HEXACO Personality Traits Research Articles

Linking HEXACO Personality Traits to Affective Commitment and Knowledge Sharing Behaviour in Higher Education Institutions

This study aimed to assess the connection between HEXACO personality traits (i.e. honesty–humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience) and knowledge sharing behaviour (KSB) of university academic staff. Moreover, based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), this study aimed to examine the underlying process through which HEXACO personality traits contribute to academics’ KSB by examining mediating role of affective commitment. With a structured questionnaire survey, the data was conveniently collected from 234 full-time university faculty members employed in 20 private universities located in Bangladesh. Structural equation modelling partial least square (SEM-PLS) was utilised to analyse the research model. The results revealed that, with the exception of emotionality, all HEXACO personality traits (i.e. honesty–humility, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience) have positive direct effects on academics’ KSB. The study further showed that the effects of honesty–humility, extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness on KSB were significantly mediated by affective commitment. Thus, universities should focus on academics’ personality profiles to improve knowledge sharing practices within the institutions. In particular, personality test should be introduced in the selection process of university teachers to identify the candidates with desirable personality traits. The findings offer a new understanding of how HEXACO personality traits result in academics’ KSB directly as well as via affective commitment.

Organisational justice and deviance in academia: Is there a moderating effect of personality?

Orientation: Social exchange theory (SET) posits that employees reciprocate injustice with workplace deviance. However, studies reveal this may not always be the case because of the differences in employees’ personality traits.Research purpose: To examine the moderating role of Honesty-Humility, Emotionality and Agreeableness (H-HEA) of the HEXACO personality domain on the relationship between organisational justice (OJ) and workplace deviance among employees of selected public universities in South-West Nigeria.Motivation for the study: It becomes imperative to study workplace deviance behaviour (WDB) because of its costs and prevalence in the organisation. Hence, this study integrates the situational and individual antecedents of workplace deviance, using the HEXACO personality domain to moderate the relationship between OJ and personality.Research approach/design and method: The study adopted a quantitative approach; a survey was conducted among 572 employees of three public universities in Nigeria. Data collected were analysed using partial least square structural equation modelling.Main findings: The findings revealed that WDB reduces with OJ and increases with injustice. Essentially, the moderating effect of E-HEXACO selected by the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is found to be insignificant.Practical/managerial implications: The study recommends that university management and government alike should ensure justice in the public universities as this helps to reduce WDB.Contribution/value-add: This study proposes that employees’ personality traits will determine whether they will reciprocate feelings of injustice with deviant behaviour. This study has contributed to the literature by examining the HEXACO personality traits, which are scarcely being examined in Nigerian literature.

The role of personality traits and online behavior in belief in fake news

The current study examines how careless online behavior and personality traits are related to the detection of fake news. We tested the relationships among accurately distinguishing between fake and real news headlines, careless online behavioral tendencies, and the HEXACO and dark triad personality traits. Poorer discernment between fake and real news headlines was associated with greater careless behavior online (i.e., greater online disinhibition, greater risky online behavior, greater engagement with strangers online, and less suspicion of others’ intentions online), as well as lower Conscientiousness, Openness, and Honesty-Humility, and greater dark triad traits. Implications for the literature as well as potential interventions to reduce susceptibility to misinformation and fake news are discussed.

The roles of interviewing conditions and individual differences in memory and suggestibility: An online interview study

AbstractIn existing studies of investigative interviewing, the effects of interviewing contexts have often been measured with little consideration of the reciprocal interviewee's stable characteristics. To clarify the factors and conditions under which adults are likely to retain accurate information and be resistant (or vulnerable) to suggestions during interviews, this study systematically explored the relative contributions of interviewing conditions (i.e., interviewer behaviour and exposure to post‐event misinformation) and individual differences (i.e., HEXACO personality traits, perceived parenting styles, social trait and state anxiety). A total of 159 Malaysian adults (M = 24.70; SD = 5.48) were assessed virtually using the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale 1. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that higher recall accuracy was linked with supportive interviewer behaviour and non‐exposure to misinformation. Notably, individual's personality traits and developmental environment emerged as significant predictors of recall and suggestibility. The implications of remote interviewing in investigations are also discussed.

