From personality traits to types: a person-centered framework of global leadership

• Identifies five global leadership personality profiles using Big Five traits. • Shows traits combine into distinct personality configurations among leaders. • Links personality profiles to C-suite membership and leadership attainment. • Replicates trait profiles using detailed personality facets for robustness. • Demonstrates value of a person-centered approach to global leadership research. Leadership research has largely emphasized variable‑centered approaches to personality, leaving open whether distinct configurations of traits differentiate global leaders. Employing Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) on a large sample of global leaders across hierarchical levels (CEOs, COOs, CFOs, middle management), we identify person-centered patterns of Big Five personality traits that distinguish global leader subtypes. Results revealed five distinct global leader personality profiles that represent varying levels of Big Five traits: Broadly Moderate (43.53%), characterized by adaptive flexibility; Reserved-Reactive (21.36%), marked by low extraversion, low openness, and high neuroticism; Structured-Conventional (16.83%), distinguished by high conscientiousness and low openness; Stable-Engaged (11.65%), showing an elevated configuration across the Big Five alongside pronounced emotional stability; and Creative-Vulnerable (6.63%), defined by high openness coupled with elevated neuroticism. We examined the association between these profiles and C-suite membership and contrasted them with traditional variable-centered trait-outcome relationships. Findings support a person-centered framework for global leadership.