Investigating the factor structure of the South African Personality Inventory – English version

SA Journal of Industrial Psychology ISSN: (Online) 2071-0763, (Print) 0258-5200 Page 1 of 13 Original Research Investigating the factor structure of the South African Personality Inventory – English version Authors: Nadia Morton1 Carin Hill1 Deon Meiring2† Leon T. de Beer3 Orientation: Most psychological measuring instruments developed in Western, educated, industrial, rich, democratic (W.E.I.R.D.) countries have been found to inadequately capture and represent personality outside the borders of these countries. Consequently, culturally informed or indigenous measuring instruments need to be developed. Affiliations: 1 Department of Industrial Psychology and People Management, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg. South Africa Research purpose: This study aimed to inspect whether an overlap exists between the empirical data obtained and the theoretical six-factor SAPI framework, providing evidence for an indigenous personality structure in a multi-cultural context. Department of Human Resource Management, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa 2 WorkWell Research Unit, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa 3 Corresponding author: Carin Hill, Dates: Received: 30 May 2018 Accepted: 21 July 2019 Published: 17 Oct. 2019 How to cite this article: Morton, N., Hill, C., Meiring, D., & De Beer, L.T. (2019). Investigating the factor structure of the South African Personality Inventory – English version. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology/SA Tydskrif vir Bedryfsielkunde, 45(0), a1556. https://doi.org/ 10.4102/sajip.v45i0.1556 Copyright: © 2019. The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License. Read online: Scan this QR code with your smart phone or mobile device to read online. Motivation for the study: Psychological professionals in South Africa have been criticised for using culturally biased instruments that do not display an accurate representation of the 11 official cultural groups. The South African Personality Inventory (SAPI) aims to address these criticisms, highlighting the importance of establishing the cultural applicability of the model through model-fit analyses. Research approach/design and method: A quantitative, cross-sectional design was used to administer the SAPI-English version to a sample of employed, unemployed and employmentseeking South Africans (N = 3912). Exploratory Structural Equation Modelling (ESEM) was used to model the data. Main findings: The results revealed that the model was a good fit to the data and that the SAPI factors accurately represent personality in a multi-cultural context. Practical/managerial implication: Using a well-researched indigenous personality assessment like the SAPI can assist South African organisations to fairly and reliably assess people across the 11 official cultural groups. Contribution/value-add: This study advances the processes surrounding indigenous test development through the establishment of a personality model and measure that encapsulates personality traits exhibited in a multi-cultural context. Keywords: Personality; South African Personality Inventory; SAPI; factor structure; assessment; South Africa. Introduction In the fields of psychological testing and assessment, research has reached many difficult-to-attain goals (Laher & Cockroft, 2014). However, most psychological tests and assessments stemming from research conducted in Western, educated, industrial, rich, democratic (W.E.I.R.D.) countries fail to acknowledge psychological principles in non-W.E.I.R.D. contexts (Henrich, Heine, & Norenzayan, 2010). In the South African context, many psychological tests and assessments have been criticised for inadequately capturing and representing cultures outside the countries of origin, mainly in Europe and North America (Blokland, 2016), especially because individuals within a multi-cultural context such as South Africa have traditions and beliefs that are quite distinct from those found in Europe and America (Moletsane, 2016). These cultural differences also influence how individuals perceive personality and exhibit behaviours related to it. As such, personality assessment within the South African context has shifted focus from studying mainly universal traits across cultures to also studying personality traits specific or unique within various cultures (cf. Valchev et al., 2011; Valchev et al., 2012; Valchev, Van de Vijver, Nel, Rothmann, & Meiring, 2013; Valchev et al., 2014) using an emic–etic approach. The emic–etic, a combined approach, outlines universal and culture-specific aspects of personality (Cheung 2012; Cheung, Van de Vijver, & Leong, 2011) to identify critical aspects pertaining to personality (in South Africa in this case) and attain a detailed, integrated and balanced view of personality (Cheung et al., 2011). Note: †, 1967–2019. http://www.sajip.co.za Open Access Page 2 of 13 Conscienousness Extraversion Achievement orientaon Playfulness Broadmindedness Sociability Epistemic curiosity Integrity Orderliness Openness/Intellect Original Research Neurocism SOCREL Negave SOCREL Posive Negave emoonality Conflict seeking Facilitaon Emoonal stability Decei‚ulness Integrity Hoslityegoism Interpersonal relatedness Intellect Social intelligence Tradionalism -religiosity Warmheartedness FIGURE 1: Schematic representation of the six-dimensional structure and accompanying facets of the South African Personality Inventory as identified by Fetvadjiev et al. (2015). In the South African context, personality research has mostly followed international trends, using adapted existing models and measuring instruments (Valchev et al., 2011; Valchev et al., 2012). However, in the early 1990s, the South African Personality Questionnaire (SAPQ) (Taylor, 1987) was developed, in which researchers attempted to develop an instrument that captures the personality characteristics evident in South Africa’s multi-cultural context. Unfortunately, the SAPQ did not succeed, with a few studies investigating and confirming bias within the measurement (Retief, 1992; Taylor & Boeyens, 1991). The existence of bias could be ascribed to overreliance on Western and European models and theories. The adapted measuring instruments did not adequately tap into the underlying personality constructs within the cultural groups found in South Africa (Van de Vijver & Leung, 2001), raising questions surrounding fairness in assessment in the South African context. Another matter influencing the South African psychological assessment landscape is South African legislation. The Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 (Republic of South Africa, 1998) emphasises the use of valid, reliable and fair assessments and tests as a means to eliminate unfair discrimination, promote affirmative action and redress any previous disadvantages individuals from minority groups might have experienced. The requirements stipulated in the Employme (...truncated)