Personality traits, ESOP attributions, and psychological ownership in the U.S. and South Korea

Abstract

This study examines linkages from personality traits to employee attributions of employee stock ownership plans (ESOP) and to psychological ownership for the organization (POO) between the U.S. and South Korea. By analyzing survey data collected from 693 employees in two countries, we found that agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness to experience are positively related to POO directly as well as indirectly through commitment-focused ESOP attributions. Also, those mediational linkages are more pronounced among employees in South Korea, which is a collectivist society. Finally, our supplementary analyses confirmed these results by indicating the same pattern of results in the South Korean sample, but not in the U.S. sample. Our findings provide theoretical implications for diverse scholarships such as employee ownership, human resource attributions, and international human resource management.