The honeymoon effect in job performance: temporal increases in the predictive power of achievement motivation

Correlations between a job performance criterion and personality measures reflecting achievement motivation and an interpersonal orientation were examined at three points in time after completion of job training for a sample of airline reservations agents. Although correlations between the personality predictors and performance were small and nonsignificant for the 3-month period after beginning the job, by the end of 6 and 8 months a number of significant relationships had emerged. Implications for the utility of personality measures in selection and performance prediction are discussed.     

Effects of Self‐Deceptive Enhancement on Personality–Job Performance Relationships

Theoretical and empirical evidence distinguishes between two types of response distortion: impression management (IM) and self‐deceptive enhancement (SDE), although most research in Industrial/Organizational Psychology has focused on the effects of IM. The present study compared the effects of IM and SDE on job performance and personality validity. Two‐hundred and sixty‐one managers completed Big Five Personality, SDE, and IM measures. The managers' supervisors, peers, and subordinates rated their job performance. In accordance with previous research, accounting for managers' IM scores did not increase prediction of job performance. On the other hand, accounting for SDE did increase prediction. Increased prediction was due to an interaction between Extraversion and SDE, and an increase in the predictive validity of Emotional Stability when SDE was held constant. Results suggested that findings from previous research demonstrating that IM does not affect job performance or personality validity cannot be extended to SDE.     

PROJECT A VALIDITY RESULTS: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PREDICTOR AND CRITERION DOMAINS

A predictor battery of cognitive ability, perceptual-psychomotor ability, temperament/personality, interest, and job outcome preference measures was administered to enlisted soldiers in nine Army jobs. These measures were summarized in terms of 24 composite scores. The relationships between the predictor composite scores and five components of job performance were analyzed. Scores from the cognitive and perceptual-psychomotor ability tests provided the best prediction of job-specific and general task proficiency, while the temperament/personality composites were the best predictors of giving extra effort, supporting peers, and exhibiting personal discipline. Composite scores derived from the interest inventory were correlated more highly with task proficiency than with demonstrating effort and peer support. In particular, vocational interests were among the best predictors of task proficiency in combat jobs. The results suggest that the Army can improve the prediction of job performance by adding non-cognitive predictors to its present battery of predictor tests.     

“Dark Side” Personality Styles as Predictors of Task,Contextual, and Job Performance

Many meta‐analyses and hundreds of primary studies have been carried out on the criterion‐oriented validity of personality measures for predicting job performance. The Five‐Factor Model of personality has been used as a frame for analyzing the empirical evidence. However, the research in industrial, work and organizational psychology has not examined the relationship between the dysfunctional tendencies of personality and the personality disorders as described in DSM‐IV (Axis II) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and job performance. The present paper examines the relationship between job performance and the dysfunctional personality styles included in a non‐clinical personality inventory developed to assess personality tendencies related to the dysfunctional (normal) personality styles and the personality disorders in work settings. This inventory assesses 14 dysfunctional personality styles and was given to a sample of 85 applicants. The job performance was rated by the direct supervisor 8 months later, and three measures were obtained: task performance, contextual performance, and overall job performance. The results showed that the seven dysfunctional personality styles (suspicious, shy, sad, pessimistic, sufferer, eccentric, and risky) predicted the three measures of job performance. The egocentric personality style negatively predicted contextual performance. Finally, the submitted style predicted task performance. With the exception of the risky personality style, the rest of the styles mainly consisted of Neuroticism. Implications for the research and practice of personnel selection are discussed.     

Validation of personality and cognitive measures for insurance claims examiners

Claims Examiners are critical for the profitability of large insurance companies. Mistakes in hiring these people can result in improperly processed claims and/or turnover, and this yields negative financial consequences for the company. This paper describes research evaluating the validity of selection procedures for the position of claims examiner at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma. A job analysis indicated that both cognitive skills and personal abilities are necessary for successful performance as a claims examiner. The job analysis also indicated that both subjective and objective criterion measures reflect important aspects of job performance. The criterion data included nine supervisory ratings, employee nominations, average percent of performance, absences, disciplinary actions, and sick leave. In a concurrent validation strategy, we tested a sample of experienced incumbents (N=50) using four cognitive ability tests (Basic Skills Tests: BST) and two measures of personality (Hogan Personality Inventory and PROFILE). Scales from two personality inventories were combined to form the Claims Examiner Inventory (CEI). Scores from the CEI and three of the four cognitive tests correlated significantly with the average percent of performance and six of the supervisory ratings, including the average supervisory rating. In addition to the cognitive measures, the personality measure contributed significantly to the prediction of percent of performance achieved with R=.64. These results are consistent with other research findings that support the use of both personality and cognitive measures as predictors of job performance.     

