Testing the homogeneity hypothesis of personality: replication and extension across European countries, industry sectors and organizations

Abstract

This paper builds on previous studies testing the homogeneity hypothesis of personality as presented in seminal works in the field. Using a sample of 2745 managers from 165 organizations operating in 51 sectors, spanning 30 European countries, we explore the Attraction-Selection-Attrition framework in European organizations, and examine managerial personality variability within and between (a) organizations, (b) industry sectors and (c) European countries. To explore personality, the MBTI was used and the hypotheses tested with Bayesian Multilevel analysis, along with the rwg and ADM agreement indices. Results revealed significant variance in personality between organizations and countries – but not within sectors. Evaluation of within group agreement revealed that agreement in personality profiles within organizations is relatively low (10-39%); the agreement is higher within countries (56-68%) and within industry sectors (30-63%). The results reveal that perhaps organizations are not as homogeneous as previously suggested. Earlier cautions about the consequences of Attraction-Selection-Attrition yielding relative homogeneity are discussed as unnecessary, and complementary fit is suggested. This is the first study to empirically test within group agreement across levels.

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