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Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University.

More than 80 years ago, researchers and practitioners first recognized that applicants may be motivated to fake their responses to pre-employment personality tests to improve their chances of securing employment (Zickar & Gibby, 2006). Although we have learned much about faking over the ensuing decades, we still know very little about the situational or individual factors that influence applicants’ motivation to fake. In this dissertation, I evaluated several situational and individual variables to determine the degree to which they work independently and jointly to influence responses to a personality test. Study 1 examined the impact of 12 situational variables on faking intentions. The desirability of the job, warning applicants that their responses would be verified, warning applicants that faking will result in their removal from the applicant pool, and the number of other available job opportunities were found to have strong effects on faking intentions. In Studies 2 and 3, these variables were examined in experiments with a sample of undergraduate students and a sample of job seekers to determine if, and how, these variables interact to influence faking. In both studies, significant higher-order interactions were found among the variables in predicting intentions to fake. It appeared that test takers did take into account the desirability of the job, warnings against faking and the number of other job opportunities in deciding whether faking would be a prudent test-taking strategy, although the results were not entirely consistent across the two studies. Study 3 also utilized expectancy theory to attempt to explain the effects of the situational and individual difference variables on intentions to fake. Expectancy, instrumentality and valence perceptions were significant predictors of intentions to fake, however, job desirability, the perception of negative consequences for faking and the number of job opportunities were not strongly related to expectancy, instrumentality and valence. Studies 2 and 3 also demonstrated that the trait of honesty-humility was negatively related to test takers’ intentions to fake. These three studies provide some empirical support for existing models of faking and enhance the understanding of the antecedents of the motivation to fake on pre-employment personality assessments.

Many groups, such as rescue and service-dog programs, are interested in assessing dogs’ personalities. These groups often need to assess large numbers of dogs with limited resources (e.g., in terms of facilities, trained assessors, time, money). To meet these groups’ requirements, an assessment tool that measures canine personality rapidly and is demonstrably reliable and valid is needed. The Dog Personality Questionnaire (DPQ) was developed to fill this gap. This dissertation describes a series of six studies designed to develop and evaluate the DPQ. To ensure that the final instrument built on previous research and was based on a comprehensive item pool, 1,200 descriptions were culled from the dog-personality assessment literature, shelter assessments, and dog experts’ input (e.g., researchers, trainers, veterinarians). Three expert judges narrowed this list to 360 items. In Study 1, these items were administered to 152 participants who gave feedback on the items’ applicability and ease of use. In Study 2, exploratory factor analysis was used to determine the number of factors underlying the 360-item questionnaire, based on 3,737 participants’ ratings of their dogs. Convergent criteria favored five factors, labeled as Fearfulness, Aggression towards People, Aggression towards Animals, Activity/Excitability, and Responsiveness to Training. Narrower facets within each factor were also identified. On the basis of item analyses, the questionnaire was shortened to 102 items. In Study 3, the 102-item questionnaire was administered to 2,556 new participants and further exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to examine the robustness of the five-factor solution. Items were then evaluated in terms of factor- and facet-loadings, content validity, internal consistency, and other criteria in order to shorten the questionnaire to a more manageable, 75-item form, and an even briefer 45-item form. In Studies 4-6, the psychometric properties of the 75-item and 45-item DPQ were further evaluated. The DPQ was shown to have acceptable levels of inter-rater reliability (Study 4), test-retest reliability (Study 5), and predictive validity (Study 6). Discussion focuses on evaluating how well the DPQ meets the criteria that guided its development. / text

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