HEXACO personality traits, spiritual intelligence, and views on euthanasia among medical students: a moderation analysis

The ethical dilemma of euthanasia presents a significant challenge in medical practice. The attitudes of medical students toward euthanasia can be shaped by a variety of factors, such as their personal beliefs, values, and personality traits. This study explored the intricate relationship between personality traits, as outlined by the model, and medical students’ attitudes toward euthanasia, with a particular focus on the potential moderating effect of spiritual intelligence. In this cross-sectional study, 219 medical students from Zahedan, Iran, including 85 males and 134 females, were selected in 2022 using a non-random convenience sampling method. Participants provided socio-demographic information, including age, gender, and medical degree. They were also evaluated using the spiritual intelligence self-report inventory, the 24-item brief HEXACO inventory, and the euthanasia attitude scale (EAS). Data analysis was conducted using SPSS software version 29 and included both descriptive statistics (frequency, mean, and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (independent t-test, analysis of variance, Pearson correlation coefficient, and hierarchical linear regression). The findings revealed a significant positive correlation between the personality trait of openness to experience and favorable attitudes toward euthanasia. In contrast, there was a negative correlation between EAS scores and spiritual intelligence, as well as the honesty-humility dimension of personality. Furthermore, regression analysis indicated that spiritual intelligence moderated the relationship between EAS scores and the associated personality traits. The study underscores the importance of understanding how HEXACO personality traits and spiritual intelligence influence medical students’ attitudes toward euthanasia. This insight is vital for medical educators and policymakers in creating educational programs that foster critical thinking, empathy, and ethical decision-making in future healthcare professionals. Additionally, this knowledge can guide the formulation of euthanasia policies that respect the diverse viewpoints and values within the medical community.

Retraction: The HEXACO personality traits as predictors of Chinese undergraduates’ academic performance

Retraction: The HEXACO personality traits as predictors of Chinese undergraduates’ academic performance

Unleashing brand evangelism: the role of HEXACO personality traits and self-efficacy in the smartphone user community

Unleashing brand evangelism: the role of HEXACO personality traits and self-efficacy in the smartphone user community

Personality and burnout complaints: The mediating role of proactive burnout prevention behaviors at work.

The aim of this study is to gain insight into how and why certain personality traits are related to experiencing burnout complaints. Drawing on insights from a stimulus-organism-response (SOR) model of personality and affect and conservation of resources (COR) theory, we specifically focus on the role of five proactive behaviors to prevent burnout (PBPBs) at work. Two research questions are addressed: (1) How are the HEXACO personality traits related to burnout complaints, and (2) to what extent do the PBPBs aimed at increasing resources act as mediators between the engagement dimensions of personality and burnout complaints. We set up a two-wave survey examining HEXACO personality, PBPBs at work, and burnout complaints in a sample of 172 employees. For our analyses we relied on multiple regression analyses and structural equation modeling. Our analyses revealed that employees high on Extraversion and Conscientiousness and low on Emotionality are less inclined to experience burnout complaints. For the trait of Conscientiousness, this could be partly explained because conscientious employees demonstrate more proactive behavior aimed at maintaining or increasing job control. Our research contributes to the burnout and personality literature as we offer insight into why specific personality dimensions are related to burnout complaints. Specific proactive behaviors aimed at increasing job resources appeared to play a small, yet relevant role in this respect, specifically for Conscientiousness. By studying the relationship between personality and behavior in association with burnout complaints, this study adds to our understanding of personalized preventive actions in the work context that can reduce burnout complaints.

