Personality traits of German livestock farmers: Are there differences according to the production system?

Abstract

Decisions made by farmers can have large influences beyond the farm boundary because farmers are the first link in the food supply chain. For this reason, understanding their decision-making behaviour may be of interest to all stakeholders of food systems. Since there is considerable evidence that personality traits may affect decision-making behaviour, this paper investigates personality traits according to the HEXACO model of personality in a sample of 244 German livestock farmers. Our results indicate that livestock farmers differ in their personality from the general population, with farmers scoring higher on honesty-humility, conscientiousness and being more emotionally stable. Comparisons within the farmer sample show that organic livestock farmers score higher on Openness than conventional farmers. However, the results of a confirmatory factor analysis suggest that the German version of the short item scale used to measure the personality traits of the sample should be partially modified. Even though our results should therefore be understood rather as first indications and a basis for further research, they could help to better align support strategies, e.g. for more animal-friendly production, with the personality traits of farmers.