To be authentic or not to be: How and why North Americans and South Koreans differ in making true-self-congruent...

Anecdotal and empirical evidence underscores the importance of aligning major life decisions with one's true self. Yet, achieving this alignment is not always straightforward and appears to vary across cultures and individuals. Across 10 studies (N = 3,127), we investigated these variations by exploring (a) cultural differences in true-self-congruent job choices, focusing on North American and South Korean cultures, and (b) cultural and individual differences in endorsing the belief that following one's true self leads to positive outcomes, particularly increased competence in job choices, which we refer to as the "true-self-as-cause (TSAC)" belief. Study 1 revealed that a higher proportion of American employees reported truly loving their current job compared to South Korean employees. Studies 2-4 showed that North Americans were more willing than South Koreans to leave their current job for one that better aligns with their true self, even at the cost of job stability (Study 2), competence (Studies 3a and 4), financial benefits (Study 3b), or family happiness (Study 3c). Study 5 demonstrated that true-self-congruent job choices among North Americans were explained by their stronger TSAC belief endorsement compared to South Koreans, over and above a number of alternative mechanisms. Studies 6, 7a, and 7b provided causal-chain evidence by manipulating TSAC belief endorsement. The current research contributes to the literature on the true self and authenticity by shedding light on cross-cultural variability in making authentic decisions and its psychological underpinning. Implications and potential directions for future research on the role of TSAC belief endorsement are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).