OBJECTIVE To investigate personality traits (PT) of nurse managers (NM) and their subordinates' perceptions of these traits. METHODS The study sample consisted of NM and nurses from a university hospital and a state hospital. The data were collected in September-October 2015. The study was conducted in two stages. During the first stage, a cross-sectional descriptive study was performed, and a 220-item "Five-Factor Personality Inventory" was administered to 20 NM. The second stage with 60 nurses was conducted through semi-structured interviews and results were analyzed using the qualitative content analysis. Evaluation was carried out using a qualitative method in a phenomenological research design, and the hermeneutic approach was adopted. The research was planned based on the 32-item checklist (COREQ), which is a guideline for qualitative studies. RESULTS The Five-Factor Personality Inventory revealed that most of the NM defined themselves as responsible/determined, orderly, relaxed, outgoing, reconciliatory, rule-follower, or assertive. In addition, the nurse manger's mean score for the social desirability dimension of the inventory was quite high. The data analysis demonstrated that the clinical nurses mostly perceived the NM as softhearted, reconciliatory, and orderly, but rule-followers, and conservative. CONCLUSIONS In this study, the high scores obtained by the NM, not only from the self-control/conscientiousness dimension but also from the social desirability dimension indicates that the clinical nurses perceived their managers as tender-minded, reconciliatory, orderly, and rule-followers.