Exploring the Capacity of NEO PI‐R Facets to Predict Job Performance in Two French‐Canadian Samples

The capacity of personality facets to predict contextual performance (i.e., interpersonal facilitation and job dedication), task performance, and global performance was explored by means of two predictive validity field studies. In a preliminary way, Study 1 demonstrated that four personality facets – Self‐Consciousness, Excitement Seeking, Trust, and Competence – were related to at least one job performance dimension in a well‐structured occupation sample. Study 2 revealed that eight personality facets were linked to specific job performance dimensions in a professional occupation sample. Results indicate that a combination of facets is useful for predicting job performance.     

领导干部的人格特点与工作绩效的关系：QZPS与NEO PI-R的比较

研究旨在探讨基层党政领导干部的人格特点与工作绩效之间的关系。中国人人格量表（QZPS）测量的人格的七个维度及其18个次级因素均与工作绩效的维度存在不同程度的相关,其中处世态度、人际关系和外向性与任务绩效绩效相关最高,处世态度、情绪性和行事风格与个人品质绩效绩效相关最高,而情绪性与他人评定绩效相关最高。人格因素可以解释自我评定绩效31. 7% ~ 49. 9%的变异,可以解释他人评定绩效6. 3% ~ 12. 8%的变异。而采用NEO PI-R测量人格时,所解释的工作绩效的变异只有QZPS的1/3左右。文中还讨论了工作绩效和人格结构的文化意义以及本土化研究的重要性     

Faking under a nonlinear relationship between personality assessment scores and job performance

This study investigated whether faking in personality assessments affects the prediction of job performance and consequences of selection decisions when a nonlinear relationship was assumed between personality scores and job performance. It was also examined whether a selection strategy suggested for nonlinear relationships reduces the adverse impact of faking on consequences of selection decisions. The findings from the item response theory‐based simulations indicated that the prediction of job performance was affected by faking, whereas selection accuracy was not substantially affected by faking. The improvement in selection accuracy due to the strategy suggested for a nonlinear relationship was not noticeable. However, the suggested strategy reduced adverse impacts of faking on the estimation of selected applicants' performance scores.     

PERSONALITY TESTS AT THE CROSSROADS: A RESPONSE TO MORGESON, CAMPION, DIPBOYE, HOLLENBECK, MURPHY, AND SCHMITT (2007)

Despite widespread and growing acceptance that published personality tests are valid predictors of job performance, Morgeson et al. (2007) propose they be abandoned in personnel selection because average validity estimates are low. Our review of the literature shows that Morgeson et al.'s skepticism is unfounded. Meta-analyses have demonstrated that published personality tests, in fact, yield useful validity estimates when validation is based on confirmatory research using job analysis and taking into account the bidirectionality of trait–performance linkages. Further gains are likely by use of narrow over broad measures, multivariate prediction, and theory attuned to the complexities of trait expression and evaluation at work. Morgeson et al. also suggest that faking has little, if any, impact on personality test validity and that it may even contribute positively to job performance. Job applicant research suggests that faking under true hiring conditions attenuates personality test validity but that validity is still sufficiently strong to warrant personality test use in hiring. Contrary to Morgeson et al., we argue that the full value of published personality tests in organizations has yet to be realized, calling for programmatic theory-driven research.     

Progress Toward Understanding the Structure and Determinants of Job Performance: A focus on task and citizenship performance

Job performance criterion models have become more popular and more often investigated. The current research adds to this literature by testing performance models focusing on ability and personality predictors of task and citizenship job performance. Air traffic controllers (N = 928) completed cognitive ability and personality predictor measures, were administered a performance test assessing two possible mediators, and were evaluated using supervisor and peer ratings of two task performance, one citizenship performance, and an overall performance dimension. Path analyses largely confirmed that ability predicts primarily task performance and personality predicts primarily citizenship performance. The mediation related to task knowledge and skill on the task performance side was confirmed, and the overall fit of the performance models was quite good. Discussion focuses on how the present research furthers progress toward mapping relations among individual differences and individual performance constructs, beyond using overall performance as the endogenous performance variable.     

