality trait models in developing countries, our study demonstrates that their importance and usage cannot be rejected.

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