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Cornelius J. KönigSaarland University
with some slides from Neil Christiansen, Central Michigan University, USA
Using Personality Test for Personnel Selection
Cornelius König
What is “personality“?
Cornelius König
What are personality tests?
Self-report measures of preferences, general dispositions, and behavioral patterns
Sample items• I tend to shy away from crowds of people.• I try to be courteous to everyone I meet.• My work is likely to be slow but steady.• I often crave excitement.• I work hard to accomplish my goals.
Often: “Please answer on a scale from 1 = completely disagree to 5 = completely agree”
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Cornelius König
Which aspects of the personality of applicants can be measured?
One answer:• The “Big Five”
• Conscientiousness• Emotional stability• Extraversion• Openness for experience• Agreeableness
• An answer given by many scientists
Another answer:• Whatever you like to measure
• “We customize the test to your needs”• e.g., management of emotions, self-confidence, risk-averseness
etc.4
Cornelius König
Which aspects of the personality of applicants can be measured? (II)
A third answer:• Another model proposed by a consultancy
• e.g., 4 dimensions resulting in 16 combinations in the Myers-Brigg Type Indicator (MBTI)
• e.g., 16 dimensions in the 16 Personality Factors Questionnaire (16PF)
• e.g., 32 dimensions in the Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ32)
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Cornelius König
Which aspects of the personality of applicants can be measured? (III)
A fourth answer:• Some honesty or integrity related scales
• “Overt” version: direct questions about integrity-related attitudes and past dishonest behaviors
• “Personality-based” version: items measuring a mixture of constructs all thought to be precursors of dishonesty (e.g., impulse control)
• Integrity tests have received substantial research attention
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Cornelius König
Do personality tests work?
Can we predict performance? The “Big Five” (Salgado, 1997)
• Conscientiousness ρ = .25• Emotional stability ρ = .19• Extraversion ρ = .12 • Openness for experience ρ = .09 • Agreeableness ρ = .02
For comparison• Mental ability tests (Salgado et al., 2003) ρ = .62
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Cornelius König
Do personality tests work? (II)
What about customized tests?• The negative side
• You often don’t know whether they work unless you test it• You need a good job analysis to figure out how to customize it
• The positive side• You need a good job analysis anyway!• If you don’t customize, you will likely assess many aspects that are
irrelevant!Actually a common error (Christiansen et al., 2011)
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Cornelius König
Do personality tests work? (III)
Tests sold by consultancy• Again, assess only the aspects you need to assess!• Go and ask whether they have data that their test works!
• And be critical…
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Cornelius König
Do personality tests work? (IV)
Honesty tests• Very recent meta-analysis by van Iddekinge et al. (in
press, Journal of Applied Psychology)• Test publishers
• As computed by van Iddekinge et al. ρ = .21• As reported by the test publishers ρ = .27
• Non-publishers • Developed integrity test ρ = .20• Did not develop integrity test ρ = .10
• Compare this with the medical research literature: We are all humans with vested interests
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Cornelius König
For what decision may you use personality tests?
My advice: Use personality test as a tool to screen out applicant in
the early stages of your hiring process
Why this advice?• Why early? Because administering personality tests is
easy and fairly cheap• Why screen out? Because applicants who don’t get at
least mediocre scores in your personality tests …a) don’t have the right personality ANDb) don’t know that they should have it
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Cornelius König
Should you worry that applicants fake?
Some research findings1. People can easily fake if instructed to do so2. A considerable number of applicant will fake
• But not all• Maybe a bit less in Europe than in the US and in China
3. Empirically, faking doesn’t seem to be very problematic• “Faking” = actually appropriate self-presentation? Or maybe
even a skill?
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Cornelius König
Might you encounter problems if you use personality tests?
Applicant reactions• Nikolaou & Judge (2007): personality tests are perceived
as “okay”• Other selection tools are better, other tools are worse
Legal problems• Especially likely if the items are work-related
• Work-related items also work better • Plus: participants like them better
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Cornelius König
Common traps
Beware of forced-choice measures!
Example DISC question
MostPrefer
LeastPrefer
Receiving attention from other people
Working together with others to achieve an aim
Standing up for your rights
Showing affection in personal relationships
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Cornelius König
What’s the problem with forced-choice tests?
Because of dependency in response options, cannot be high on all traits
One exception: the forced-choice version of the OPQ32
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Cornelius König
Common traps (II)
Establish cut-off scores and don’t rely on narratives!
Nanos’ Basic Character“Nanos is extremely stable, sympathetic and reliable, inspiring trust inothers easily. He is approachable and friendly, although he is unlikelyto give his trust easily and will tend to remain suspicious until satisfiedhis security is not threatened.
Deliberate in thought and action, Nanos is careful and cautious in hisapproach to problem. He has a deep dislike of change and theunexpected.”
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Cornelius König
What’s the problem test with using narratives?
Often with no reference to scores or norms Often based on putting people in a “high on aspect
A” vs. “low on aspect A” tray• Sometimes, there are more 4 trays
Judgments are subjective: “Do I like this person”?
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Cornelius König
Common traps (III)
Never assume that there could be something like „too much of a good thing“!• Although this makes intuitively sense…• … researcher haven’t been able to find it for years
• Maybe the measurement of personality tests isn’t accurate enough…
• … but this will also apply to the test you will use!
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Cornelius König
Take home message
Should you use it personality tests or shouldn’t you?• My personal answer: Screening tool
If you use them:• Base the use on a careful job analysis• Customize• Beware of forced-choice measures• Use cut-off scores• Be critical before you buy• And: keep track of recent research!
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