The HEXACO model of personality is associated with loneliness in a university setting

The problem of loneliness among college students has attracted extensive attention from researchers. As a fundamental psychological framework, personality traits are associated with loneliness. Thus, we conducted a survey of 688 college students in Mainland China to examine the relationship between the HEXACO personality traits and loneliness. Regression analysis revealed a negative association between loneliness and the personality traits of agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience, and a positive association between loneliness and the personality traits of honesty???humility, emotionality, and extraversion. This model explained 33.78% of the variance in loneliness. Implications of the findings are discussed.

The HEXACO personality traits as predictors of Chinese undergraduates' academic performance

To verify the association between personality traits and academic performance in a university setting, we collected the grade point average (GPA) and six personality characteristics (honesty–humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience) of 349 students at a university in China. According to the results, there were positive associations between GPA and honesty–humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience. Additionally, honesty–humility, extraversion, agreeableness, and openness to experience explained 30.72% of the variance in GPA. On the basis of the above findings, two conclusions can be made: First, undergraduates' GPA is associated with these six personality traits; second, undergraduates' honesty–humility, extraversion, agreeableness, and openness to experience may help to explain the variance in their GPA.

Do personality traits influence the user’s behavioral intention to adopt and use Open Government Data (OGD)? An empirical investigation

The academic interest in the Open Government Data (OGD) domain has been burgeoning over the years. Conceding that the prime focus of an OGD initiative is its further re-use for value creation and innovation by stakeholders, the present study seeks to underscore the role of HEXACO personality traits on behavioral intention (BI) to adopt and use OGD in developing countries' context. We investigate the direct, indirect, and moderating effects of HEXACO personality traits provide a better understanding of how and to what extent personality traits influence future behavioral intention to use OGD. The results demonstrate that Trust and Performance Expectancy are positive predictors of BI to adopt and use OGD. Users with higher Openness to Experience tend to have higher Effort and Performance Expectancy; are characterized by exposure to Social Influence; have higher level of Trust and positive experience of Facilitating Conditions and Information Quality. Agreeable people are more likely to Voluntarily Use OGD. Conscientiousness enhances the individual's perception of OGD quality-related factors. Excessive Emotionality affects negative perception to System and Information Quality issues. Honesty–Humility and Extraversion are able to maintain the effect of OGD Information Quality and Trust on users' BI. Our findings could be useful for practitioners to level the divergence between actual and potential use of OGD by considering the user's personality traits..

HEXACO Personality Traits and Self-Control as Predictors of Counterproductive Academic Behavior

HEXACO Personality Traits and Self-Control as Predictors of Counterproductive Academic Behavior

The role of personality traits in mediating the relation between fear of negative evaluation and social interaction anxiety.

Social interaction anxiety and fear of negative evaluation have many maladaptive outcomes and, in order to counteract their effects, it is essential to identify those psychological or social factors that make people vulnerable to them. One of these factors is the individual's personality structure: some personality traits increase the individuals' vulnerability to symptoms of social anxiety, while others protect them. The aim of this paper is to analyse the role of HEXACO personality traits in mediating the relationship between fear of negative evaluation and social anxiety, in a sample of 352 cadets from the Land Forces Academy of Sibiu. The relationships between these concepts were analysed using structural equation modeling (SEM) in several hypothetical models, two of which were ultimately validated. In the first model, the fear of negative evaluation has an indirect effect on social interaction anxiety through the mediation of extraversion, conscientiousness, and altruism, separately. Furthermore, extraversion, conscientiousness, and altruism play a serial mediating role in the association between the fear of negative evaluation and social interaction anxiety. In the second model, the fear of negative evaluation has an indirect effect on social interaction anxiety through the mediation of social boldness, liveliness, and organization, separately, but not through altruism. Social boldness, liveliness, and organization played a serial mediating role in the relationship between the two constructs, while altruism moderated the relationship between liveliness, organization, and social interaction anxiety. Analysing the relationship between the individuals' personality traits, social anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation facilitated the identification of ways to cultivate desirable behaviours in social environments typified by compliance, discipline, uniformity, and rigor.