Mind the Gap: Between‐group differences and fair test use

This paper integrates recent meta‐analytical findings regarding group differences in job‐ and educational‐related criteria and cognitive ability measures used as predictors in personnel selection and selection to higher education institutions. The findings suggest that cognitive ability measures reveal much higher group differences than the corresponding between‐group differences in job‐ and educational‐related criteria. One possible explanation for these differential gaps is that cognitive ability measures are objective and standardized while the typical measures used as job‐ and‐educational related criteria are non‐standardized subjective evaluations of job performance and academic achievement. While these findings are consistent with unbiased prediction or over‐prediction for lower scoring groups, they imply that selection is biased against them. Implications and future research are discussed.     

IN SUPPORT OF PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT IN ORGANIZATIONAL SETTINGS

Personality constructs have been demonstrated to be useful for explaining and predicting attitudes, behaviors, performance, and outcomes in organizational settings. Many professionally developed measures of personality constructs display useful levels of criterion-related validity for job performance and its facets. In this response to Morgeson et al. (2007) , we comprehensively summarize previously published meta-analyses on (a) the optimal and unit-weighted multiple correlations between the Big Five personality dimensions and behaviors in organizations, including job performance; (b) generalizable bivariate relationships of Conscientiousness and its facets (e.g., achievement orientation, dependability, cautiousness) with job performance constructs; (c) the validity of compound personality measures; and (d) the incremental validity of personality measures over cognitive ability. Hundreds of primary studies and dozens of meta-analyses conducted and published since the mid 1980s indicate strong support for using personality measures in staffing decisions. Moreover, there is little evidence that response distortion among job applicants ruins the psychometric properties, including criterion-related validity, of personality measures. We also provide a brief evaluation of the merits of alternatives that have been offered in place of traditional self-report personality measures for organizational decision making. Given the cumulative data, writing off the whole domain of individual differences in personality or all self-report measures of personality from personnel selection and organizational decision making is counterproductive for the science and practice of I-O psychology.     

PREDICTION OF TRADES APPRENTICES'PERFORMANCE ON JOB SAMPLE CRITERIA

A criterion-related validation was conducted to assess the validity of four aptitude tests and five tests of content taken directly from job tasks in predicting job sample performance of apprentices in eight skilled trades. Observed validities were above .40 (corrected for range restriction, validities averaged .52). Though there were large subgroup mean differences on both predictor and criterion measures, there was no evidence of significant differential prediction.     

PERSONALITY MEASURES AS PREDICTORS OF JOB PERFORMANCE: A META-ANALYTIC REVIEW

The purpose of this study was to investigate conflicting findings in previous research on personality and job performance. Meta-analysis was used to (a) assess the overall validity of personality measures as predictors of job performance, (b) investigate the moderating effects of several study characteristics on personality scale validity, and (c) appraise the predictability of job performance as a function of eight distinct categories of personality content, including the "Big Five" personality factors. Based on review of 494 studies, usable results were identified for 97 independent samples (total N = 13,521). Consistent with predictions, studies using confirmatory research strategies produced a corrected mean personality scale validity (.29) that was more than twice as high as that based on studies adopting exploratory strategies (.12). An even higher mean validity (.38) was obtained based on studies using job analysis explicitly in the selection of personality measures. Validities were also found to be higher in longer tenured samples and in published articles versus dissertations. Corrected mean validities for the "Big Five" factors ranged from .16 for Extroversion to .33 for Agreeableness. Weaknesses in the reporting of validation study characteristics are noted, and recommendations for future research in this area are provided. Contrary to conclusions of certain past reviews, the present findings provide some grounds for optimism concerning the use of personality measures in employee selection.     

Constructs and developmental assessment centers: Further troubling empirical findings

Research indicates that assessment center (AC) ratings typically demonstrate poor construct validity; that is, they do not measure the intended dimensions of managerial performance (e.g., Sackett & Harris, 1988). The purpose of this study was to investigate the construct validity of dimension ratings from a developmental assessment center (N=102), using multitrait-multimethod analysis and factor analysis. The relationships between AC ratings, job performance ratings, and personality measures also were investigated. Results indicate that the AC ratings failed to demonstrate construct validity. The ratings did not show the expected relationships with the job performance and personality measures. Additionally, the factors underlying these ratings were found to be the AC exercises, rather than the managerial dimensions as expected. Potentially, this lack of construct validity of the dimension ratings is a serious problem for a developmental assessment center. There is little evidence that the managerial weaknesses identified by the AC are the dimensions that actually need to be improved on the job. Methods are discussed for improving the construct validity of AC ratings, for example, by decreasing the cognitive demands on the assessors.This study is based on a dissertation submitted to North Carolina State University. Portions of this paper were presented at the meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology in Montreal, Quebec, May, 1992. I am grateful to Paul Thayer, Bert Westbrook, James W. Cunningham, and Patrick Hauenstein for their contributions to this research. I also thank several anonymous reviewers for their comments on this article.     

