Abstract
The relationship between personality dimensions, measured with the Multicultural Personality
Questionnaire (MPQ), and foreign language mastery were studied in a Dutch-based
multinational company in the agricultural sector. In a survey, differences were studied
between internal and external stakeholders to determine whether MPQ dimensions and
language mastery allow us to discriminate between them. The internal stakeholders were
divided into international and non-international employees; external stakeholders were
the business contacts of the international employees (clients and business partners based
or working abroad). The international employees were found to be more open-minded
and flexible than the non-international employees, and the former group was found to be
more emotionally stable than the group of business contacts. On average, the international
employees reported speaking one foreign language more than both other groups. Also,
the number of foreign languages correlated with the multicultural personality dimensions
open-mindedness and emotional stability. It is concluded that emotional stability, openmindedness,
and the number of spoken foreign languages are to some extent predictive of
differences between the various stakeholders distinguished in this sample.
