In personnel selection, employment tests are intended to reduce selection errors and increase mean performance. The current thesis examines the impact of psychometric properties of the predictors on selection accuracy, or the consistency between selection on observed scores versus true scores. Implications for validity and subsequent levels of job performance, or prediction accuracy, are also examined in light of common top-down personnel selection procedures. Results reflect the importance of having reliable and valid predictor measures; the work also extends ideas in the area of utility analysis.

The purpose of this study was to explore the issues that are typically encountered when using personality instruments for personnel selection. Cattell's Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) was used in the study to predict job performance in a small team-based manufacturing organization. Issues including the utility of the 16PF in this setting, the bandwidth fidelity argument (to use narrow or broad traits), and whether job-specific versus company-wide profiles provide better prediction success were addressed. The usefulness of the organization's current selection process of using the 16PF to generate interview questions was also investigated. Results indicate that the 16PF can be a useful tool for personnel selection in this setting and that the 16PF was able to correctly classify if an applicant was going to be successful over 86% of the time. Evidence for using narrow factors instead of broad factors was also presented, and the benefits of using job specific profiles were discussed. The limitations of this study were addressed, which included conducting this type of research with relatively small sample sizes. Additionally, this study provides suggestions for additional research in the future.

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.

Doctor of Philosophy / Psychological Sciences / Patrick A. Knight / In this research, two studies were conducted to examine the factors influencing reliance on a decision aid in personnel selection decisions. Specifically, this study examined the effect of feedback, the validity of selection predictors, and the presence of a decision aid on the use of the decision aid in personnel selection decisions. The results of both studies demonstrate that when people are provided with the decision aid, their predictions were significantly more similar to (but not the same as) the predictions made by the aid than people who were not provided with the decision aid. This suggests that when people are provided with an aid, they will use it at least to some degree. This research also shows that when provided with a decision aid that has high validity, people will increase their reliance on the decision aid over multiple decisions. Finally, this research shows that, in general, there are individual differences that influence how participants weight the different selection predictors.

Candidates’ attitudes towards various personnel selection methods get attention of organizational and work psychology specialists because of various reasons. The most important reason is that individuals’ attitudes towards personnel selection methods influence their latter behavior. Although there is a substantial amount of studies carried out in different countries, there is no data from Lithuanian and Swedish samples. The aim of current study was to analyze the attitudes towards personnel selection methods among Lithuanian students, Lithuanian employees and Swedish students. The participants (197 students and 86 employees) filled in a questionnaire, which includes short descriptions of 10 personnel selection methods as well as items about fairness of these methods. According to the results of the study, work-sample tests were ranked as the fairest personnel selection method in the Lithuanian sample. The fairest personnel selection methods in Swedish sample were work-sample tests, interview, resumes, and personal references. Lithuanian students ranked the fairness of written ability test and honesty test more favorably than Swedish students, but Swedish students tended to rank as more favorable interview, resumes, personal references and personal contacts. Personal contacts and graphology were ranked the lowest on fairness dimension in Lithuanian sample, and Swedes ranked only graphology as the least fair personnel selection method. Lithuanian employees ranked personal references, personal contacts and graphology more favorably than Lithuanian students. In Lithuanian students sample, perception of personnel selection method as a scientifically proved, logic and precise or providing an opportunity to show one’s skills, had the strongest connection with favorability ranking of personnel selection method’s fairness. In the Lithuanian employees and the Swedish students samples, perception of the method as logic or providing an opportunity to show one’s skills, had the strongest link with fairness.

<p>Candidates’ attitudes towards various personnel selection methods get attention of organizational and work psychology specialists because of various reasons. The most important reason is that individuals’ attitudes towards personnel selection methods influence their latter behavior. Although there is a substantial amount of studies carried out in different countries, there is no data from Lithuanian and Swedish samples. The aim of current study was to analyze the attitudes towards personnel selection methods among Lithuanian students, Lithuanian employees and Swedish students. The participants (197 students and 86 employees) filled in a questionnaire, which includes short descriptions of 10 personnel selection methods as well as items about fairness of these methods. According to the results of the study, work-sample tests were ranked as the fairest personnel selection method in the Lithuanian sample. The fairest personnel selection methods in Swedish sample were work-sample tests, interview, resumes, and personal references. Lithuanian students ranked the fairness of written ability test and honesty test more favorably than Swedish students, but Swedish students tended to rank as more favorable interview, resumes, personal references and personal contacts. Personal contacts and graphology were ranked the lowest on fairness dimension in Lithuanian sample, and Swedes ranked only graphology as the least fair personnel selection method. Lithuanian employees ranked personal references, personal contacts and graphology more favorably than Lithuanian students. In Lithuanian students sample, perception of personnel selection method as a scientifically proved, logic and precise or providing an opportunity to show one’s skills, had the strongest connection with favorability ranking of personnel selection method’s fairness. In the Lithuanian employees and the Swedish students samples, perception of the method as logic or providing an opportunity to show one’s skills, had the strongest link with fairness.</p>