Follower-leader HEXACO personality fit and follower work engagement

ABSTRACT Based on person-supervisor complementary fit and job demands-resources theory, we examined if discrepancies between leaders’ and followers’ HEXACO personality traits are associated with followers’ work engagement. We expected that when leaders score lower on emotionality compared to their followers, they are an important source of support, leading to increases in follower engagement. Additionally, we argue that discrepancies in follower and leader openness to experience – irrespectively of the direction of this difference – constitute a hindrance to followers, resulting in decreased work engagement. Results from 130 matched follower-leader dyads using polynomial regression analyses supported our hypotheses. We additionally found that followers are more engaged in their work when their leader scores higher on emotionality than they do. These findings highlight the crucial role that the interaction of leaders’ and followers’ personality traits plays for followers’ work engagement, which should be an important consideration for organizations when matching leader-follower dyads.

Interrelated psychological predictors of mate preferences among Iranian male and female emerging adults

AbstractVarious psychological predictors of mate preference have been identified in prior research that when accounted for simultaneously could reveal the unique contributions of each. This study aimed to explore the extent to which perceived attractiveness, personality characteristics, and attachment styles are associated with young Iranian adults' mate preferences, attending to group differences based on biological sex. A total of 644 Iranian young adults completed a questionnaire that included items related to one's perceived intelligence and physical attractiveness, HEXACO personality traits, and KASER mate preferences (kindness/dependability, attractiveness/sexuality, status/resources, education/intelligence, and religiosity/chastity). Several differences based on biological sex were apparent in the personality, attachment, and mate preferences measures, as well as with their intercorrelations. Analyses using multiple linear regression indicated that each of the KASER variables had some unique combinations of the three types of psychological characteristics, and some variance by biological sex. For example, kindness/dependability was predicted for males by the two perceived attractiveness variables and by two personality variables (emotionality and conscientiousness), but only by the agreeableness personality trait for females. Attachment styles were only relevant for education/intelligence and religiosity/chastity, with little evidence of sex‐based differences.

Understanding the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale Through the Lens of a Bifactor Model

Abstract: The Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS) is the most frequently used self-report instrument for the assessment of the Impostor Phenomenon (IP). The literature provided mixed findings on the factorial structure of the CIPS. We extend previous work on the German-language CIPS by testing a bifactor exploratory factor model in two large and independently collected samples ( Ntotal = 1,794). Our analyses show that the bifactor model comprising a general IP factor and three group factors (labeled Luck, Fear of Failure, and Discount) fits the data well and 7 of the 20 items could be clearly assigned to the factors. The general factor (ω ≥ .90) and facets (α ≥ .67) show satisfying internal consistencies and differential correlations to attributional styles and the broader Big Five and HEXACO personality traits. Our findings support the use of the CIPS total score and expand the understanding of the CIPS’ multidimensional measurement model. Taking limitations into account, the identification and use of fine-grained facets contribute to understanding the correlates and consequences of the IP. We discuss potential improvements to the CIPS.

Disintegration predicts problem alcohol and drug use, quality of life, and experience in close relationships over the Big Five and HEXACO personality traits

The Disintegration trait (i.e., proneness to psychotic-like experiences and behaviors) was recently proposed as the basic personality trait that supplements the space of individual differences framed by well-known Big Five and HEXACO models. In this research, we provided additional evidence of the unique contribution of Disintegration in predicting the individual differences in some outcomes whose relations with this trait are mainly unexplored. In the first study (N = 300), we employed a 20-item measure of Disintegration (DELTA-20), a short form of the Big Five Inventory (BFI-10), alcohol and drug use disorders identification tests (AUDIT, DUDIT), and Flanagan's Quality of Life Scale (QoLS). The results showed that Disintegration predicts higher levels of problem alcohol and drug use, and lower quality of life, over and above the Big Five traits, thus increasing the proportion of explained variance by 3% and 1%, respectively. In the second study (N = 537), we used a 10-item measure of Disintegration (DELTA-10), a 60-item form of HEXACO, and a Serbian version of the Modified and Revised Experiences in Close Relationship scale (SM-ECR-R). The results showed that Disintegration predicts higher levels of avoidance and anxiety in close relationships over and above HEXACO traits, with an incremental contribution in the explained variance of 2% and 11%, respectively. In sum, our findings suggested that the Disintegration trait, assessed by either the shorter or longer measure, accounts for unique variance in individual, wellbeing-related outcomes, and dyadic functioning-related outcomes. The limitations and future directions are discussed.

