The Cross-cultural Structural Validity of the Big Five Personality Inventory (BFI-10) in a South African Sample

Abstract

The study sought to assess the structural validity of the 10-item measure of the B5P instrument in the South African context. World Values Survey data, collected in South Africa (N = 3 531), were analysed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, to ascertain the factorial structure of the data, including across sub-groups, focusing on measurement invariance. The theorised factorial structure of the B5P survey did not mirror the theorised structure in the South African sample. This was demonstrated in the inspection report, as well as in the tests of measurement invariance. Even sub-groups, typifying the Westernised, educated, industrialised, wealthy, and democratic part of the South African society, did not provide structures that mirrored the theorised model. The assumption that well-established instruments are valid in settings, different to the one where they were initially developed in, should be questioned, and such instruments should not be used, unless thoroughly tested.