The Effect of Response Style on Self-Reported Conscientiousness Across 20 Countries

René Mõttus; Jüri Allik; Anu Realo; Jérôme Rossier; Gregory Zecca; Jennifer Ah-Kion; Dénis Amoussou-Yéyé; Martin Bäckström; Rasa Barkauskiene; Oumar Barry; Uma Bhowon; Fredrik Björklund; Aleksandra Bochaver; Konstantin Bochaver; Gideon de Bruin; Helena F. Cabrera; Sylvia Xiaohua Chen; A. Timothy Church; Daouda Dougoumalé Cissé; Donatien Dahourou; Xiaohang Feng; Yanjun Guan; Hyi Sung Hwang; Fazilah Idris; Marcia S. Katigbak; Peter Kuppens; Anna Kwiatkowska; Alfredas Laurinavicius; Khairul Anwar Mastor; David Matsumoto; Rainer Riemann; Joanna Schug; Brian Simpson; Caroline Ng Tseung-Wong; Wendy Johnson

doi:10.1177/0146167212451275

The Effect of Response Style on Self-Reported Conscientiousness Across 20 Countries

René Mõttus, Jüri Allik, Anu Realo, Jérôme Rossier, Gregory Zecca, Jennifer Ah-Kion, Dénis Amoussou-Yéyé, Martin Bäckström, Rasa Barkauskiene, Oumar Barry, Uma Bhowon, Fredrik Björklund, Aleksandra Bochaver, Konstantin Bochaver, Gideon de Bruin, Helena F. Cabrera, Sylvia Xiaohua Chen, A. Timothy Church, Daouda Dougoumalé Cissé, Donatien DahourouXiaohang Feng, Yanjun Guan, Hyi Sung Hwang, Fazilah Idris, Marcia S. Katigbak, Peter Kuppens, Anna Kwiatkowska, Alfredas Laurinavicius, Khairul Anwar Mastor, David Matsumoto, Rainer Riemann, Joanna Schug, Brian Simpson, Caroline Ng Tseung-Wong, Wendy Johnson

Research output: Journal Publication › Article › peer-review

71 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Rankings of countries on mean levels of self-reported Conscientiousness continue to puzzle researchers. Based on the hypothesis that cross-cultural differences in the tendency to prefer extreme response categories of ordinal rating scales over moderate categories can influence the comparability of self-reports, this study investigated possible effects of response style on the mean levels of self-reported Conscientiousness in 22 samples from 20 countries. Extreme and neutral responding were estimated based on respondents' ratings of 30 hypothetical people described in short vignettes. In the vignette ratings, clear cross-sample differences in extreme and neutral responding emerged. These responding style differences were correlated with mean self-reported Conscientiousness scores. Correcting self-reports for extreme and neutral responding changed sample rankings of Conscientiousness, as well as the predictive validities of these rankings for external criteria. The findings suggest that the puzzling country rankings of self-reported Conscientiousness may to some extent result from differences in response styles.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1423-1436
Number of pages	14
Journal	Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Volume	38
Issue number	11
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167212451275
Publication status	Published - Nov 2012
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Conscientiousness
cross-cultural
extreme responding
personality
response style

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Social Psychology

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10.1177/0146167212451275

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Mõttus, R., Allik, J., Realo, A., Rossier, J., Zecca, G., Ah-Kion, J., Amoussou-Yéyé, D., Bäckström, M., Barkauskiene, R., Barry, O., Bhowon, U., Björklund, F., Bochaver, A., Bochaver, K., de Bruin, G., Cabrera, H. F., Chen, S. X., Church, A. T., Cissé, D. D., ... Johnson, W. (2012). The Effect of Response Style on Self-Reported Conscientiousness Across 20 Countries. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38(11), 1423-1436. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167212451275

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title = "The Effect of Response Style on Self-Reported Conscientiousness Across 20 Countries",

abstract = "Rankings of countries on mean levels of self-reported Conscientiousness continue to puzzle researchers. Based on the hypothesis that cross-cultural differences in the tendency to prefer extreme response categories of ordinal rating scales over moderate categories can influence the comparability of self-reports, this study investigated possible effects of response style on the mean levels of self-reported Conscientiousness in 22 samples from 20 countries. Extreme and neutral responding were estimated based on respondents' ratings of 30 hypothetical people described in short vignettes. In the vignette ratings, clear cross-sample differences in extreme and neutral responding emerged. These responding style differences were correlated with mean self-reported Conscientiousness scores. Correcting self-reports for extreme and neutral responding changed sample rankings of Conscientiousness, as well as the predictive validities of these rankings for external criteria. The findings suggest that the puzzling country rankings of self-reported Conscientiousness may to some extent result from differences in response styles.",

keywords = "Conscientiousness, cross-cultural, extreme responding, personality, response style",

author = "Ren{\'e} M{\~o}ttus and J{\"u}ri Allik and Anu Realo and J{\'e}r{\^o}me Rossier and Gregory Zecca and Jennifer Ah-Kion and D{\'e}nis Amoussou-Y{\'e}y{\'e} and Martin B{\"a}ckstr{\"o}m and Rasa Barkauskiene and Oumar Barry and Uma Bhowon and Fredrik Bj{\"o}rklund and Aleksandra Bochaver and Konstantin Bochaver and {de Bruin}, Gideon and Cabrera, {Helena F.} and Chen, {Sylvia Xiaohua} and Church, {A. Timothy} and Ciss{\'e}, {Daouda Dougoumal{\'e}} and Donatien Dahourou and Xiaohang Feng and Yanjun Guan and Hwang, {Hyi Sung} and Fazilah Idris and Katigbak, {Marcia S.} and Peter Kuppens and Anna Kwiatkowska and Alfredas Laurinavicius and Mastor, {Khairul Anwar} and David Matsumoto and Rainer Riemann and Joanna Schug and Brian Simpson and Tseung-Wong, {Caroline Ng} and Wendy Johnson",

