The effect of personality traits on political attitudes, and preference for supportive versus regulatory policy instruments in employment policy Objectives. The goal was to find out whether pu- blic policy attitudes to the preference of policy instruments in solving long-term unemployment are explained through a big-five factor model of personality or through political orientation.
Participants and settings. Authors administered a questionnaire survey among 8,554 university students in the Czech Republic.
Hypothesis. Public policy attitudes to individual policy instruments are most influenced by poli- tical orientation and the related personality traits of openness and conscientiousness.
Authors as- sume that the personality traits of openness and conscientiousness correlate most significantly with the ideological predisposition, however, the political orientation directly influences pre- ferences for policy instruments. Statistical analysis.
Correlation analysis, multi- ple linear regression, structural models. Results.
Public policy attitudes to policy instru- ments were most influenced by political orientation and the related personality traits of ope- nness and conscientiousness. However, on the basis of structural models, not only the direct in- fluence of political orientation on preferences to policy instruments has been demonstrated; from the personality traits, it is again an openness of mind and conscientiousness.
Study limitation. The use of a short version of BFI-10; the lack of theoretical and empirical studies dealing with the influence of personality traits on public policy making.