A cross-cultural investigation of students' preferences for lecturers' personalities in Britain, Malaysia and the United States

This study examined students' preferences for lecturers' personalities on three continents. Two-hundred and 35 university students in Malaysia, 347 university students in Britain and 139 university students in the United States provided ratings of 30 desirable and undesirable lecturer trait characteristics, which were coded into an internally reliable Big Five taxonomy. Descriptive statistics showed that, overall, students in all three settings tended to prefer Conscientious, Open, Stable and Agreeable lecturers. Further analysis showed that, overall, Malaysian students provided higher ratings for all high order traits of the Big Five than either British or American students. There were numerous gender and national differences but the latter was more a function of methodological artefacts. Educational and vocational implications are considered in conclusion.