How China Factor Mediate Personality Effect on Party Preference in Taiwan?

• In Event: Personality, Generation, and Political Behavior in Taiwan

Abstract

While previous research has documented the relationships between personality traits and various types of political behavior, very few studies have looked at the link between personality and political party preference in Asia. Research has demonstrated that political liberalism is associated with the trait of openness to experience and conservatism is associated with the trait of conscientiousness (Xu and Peterson, 2017; Webster, 2018). Yet, the direct effects of personality traits on political orientation may not be significant in Taiwan as there is one single dominant political factor – China – that fundamentally shapes every aspect of Taiwan’s politics. In the context of Taiwan, less well studied is how China cleavage influences the relationships between personality traits and party perception. The present study investigates individual differences in attitude toward China that might mediate the connections between personality traits and party image. Our findings reveal that attitude toward China mediates the effects of personality traits on party image in Taiwan.
We indeed find evidence of significant mediation – most robustly for the traits of openness to experience, conscientiousness, and emotional stability – particularly in the context of Taiwan where the complexity of the party system is low. These results reiterate that personality matters – both directly and indirectly – for political attitudes and behavior, confirm that the China factor plays a mediating role in the relationship between personality and perception of the political party, and suggest that scholars would do well to further evaluate alternative pathways through which personality affects individual political attitudes.

Authors

• Dennis Lu-Chung Weng, Sam Houston State University

• Lu-huei Chen, National Chengchi University

• Ching-Hsing Wang, National Cheng Kung University