Cultural differences in self-enhancement on a personality questionnaire in a South African assessment situation.

The objective of this study was to investigate cultural differences in self-enhancement on a personality questionnaire in a South African assessment situation and to add to the debate on cross-cultural self-enhancement. The research brought together the literature on socially desirable responding and cross-cultural self-enhancement. Personality questionnaire data of a collectivistic (N=190) and an individualistic (N=162) sample were gathered at a South African assessment centre. Higher socially desirable responding scores for candidates of collectivistic culture, compared to lower scores of individualistic culture candidates, were examined. The personality questionnaire scales of socially desirable responding were regarded as moralistic self-enhancement. An unexpected interaction effect between culture and age emerged. Young collectivists moralistically self-enhance more than young individualists. This difference decreases and disappears with age.