Impact of Personality Traits on Small Charitable Donations: The Role of Altruism and Attitude towards an Advertisement

Given the serious humanitarian crises encountered by the modern world, it is more crucial than ever to build a society based on solidarity, compassion, empathy, and a sense of teamwork and cooperation. This research provides insight into how the factors of personality traits, altruistic behaviors, and humanitarian actions can positively influence citizens’ behavioral intentions, allowing for a deeper understanding of the motives behind charitable giving. To this end, a study was conducted with 332 Greek respondents, which used a special purpose questionnaire, including the HEXACO-24 questions and 13 additional questions, that addressed attitude towards advertisement, charitable giving, as well as the behavioral intention to donate. The findings add to current research by underlining the relevance of individuals’ altruistic character, since our analysis revealed a statistically significant relationship between charitable giving and behavioral intention to donate. All HEXACO personality traits, excluding emotionality, demonstrated a statistically significant positive relationship with the attitude towards advertising, while none of the personality traits exhibited a statistically significant positive relationship with the concept of charitable giving, which calls for further investigation. Our findings also revealed that attitude towards an advertisement had no drastic effect on charitable giving and behavioral intention.

Investigating Hexaco Personality Traits, Perceived Threat and Covid-19 Vaccine Acceptance Among Undergraduates in a Nigerian University

Abstract The role of personality traits and perceived threat on COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among undergraduates is relatively scarce. The study investigated the role of personality traits and perceived threat on COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among 374 (age = 18-28 years, M =23.23 years, SD = 2.57 years) undergraduates in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey design was utilized. A self-administered questionnaire was used to gather information about socio-demographics, HEXACO personality traits, perceived threat and COVID-19 Vaccine acceptance. Results showed a significant influence of personality traits on COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. Findings also revealed that perceived threat significantly predict COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among undergraduates. Result further showed that there was a significant influence of religion on COVID-19 vaccine acceptance (t (372) = −2.13, p = .034, 95% CI (−6.44, −.25), d = 0.22.) These results emphasize the importance of HEXACO personality traits and perceived threat when considering program targeted at COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among undergraduates.

The good, the bad, and the ugly: a comprehensive study of temperament and personality traits as correlates of self-reported disruptive behavior problems in male and female adolescents

PurposeThe aim of the present study was to provide a comprehensive picture of temperament and personality traits as correlates of self-reported disruptive behavior problems in male and female adolescents.MethodsTwo-hundred-and-sixty-three non-clinical adolescents aged 12–18 years completed a survey containing standardized scales to measure the HEXACO personality traits, impulsivity, effortful control, Dark Triad traits, and symptoms of oppositional-defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD).ResultsThe results showed that good traits (in particular, honesty-humility, agreeableness, and the regulative trait of effortful control) were negatively associated, while bad and ugly traits (especially impulsivity and the Dark Triad traits of psychopathy and Machiavellianism) were positively associated with symptoms of ODD and CD. In addition, regression analyses indicated that both types of disruptive behavior problems were associated with a unique set of temperament and personality correlates, and that specific correlates also differed for both genders.ConclusionsIt is concluded that research on the role of temperament and personality should adopt a broad perspective, taking good, bad, and ugly traits from various theoretical models as well as gender differences into account.