Authoritarian personality and subjective well-being in Chinese college students: The moderation effect of the organizational culture context

Abstract Authoritarian personality has been repeatedly shown to be associated with greater subjective well-being largely in the western countries. Contextual factors have been demonstrated to be capable of moderating this association at the macro level, and yet whether micro level organizational culture context could have a similar moderation effect remains elusive. The present study aims to verify authoritarian personality - subjective well-being association among a sample of Chinese college students, as well as testing the potential moderating role of the authoritarian organizational culture context. 1007 Chinese male undergraduates from both military and non-military medical universities were recruited, and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), happiness index and life satisfaction were measured. We found that higher score on authoritarian personality is significantly correlated with greater subjective well-being, and this association indeed can be moderated by the organizational culture context (military vs civilian). Overall, this study verifies and extends the findings of a positive authoritarian personality - subjective well-being relationship to an oriental cultural context.