THE EFFECTS OF ITEM CONTEXT IN FAKING PERSONNEL SELECTION INVENTORIES1

Little is known about the fakability of empirically developed measures when such measures are removed from their original instrument or battery for use in selection decisions. A research design was created that experimentally induced motivation similar to that in employment settings. Experimental group subjects were randomly assigned to two conditions. One condition required S's to complete the entire Strong Vocational Interest Blank while the other condition required subjects to complete only those items which are scored on the psychologist's scale. When results of the two conditions were compared for the “motivated” subjects, those presented with the psychologist scale items only obtained significantly higher scale scores than those who completed the entire SVIB. Although additional research on other instruments should be conducted, these results indicate caution in the practice of retaining only the valid scale items for instruments used in employment settings. While maintaining the original context does not totally eliminate the problem of response distortion it makes the problem much less pronounced.     

THE NEW UNIFORM GUIDELINES ON EMPLOYEE SELECTION PROCEDURES IN THE CONTEXT OF UNIVERSITY PERSONNEL DECISIONS

The new Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures are considered in a context of university employment decisions. The use of student evaluations as valid criteria for faculty personnel decisions such as hiring, retention, tenure, promotion, or salary increases is examined. Standards of validity contained in the Guidelines are probably not being met with regard to most student rating forms currently used. Recommendations are made regarding use of student and administrators' ratings as criteria for personnel decisions. The need for studies on contaminating sources of variance in ratings is emphasized.     

THE IMPACT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING ON EDUCATIONAL AND PERSONNEL SELECTION IN AFRICA

Psychological testing for Education and Personnel selection is of great importance in the efforts by many African countries to ensure that suitable candidates are selected for education beyond the primary school level and for training for different employment. Major investigations directed to this need have been in the area of adapting tests already available in Western countries and determining the reliability and predictive validity of battery of tests so adapted and their tryout in African schools to determine their efficiency as tools for selection.     

MODELING THE EFFECTS OF BANDING IN PERSONNEL SELECTION

Selection outcomes under banding are affected by characteristics of the selection system and the applicant pool. This study examined the effects of eight parameters on the proportions hired from higher- and lower-scoring groups: (a) selection ratio; (b) reliability; (b) fixed vs. sliding bands; (d) top-down vs. random within-band selection; (e) preferential vs. nonpreferential selection; (f) mean differences; (g) standard deviation differences; and (h) proportion of applicants from the lower-scoring group. Simulation results were analyzed in a fully-crossed eight-way ANOVA. Higher-order interactions among selection system and applicant pool characteristics had virtually no effect on selection outcomes; the proportion of the applicant pool from the lower-scoring group accounted for nearly half the variance in out-comes. Other important effects are, in order, the effects of standard deviation differences, mean differences, preferential hiring, and the selection ratio. Applicant pool characteristics have considerably more influence on selection outcomes than do selection system characteristics.     

EXAMINING SELECTION UTILITY WHERE COMPETING PREDICTORS DIFFER IN ADVERSE IMPACT

This paper discusses the roles of validity, cut score choice, and adverse impact on selection system utility using data from two concurrent validation studies. We contrast an assessment center and published aptitude test on several metrics, including validity, testing costs, adverse impact, and utility. The assessment center produced slightly lower validity than the aptitude test while costing roughly 10 times as much per candidate. In spite of these advantages for the aptitude test, the assessment center produced so much less adverse impact its operational utility would be higher given cut scores likely to be chosen in this organization. Potential concerns with applying net utility models to this type of situation are discussed in comparison to gross utility models.     

ASSESSING THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF PERSONNEL PROGRAMS ON WORKFORCE PRODUCTIVITY

This article describes and illustrates the adaptation of the linear-regression-based decision-theoretic equations used to estimate the dollar impact of valid selection procedures on workforce productivity to the evaluation of intervention programs designed to improve job performance. The appropriate equations are derived and explained, methods for estimating equation parameters are discussed, and the use of these equations is illustrated by means of a hypothetical example. It is concluded that in the future these methods and equations will allow psychologists to make more accurate assessments of the impact of intervention programs on workforce productivity than has heretofore been the case.     

SOCIAL COMMUNICATIVE ANXIETY AND THE PERSONNEL SELECTION PROCESS: TESTING THE SIMILARITY EFFECT IN SELECTION DECISIONS

Three studies tested competing predictions about the role of similarity in personnel selection decisions. Previous research suggests a significant role for applicant-selector similarity in the determination of selection decisions. Applicants who are similar to selectors are evaluated, by selectors, more positively than dissimilar applicants. The current investigations found that when the object of similarity is the applicant's and selector's level of anxiety, this relationship fails to appear. Regardless of the selector's own level of anxiety, the high anxious applicant is less positively evaluated than the low anxious one. This effect appears even when the communication demands of the position are specified.     