The homogeneity assumption in differential prediction analysis: does it really matter?

In simulation studies, the F test for differences in regression slopes has tended to distort nominal Type I and II error rates when the 2 subgroup error variances exceeded a 1.50:1 ratio. This study examines the frequency and extent that this ratio is violated within data sets relevant to applied psychology. The General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) validity study database contained ability data and overall job performance ratings. The Project A military database contained both ability and personality data, along with job performance factor scores and an overall job performance rating. Results suggest that subgroup (White-Black, male-female) error variances are often homogeneous enough to support F test results from past empirical work. Enough heterogeneity was found, however, to urge applied psychologists investigating differential prediction to explore their data and consider the possibility of alternative statistical tests.     

INCREASED ACCURACY FOR RANGE RESTRICTION CORRECTIONS: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE ROLE OF PERSONALITY AND GENERAL MENTAL ABILITY IN JOB AND TRAINING PERFORMANCE

A recently developed procedure produces substantial improvements in the accuracy of corrections for range restriction and reveals that predictive validities of employment selection methods are higher than previously thought. This study applied this procedure to meta‐analytic validities of 2 personality measures (Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability) and general cognitive ability measures. Results show that the increases in validity estimates are greater for cognitive ability than for personality, reducing the relative validity of personality. In addition, the incremental validity of these personality measures over that provided by cognitive ability is smaller than previously estimated. Path analyses based on the more accurate data reveal relatively smaller path coefficients from these personality traits to job and training performance. These findings have implications for theories of job performance and for the practical value in selection of personality measures relative to cognitive ability measures.     

Using individual differences to predict job performance: correcting for direct and indirect restriction of range

The present study investigates the relationship between individual differences, indicated by personality (FFM) and general mental ability (GMA), and job performance applying two different methods of correction for range restriction. The results, derived by analyzing meta-analytic correlations, show that the more accurate method of correcting for indirect range restriction increased the operational validity of individual differences in predicting job performance and that this increase primarily was due to general mental ability being a stronger predictor than any of the personality traits. The estimates for single traits can be applied in practice to maximize prediction of job performance. Further, differences in the relative importance of general mental ability in relation to overall personality assessment methods was substantive and the estimates provided enables practitioners to perform a correct utility analysis of their overall selection procedure.     

Evidence of Predictive and Incremental Validity of Personality Factors,Vocal Attractiveness and the Situational Interview

This study evaluates the impact of the situational interview, personality measures, vocal attractiveness, and interactions between personality and vocal attractiveness on job performance. In a concurrent validity study with 154 customer service employees, a structured, situational interview was conducted and three of the Big Five personality factors (agreeableness, conscientiousness, and extraversion) are measured with two different frames‐of‐reference: at‐work and typical. Among the results are the validity of the situational interview and at‐work personality measures is established; vocal attractiveness correlates with both interview ratings and job performance; and finally, agreeableness and conscientiousness are found to vary in a pattern related to levels of vocal attractiveness such that both personality factors predict performance more strongly for people with more attractive voices.     

高校教师人格特质、工作特征与工作满意度的关系研究

采用高校教师工作特征问卷、人格特质问卷、工作满意度问卷对400名高校教师进行调查。结果发现：（1）高校教师工作特征与工作满意度存在显著的正相关,工作特征中的多样性与工作本身、人际关系达到中度相关;工作特征中的完整性与工作满意度、重要性与工作满意度的五个维度均达到中度相关;工作特征中的自主性与薪酬待遇、进修提升、人际关系呈中度相关;工作特征中的反馈性与工作本身、薪酬待遇、进修提升、人际关系呈中度相关。（2）高校教师人格特质与工作满意度存在显著的正相关,人格特质中的外向性维度与进修提升呈中度相关;与领导管理呈