Comparing the big five and indigenous dimensions of personality in Hong Kong Chinese

Abstract

Objectives: The present study aimed to (i) identify personality dimensions that are salient to the Hong Kong Chinese context on the basis of a taxonomy developed by Lai, Luk, and Wan (2002) using the approach of Implicit Personality Theory (IPT), and (2) to examine the congruence between the structure of the identified indigenous dimensions and that of the well established Big Five Personality Factors. Methods: A total of 212 participants were requested to rate each trait on a 9-point scale according to how accurate each trait describes themselves (self rating). They were also asked to nominate a peer to complete the same questionnaire. The selected peers were asked to rate each trait according to their knowledge of the participant on how accurate each trait describes him or her (peer rating). Results: Results indicated that 3 emic personality factors were salient to the Hong Kong Chinese, which exhibited a clear social and relationship orientation. Although substantial overlap was observed between these emic factors and the five-factor solutions as derived from the Western Big Five markers, one-to-one correspondence between the two sets of factors was not identified.