The identification of potential underreporting in employment evaluations is important to consider when examining a measure’s validity. This importance increases in personnel selection involving high-virtue positions (e.g., police officers and firefighters). The current study aimed to utilize an archival firefighter applicant sample to examine the construct validity of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form’s (MMPI-2-RF) underreporting scales (L-r and K-r). Results were analyzed using a correlation matrix comprised of a modified version of the Multi-Trait Multi-Method Matrix (MTMM), as well as multiple regression and partial correlation. The present study provides additional support for the construct validity of the MMPI-2-RF’s underreporting validity scales. Further research using outcome measures and alternate assessment methods would be able to provide further information on the efficacy of these scales.

Research suggests there may be race, sex, and ability differences in score improvement on different selection tests and methods when retested (Schleicher, Van Iddekinge, Morgeson, & Campion, 2010). However, it is uncertain what individual differences moderate retest performance on GMA assessments, and why. In this study, 243 participants were retested on the Wonderlic Personnel Test (WPT). There was no evidence that race, sex, emotional stability, or conscientiousness moderate retest performance on the WPT, although SAT scores did positively predict retest performance. Individuals within the interquartile range of the initial WPT scores gained more when retested than those with more extreme scores. Establishing artificial cut-off levels demonstrated that those below the cut-off gained more when retested than those above the cut-off. Therefore, average-scorers and in some cases lower-scorers who may have failed to meet a predetermined cut-off are encouraged to re-test as they have little to lose and much to gain.

The objective of the current study was to provide an initial empirical test of the Schneider, Smith, and Sipe (2000) multilevel model of personnel selection. The Schneider et al. (2000) model expanded the traditional approach to validating selection systems to include the impact that selection systems have on the broader organizational system. The current project provided an empirical test of this model by extending the traditional individual-differences approach to validation research and including group- and organization-criteria (e.g., unit-level performance and customer satisfaction). Using a quasi-experimental design, archival data from a managerial development and selection program were analyzed to examine several relationships proposed in the Schneider et al. (2000) model. The current study provided limited support for the Schneider et al. (2000) model. There were several limitations in the current study associated with the use of archival data, but the current study provides an initial indication of practical problems associated with empirically testing the model. While intuitively appealing, testing the Schneider et al. model in applied settings may prove to be a practical challenge because of the nature and complexity of the data required to do so. Although the current study provided limited support for the model, there were some interesting findings that warranted additional examination. Findings from the current study may be informative for both researchers and practitioners. Ideas for future research related to the Schneider et al. (2000) multilevel model of personnel selection are also offered.

The purpose of this thesis was firstly, to investigate if the current selection system mirrors the task of international deployment and voluntariness. Secondly, to investigate if and how non-cognitive assessments of personality and resilience, individual aspects that seem underrepresented in the current selection system, may increment validity to the current selection system. Since 2012 the Swedish Armed Forces is an All-volunteer Force where young men and women voluntarily can apply for a military service. In contrast to conscription, military service today includes compulsory international deployments with different demands on the personnel’s range of possible abilities and skills as well as selection process—yet the current selection system may not sufficiently correspond to the changes. The thesis comprises four studies (Study I-IV) with relevant military samples, and aside from Study I, a validation of a short version personality questionnaire (PQ) being used in two of the subsequent studies, Study II-IV had a longitudinal design. Study II shows that the former selection system lacked prognostic value of soldiers’ performance during international deployment, and their ability to readjust at homecoming. Additionally, Study II shows that non-cognitive assessments can be used as predictors for readjustment. Study III indicates that international deployment does not need to be harmful for the psychological well-being and that good health seems to be a stable factor across time and situations. Thus, selection of “good health” and resilience may prove fruitful. Study IV suggests that high motivation to serve may have serious consequences for selection decisions and, in the long run, the recruits’ psychological well-being. In sum, this thesis suggests that the current selection system needs adaption to the task of repeated international deployments and to the voluntary applicant pool, and that non-cognitive assessment may increment validity. / Since the end of the Cold War the Swedish Armed Forces has undergone several changes regarding both task and personnel system. The task of national security does not only entail territorial defense but also international operations worldwide. In addition, the soldiers are no longer conscripts but young men and women who have volunteered to secure and uphold peace and democratic values. The purpose of this thesis was twofold: firstly, to investigate if the current selection system mirrors the recent refocus on international operations and voluntariness; secondly, to see if and how non-cognitive assessments of personality, health, and resilience increment validity to the current selection system in identifying individuals suitable for repeated international deployments. This work was guided by a series of tentative questions regarding both the selection system in particular, but also international deployments in general. The four papers in this thesis suggest that the current selection system need to be adapted to better correspond to repeated international deployments as well as to a voluntary applicant pool; and that non-cognitive assessments of personality, health, and resilience increment validity to the selection system.