The ubiquity of common method variance: The case of the Big Five

The factor structures of the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) and NEO-FFI Big Five questionnaires were examined via confirmatory factor analyses. Analyses of IPIP data for five samples and NEO data for one sample showed that a CFA model with three method bias factors, one influencing all items, one influencing negatively worded items, and one influencing positively worded items fit the data significantly better than models without method factors or models with only one method factor. With the method factors estimated, our results indicated that the Big Five dimensions may be more nearly orthogonal than previously demonstrated. Implications of the presence of method variance in Big Five scales are discussed. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.