THE EFFECTS OF VARIABILITY AND RISK IN SELECTION UTILITY ANALYSIS: AN EMPIRICAL COMPARISON

To date, utility analysis research has derived point estimates of the expected utility value for human resource management programs or interventions. Utility estimates are usually quite large, but they fail to reflect the size and shape of the utility distribution. The present study investigated utility estimate variability for the selection utility of using the Programmer Aptitude Test to select computer programmers in a medium-sized computer manufacturing organization. Utility calculations incorporated financial/economic factors as well as employee flows over time. The distributions for each utility parameter were empirically estimated, and these distribution estimates were combined through a Monte Carlo analysis to yield a distribution of total utility values. Monte Carlo results were compared to three other risk assessment approaches: (1) sensitivity analysis, (2) break-even analysis, and (3) algebraic derivation of the distribution. Results suggest that the distribution information provided by the Monte Carlo analysis more completely described the variability and riskiness associated with the expected utility value. Future research suggested by these findings is discussed.     

FURTHER WITHIN-SETTING EMPIRICAL TESTS OF THE SITUATIONAL SPECIFICITY HYPOTHESIS IN PERSONNEL SELECTION

The situational specificity hypothesis in personnel selection holds that variation in observed validity coefficients across studies for the same test and job is due to subtle variations from setting to setting in what constitutes job performance. This hypothesis therefore predicts that, if the setting does not vary, validity will not vary. Using data from a single large-sample validity study ( N = 1,455), this research generated numerous small-sample studies for which the setting (organization, job, test, criterion measure, applicant pool, time period, and sample size) was held constant. It was found that even under these circumstances there was substantial variability across studies in (a) observed validity coefficients, (b) significance levels, and (c) (using traditional data analytic methods) conclusions about the presence or absence of validity. These findings disconfirm the situational specificity hypothesis and argue strongly against traditional data-analytic procedures and the practice of reliance on single small-sample studies. In contrast to the erroneous conclusions produced by traditional data-analytic procedures, meta-analytic methods correctly estimated the population observed validity at .22 and correctly indicated that all between-study variance in observed validities was due to sampling error alone.     

UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT OF TEST VALIDITY AND BIAS ON SELECTION ERRORS AND ADVERSE IMPACT IN HUMAN RESOURCE SELECTION

We propose an integrative framework for understanding the relationship among 4 closely related issues in human resource (HR) selection: test validity, test bias, selection errors, and adverse impact. One byproduct of our integrative approach is the concept of a previously undocumented source of selection errors we call bias‐based selection errors (i.e., errors that arise from using a biased test as if it were unbiased). Our integrative framework provides researchers and practitioners with a unique tool that generates numerical answers to questions such as the following: What are the anticipated consequences for bias‐based selection errors of various degrees of test validity and test bias? What are the anticipated consequences for adverse impact of various degrees of test validity and test bias? From a theory point of view, our framework provides a more complete picture of the selection process by integrating 4 key concepts that have not been examined simultaneously thus far. From a practical point of view, our framework provides test developers, employers, and policy makers a broader perspective and new insights regarding practical consequences associated with various selection systems that vary on their degree of validity and bias. We present a computer program available online to perform all needed calculations.     

A WITHIN SETTING EMPIRICAL TEST OF THE SITUATIONAL SPECIFICITY HYPOTHESIS IN PERSONNEL SELECTION

The situational specificity hypothesis of selection procedure validity makes two predictions. The first is that variation in observed validities across settings is caused by real differences in what constitutes job performance. Validity generalization studies to date have provided disconfirming evidence for this prediction by showing that the observed variation is due to statistical and measurement artifacts. The second prediction is that if the situation (i.e., the organization, the setting, the job, the test and the criterion) is held constant, then validity findings will not vary from study to study. This article tests this prediction empirically using data from a unique series of studies reported by Bender and Loveless (1958). The results are contrary to the situational specificity hypothesis and consistent with the hypothesis that variation in observed validities is due to statistical and measurement artifacts that are unrelated to situations and settings. It is concluded that both major predictions of the situational specificity hypothesis have now been empirically disconfirmed.     

