This study examined the relationship between self-leadership and personality through an analysis and comparison of hierarchical factor structures. More specifically, this study examined the relationships between the self-leadership dimensions of behavior-focused strategies, natural reward strategies, and constructive thought strategies, and the personality dimensions of extraversion, emotional stability, and conscientiousness. The results of the study provide evidence that the self-leadership dimensions are distinct from, yet related to, the specified personality traits.

The hypothesis that self-leadership strategies are distinct from the selected personality traits was supported through structural equations modeling analyses examining competing models combining the hierarchical factor structures of self-leadership and personality. Model fit increased significantly through a progression of models that showed increasingly greater distinction between self-leadership dimensions and personality traits. The best fitting model in the progression, in harmony with both self-leadership and trait personality theory, consisted of a hierarchical factor structure with three first order self-leadership factors, three first order personality factors, and two correlated second order factors (i.e., self-leadership and personality). Furthermore, intercorrelations were greater within the self-leadership dimensions than between the self-leadership dimensions and the personality traits, thus providing additional evidence of differentiation.

Although the evidence indicates that self-leadership skill dimensions are unique with respect to personality traits, these results also suggest that self-leadership and personality factors are nevertheless significantly related. Specifically, both extraversion and conscientiousness were significantly related to all three self-leadership dimensions, while emotional stability was significantly related only to the natural rewards strategies dimension. In summation, the results of this study suggest that self-leadership represents a distinct constellation of strategies that are significantly related to certain key personality traits. The implications of these results for future self-leadership research and practice are discussed.