Van Der Zee, K. I. - The Diversity of Love JournalThe Diversity of Love Journal

Van Der Zee, K. I., & Van Oudenhoven, J. P. (2000). The Multicultural Personality Questionnaire: A multidimensional instrument of multicultural effectiveness. European journal of personality, 14(4), 291-309.

The authors show how it is important for people in the current global business environment to become international and multicultural in their orientation. The skills and traits of multicultural competency underlie executive success in international business.

The authors developed the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire as a multidimensional instrument to measure multicultural effectiveness. The scales for Cultural Empathy, Openmindedness, Emotional Stability, Orientation to Action, Adventurousness/Curiosity, Flexibility, and Extraversion composed the questionnaire.

The study among a student sample (N = 257) showed the validity and reliability of this questionnaire. Results demonstrated high internal consistencies of the developed scales, with the exception of the scales of Openmindedness and Flexibility. Factor analysis and the pattern of intercorrelations identified four reliable higher-level dimensions: ‘Openness’, ‘Emotional Stability’, ‘Social Initiative and Flexibility’. The data supported the predictive value of the questionnaire and demonstrated its incremental value in predicting international orientation and aspiration for an international career.

The authors concluded that the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire can be used for the selection of expatriates or as a diagnostic tool to assess further training needs.