A META-ANALYSIS OF THE VALIDITY OF METHODS FOR RATING TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE IN PERSONNEL SELECTION

This paper reviews the validity evidence for systematic methods used to evaluate training and experience (T&E) ratings in personnel selection. Meta-analytic summaries of the data indicate that validity varies with the type of T&E evaluation procedure used. The lllinois job element and behavioral consistency methods each demonstrated useful levels of validity (.20 and .45, respectively) with small corrected standard deviations, thus supporting validity generalization. Both the point and task methods yielded low mean validities (.11 and .15, respectively) with larger variability. The authors hypothesized that both the point and task methods were affected by a job experience moderator. Partial support for this hypothesis was found. Moderator analyses suggested that the point method was most valid when the applicant pool had low mean levels of job experience and was least valid with an experienced applicant pool. Additional research is desirable on all T&E methods to decrease the potential impact of second-order sampling error in the meta-analytic results. Further research is also needed to explicate the constructs measured by T&E evaluations.     

INTEGRITY TESTING FOR PERSONNEL SELECTION: AN UPDATE

Sackett and M. M. Harris (1984) reviewed published and unpublished literature on the use of commercially available paper-and-pencil integrity tests for employee selection. This paper reviews recent developments in this area. Legal issues related to the use of the polygraph, and integrity tests are discussed. Empirical research on the reliability, criterion-related validity, construct validity, fakability, and adverse impact of integrity tests is reviewed. Major changes since the previous review include (1) the emergence of two distinct types of tests, labeled overt integrity tests and personality-oriented measures, (2) a broadening of the criteria used for test validation to include global performance, absence, turnover, and forms of counterproductivity other than theft, and (3) an increase in the use of external criteria (e.g., detected theft, turnover) rather than self-report criteria (e.g., admissions of theft) in validation research. Difficulties in interpreting research findings and practical constraints on the use of integrity tests are discussed.     

APPLICANT AGE AND SELECTION INTERVIEW DECISIONS: EFFECT OF INFORMATION EXPOSURE ON AGE DISCRIMINATION IN PERSONNEL SELECTION

Two research questions pertaining to the applicant age bias effect were addressed in this study: the effect of age-related information exposure on selection decisions and the issue of between-sample generalizability with reference to the age bias effect. Manager and student selectors made selection decisions after viewing one videotape of a simulated selection interview of either an old or a young job applicant. Before viewing the interview tape, half of each subject group was given an item of age-related information and the other half was given neutral information. The results showed that, under the neutral information condition, managers preferred hiring the young applicant for the low-status job, and students favored the old candidate for the high-status position. Under the age-related information condition, managers shifted to favoring the old candidate for the low-status job, and students preferred the young applicant for both the low- and high-status positions. Age discrimination in selection decisions and the lack of external validity of student results in selection research are then discussed.     

ENLISTED PERSONNEL SELECTION FOR THE U. S. NAVY1

Recently, over 33% of the new male enlistees were prematurely separated from the Navy (i.e., prior to the expiration of active duty obligation). The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a new screening tool, designed to estimate an applicant's chances of completing the first two years of service. Essentially all nonprior service males enlisting during 1973 were included in the study (N = 68,616). Predictors used were: (1) years school completed, (2) mental group, based upon aptitude level, (3) age, and (4) number of dependents. The dichotomous criterion was survival (72%) vs. loss (28%), after a median two years of service. The model developed on the total sample evidenced a multiple point-biserial validity of .31. Double cross-validation evidence showed that the model will produce reasonably accurate and stable predictions. Management-oriented information was prepared to illustrate the various consequences of employing alternative cutting scores. This permitted examination of the tradeoffs involved in raising or lowering standards in the light of the current supply and demand picture for nonprior service enlisted male applicants.     

THE IMPACT OF JOB ANALYSIS ON EMPLOYMENT TEST VALIDATION FOR MINORITY AND NONMINORITY ACCOUNTING PERSONNEL

The purposes of the present study were (a) to examine the comparative validity of a written job knowledge test constructed on the basis of a systematic job analysis with that of a commercial employment test selected in the absence of a prior job analysis for accounting positions and (b) to determine the fairness of each test for minority and nonminority job applicants. Results indicated that the job knowledge test was a valid and unbiased predictor of relevant criteria of job performance while the commercial employment test produced adverse impact and lacked validity. Implications of the results for future research studies and test validation efforts involving differential prediction are discussed.     

THE CONTROVERSY OVER SCORE BANDING IN PERSONNEL SELECTION: ANSWERS TO 10 KEY QUESTIONS

A particular form of test score banding, in which bands are based on the reliability of the test and in which selection within bands takes into account criteria that are likely to enhance workforce diversity, has been proposed as an alternative to the traditional top-down (rank-order) hiring systems, but it has been hotly debated among both scientists and practitioners. In a question-and-answer format, this article presents three different viewpoints (proponents, critics, and neutral observers) on the scientific, legal, and practical issues. The article also attempts to seek some consensus among experts on this controversial procedure.