note = "Funding Information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This project was supported by grants from the Estonian Ministry of Science and Education (SF0180029s08) and the Estonian Science Foundation (ESF7020) to J{\"u}ri Allik, by a Swiss National Science Foundation grant (ZK0Z1_131287/1) to J{\"u}ri Allik and J{\'e}r{\^o}me Rossier, by a Mobilitas grant (MJD44) from the European Social Fund to Ren{\'e} M{\~o}ttus, and by a Primus grant (3-8.2/60) from the European Social Fund to Anu Realo.",

year = "2012",

month = nov,

doi = "10.1177/0146167212451275",

language = "English",

volume = "38",

pages = "1423--1436",

journal = "Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin",

issn = "0146-1672",

publisher = "SAGE Publications Inc.",

number = "11",

}

Mõttus, R, Allik, J, Realo, A, Rossier, J, Zecca, G, Ah-Kion, J, Amoussou-Yéyé, D, Bäckström, M, Barkauskiene, R, Barry, O, Bhowon, U, Björklund, F, Bochaver, A, Bochaver, K, de Bruin, G, Cabrera, HF, Chen, SX, Church, AT, Cissé, DD, Dahourou, D, Feng, X, Guan, Y, Hwang, HS, Idris, F, Katigbak, MS, Kuppens, P, Kwiatkowska, A, Laurinavicius, A, Mastor, KA, Matsumoto, D, Riemann, R, Schug, J, Simpson, B, Tseung-Wong, CN & Johnson, W 2012, 'The Effect of Response Style on Self-Reported Conscientiousness Across 20 Countries', Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, vol. 38, no. 11, pp. 1423-1436. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167212451275

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Effect of Response Style on Self-Reported Conscientiousness Across 20 Countries

AU - Mõttus, René

AU - Allik, Jüri

AU - Realo, Anu

AU - Rossier, Jérôme

AU - Zecca, Gregory

AU - Ah-Kion, Jennifer

AU - Amoussou-Yéyé, Dénis

AU - Bäckström, Martin

AU - Barkauskiene, Rasa

AU - Barry, Oumar

AU - Bhowon, Uma

AU - Björklund, Fredrik

AU - Bochaver, Aleksandra

AU - Bochaver, Konstantin

AU - de Bruin, Gideon

AU - Cabrera, Helena F.

AU - Chen, Sylvia Xiaohua

AU - Church, A. Timothy

AU - Cissé, Daouda Dougoumalé

AU - Dahourou, Donatien

AU - Feng, Xiaohang

AU - Guan, Yanjun

AU - Hwang, Hyi Sung

AU - Idris, Fazilah

AU - Katigbak, Marcia S.

AU - Kuppens, Peter

AU - Kwiatkowska, Anna

AU - Laurinavicius, Alfredas

AU - Mastor, Khairul Anwar

AU - Matsumoto, David

AU - Riemann, Rainer

AU - Schug, Joanna

AU - Simpson, Brian

AU - Tseung-Wong, Caroline Ng

AU - Johnson, Wendy

N1 - Funding Information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This project was supported by grants from the Estonian Ministry of Science and Education (SF0180029s08) and the Estonian Science Foundation (ESF7020) to Jüri Allik, by a Swiss National Science Foundation grant (ZK0Z1_131287/1) to Jüri Allik and Jérôme Rossier, by a Mobilitas grant (MJD44) from the European Social Fund to René Mõttus, and by a Primus grant (3-8.2/60) from the European Social Fund to Anu Realo.

PY - 2012/11

Y1 - 2012/11

N2 - Rankings of countries on mean levels of self-reported Conscientiousness continue to puzzle researchers. Based on the hypothesis that cross-cultural differences in the tendency to prefer extreme response categories of ordinal rating scales over moderate categories can influence the comparability of self-reports, this study investigated possible effects of response style on the mean levels of self-reported Conscientiousness in 22 samples from 20 countries. Extreme and neutral responding were estimated based on respondents' ratings of 30 hypothetical people described in short vignettes. In the vignette ratings, clear cross-sample differences in extreme and neutral responding emerged. These responding style differences were correlated with mean self-reported Conscientiousness scores. Correcting self-reports for extreme and neutral responding changed sample rankings of Conscientiousness, as well as the predictive validities of these rankings for external criteria. The findings suggest that the puzzling country rankings of self-reported Conscientiousness may to some extent result from differences in response styles.

AB - Rankings of countries on mean levels of self-reported Conscientiousness continue to puzzle researchers. Based on the hypothesis that cross-cultural differences in the tendency to prefer extreme response categories of ordinal rating scales over moderate categories can influence the comparability of self-reports, this study investigated possible effects of response style on the mean levels of self-reported Conscientiousness in 22 samples from 20 countries. Extreme and neutral responding were estimated based on respondents' ratings of 30 hypothetical people described in short vignettes. In the vignette ratings, clear cross-sample differences in extreme and neutral responding emerged. These responding style differences were correlated with mean self-reported Conscientiousness scores. Correcting self-reports for extreme and neutral responding changed sample rankings of Conscientiousness, as well as the predictive validities of these rankings for external criteria. The findings suggest that the puzzling country rankings of self-reported Conscientiousness may to some extent result from differences in response styles.

KW - Conscientiousness

KW - cross-cultural

KW - extreme responding

KW - personality

KW - response style

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U2 - 10.1177/0146167212451275

DO - 10.1177/0146167212451275

M3 - Article

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SN - 0146-1672

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JO - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

JF - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

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ER -

The Effect of Response Style on Self-Reported Conscientiousness Across 20 Countries

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