PERSONALITY AND SOJOURNER ADJUSTMENT An Exploration of the Big Five and the Cultural Fit Proposition

This article describes a study based on two samples of sojourners and hosts in Australia and Singapore. The objectives of this research are (a) to explore the relationship between the Big Five personality dimensions and cross-cultural adjustment and (b) to test the “cultural fit” hypothesis. The first sample included 165 Singaporean and 139 Australian students in Australia; the second included 244 Australian expatriates and 671 Chinese Singaporeans in Singapore. Correlation analyses were undertaken that examined the relationship between neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, as well as their discrepancies from host-culture norms, and cross-cultural adjustment. Findings demonstrated that neuroticism and extraversion were related to psychological and sociocultural adaptation in both sojourning samples. Agreeableness and conscientiousness were also linked to psychological well-being in both samples and to sociocultural adaptation in the Singaporean sojourning group. Therewas no empirical support in either Singapore or Australia for the cultural fit proposition.