An attempt to validate national mean scores of Conscientiousness: No necessarily paradoxical findings

Two large cross-cultural databases on personality were used to study the relationship between culture-level mean scores of Conscientiousness and 18 country-level criterion variables including health indicators, religiosity, democracy, corruption, economic wealth and freedom, and the presence of a favorable business environment. Compared to previous research, more rigorous requirements for the study of the predictor–criterion relationships were formulated and followed. Mean Conscientiousness scores were significantly related to most of the criteria but, importantly, the relationships differed largely across facets of the broad Conscientiousness domain. In several facets, the patterns of relationships to the external criteria were consistent with clearly formulated multi-variate predictions but the pattern of relationships was moderated by the type of ratings (self- vs. observer-ratings).