Abstract
Personality assessments are frequently used to make decisions and predictions, and this has created a demand for assessments that are non-discriminatory. This is particularly important for the diverse South African population. The South African Personality Inventory project seeks to validate eleven versions of the SAPI in the eleven official languages used in South Africa. The main objective of this study was to investigate the factor structure and the construct validity of the South African Personality Inventory-Southern Sotho version (SAPI-S). A quantitative cross-sectional study was adopted where the SAPI-S was administrated throughout various organisations in South Africa (N = 293). The measuring instruments used in the study included the SAPI-S, the Social Desirability Scale and the BFI-10. To meet the objectives of the study descriptive statistics were investigated and a PCA, EFA, and CFA were conducted. The results yielded a four-factor solution that differs from the six-factor solution of the SAPI. The factors consisted of (1) Conscientiousness-Neuroticism, (2) Extraversion-Openness, (3) Positive Social Relational Disposition, and (4) Negative Social Relational Disposition. Construct validity was also confirmed. The main concern in this study was the results for the reliability coefficients of the SAPI-S facets. The results also indicated that most of the participants preferred completing the SAPI-S in Southern Sotho and that understood the items in Southern Sotho. The results further indicate that personality assessments should be developed for the various ethnic and language groups in South Africa.
Keywords: South African Personality Inventory- Southern Sotho (SAPI-S), personality assessments, construct validity, South Africa
M.Phil. (Industrial Psychology)