Leadership effectiveness and personality: a cross cultural evaluation

The renewed interest in personality factors as a prerequisite rather than a predictor of leadership is explored in a cross cultural context. This study compared samples of effective and not effective leaders in the US, the Republic of China (Taiwan) and Thailand. Based on the results of this study, there is evidence that the five-factor model of personality relationship to leadership has support in the US sample. Further, support was found for four of the five factors in the Republic of China sample but only for two of the factors in the Thailand sample. In general, the results raise questions about the consistency of the five factor model of personality when related to leadership and its usefulness in non-western cultures. However, effective managers differ from less effective ones in describing themselves as more extraverted, more agreeable, more conscientious, and less neurotic in all three cultures studied, and that US managers (but not Chinese and Thai) also describe themselves as more open to experience.