Personality traits and individual feeling of national pride in South Korea

Given the lack of studies on the relationship between personality and national pride, this study represents the first attempt to examine the impact of the Big Five personality traits on individual feeling of national pride in South Korea. The data for this study are obtained from the Korean General Social Survey (KGSS) of 2011 and 2012. The empirical evidence consistently shows that extraversion and agreeableness are significantly associated with individual feeling of national pride. Specifically, people who report elevated levels of extraversion and agreeableness are more likely to display a strong feeling of national pride. Contrary to theoretical expectations, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience are not associated with individual feeling of national pride. Overall, the findings lend some support to the view that personality traits exert a significant influence on individual feeling of national pride and suggest that except for contextual factors, psychological factors also offer some explanatory power for individual feeling of national pride.