The Cross-Cultural Relevance of Indigenous Measures: The South African Personality Inventory (SAPI), Family Orientation, and Well-Being in New Zealand

Abstract

Indigenous personality research often remains limited to its cultural context of origin. Previous cross-cultural examinations of indigenous models have typically focused on East–West comparisons and have paid scant attention to the predictive validity of indigenous models in new contexts. The present study addresses the replicability of the South African Personality Inventory (SAPI) and its predictive validity for family orientation and well-being in New Zealand European ( n = 428) and Māori students ( n = 226). The structure of the SAPI in New Zealand was equivalent to the structure identified in South Africa and had metric invariance between the two New Zealand groups. The SAPI social-relational scales explained additional variance above neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness in family orientation, but not in well-being. Mediation path analyses suggested that personality played a similar role for family orientation and well-being in the two groups when assessed by the SAPI, although group differences were suggested when using the Big Five Inventory. Our findings indicate that indigenously derived models, developed with the aim to represent culturally salient concepts, can be relevant well beyond their culture of origin and offer an enriched understanding of personality’s role for important outcomes across cultures.

Validating Indigenous Versions of the South African Personality Inventory

“…that an indigenously derived model such as the SAPI could be applicable outside of its country of origin (Fetvadjiev et al, 2021). The next step in the process of refining the SAPI was to ensure that the various translations still measure the same constructs as the original English version.…”

“… Cheung et al (2011) highlighted in the need to integrate emic and etic approaches to study personality across cultures; thereby, culture-inclusive personality models can be unearthed, expanding the scope of mainstream personality psychology. An emic-etic approach to personality model development originates within a particular cultural context, expanding into comparisons with universal personality models ( Cheung et al, 2011 ; Fetvadjiev et al, 2021 ). The emic approach aims to determine to what extent personality constructs are unique to specific cultures ( Rolland, 2002 ), whereas the etic approach examines behaviour across many cultures, determining the universality and replicability of a theoretical personality model ( Berry, 1989 ; Rolland, 2002 ).…”

“…The psychometric properties of the SAPI-EN have been investigated and validated in several studies within the South African context that looked at its factor structure ( Nel et al, 2012 ; Fetvadjiev et al, 2015 ; Morton et al, 2019 ), measurement invariance ( Fetvadjiev et al, 2021 ; Morton et al, 2020 ), and its predictive validity ( Morton et al, 2018 ). Fetvadjiev et al (2015) investigated the extent to which the SAPI link with the Big Five by conducting a joint factor analysis and regression analysis on a Big Five measurement’s facets and the SAPI facet scales.…”

“…They found that two social-relational factors beyond the Big Five could be identified but that the Big Five did, to some extent, covary with the variance of the two social-relational factors ( Fetvadjiev et al, 2015 ). The replicability of the SAPI’s six-factor structure among New Zealand European and Māori students were recently investigated, and the SAPI structure was found to be equivalent and had metric variance between the New Zealand European and Māori students ( Fetvadjiev et al, 2021 ). These results revealed that an indigenously derived model such as the SAPI could be applicable outside of its country of origin ( Fetvadjiev et al, 2021 ).…”

“…The replicability of the SAPI’s six-factor structure among New Zealand European and Māori students were recently investigated, and the SAPI structure was found to be equivalent and had metric variance between the New Zealand European and Māori students ( Fetvadjiev et al, 2021 ). These results revealed that an indigenously derived model such as the SAPI could be applicable outside of its country of origin ( Fetvadjiev et al, 2021 ).…”