Faking and personality assessment in personnel selection: Advancing models of faking.

Personality testing is a particularly valuable preemployment assessment tool when one matches personality traits to job requirements. The authors explain that, unlike most other common personnel selection methods, the unique value of personality assessment in personnel selection stems from its tendency to predict the choice to perform, or “will-do” aspects of job performance. The effect of faking on the value of personality testing is discussed, and the authors suggest that personality testing’s contribution to personnel selection could be leveraged if more were known about the psychological process underlying applicant faking behaviour. To this end, the authors present an improved general model of the applicant faking process as well as a new “faking decision tree.” (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexism and beautyism in personnel consultant decision making.

Each of 72 professional personnel consultants rated the suitability of 1 bogus applicant for selected masculine, feminine, and neuter jobs, and for alternatives to employment. Each resumé was identical with the exception of the systematic variation of the applicant's sex and the omission or inclusion of a photo depicting the applicant as physically attractive or unattractive. As predicted, personnel decisions strongly reflected the operation of sex-role stereotypes. These factors similarly affected consultants' recommendations of alternatives to employment and consultants' causal attributions of applicants' projected occupational successes and failures. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Moderating effects of personal and contextual factors in age discrimination.

The researchers explored personal and contextual factors that inhibit or facilitate the use of older worker stereotypes in a selection context. The authors suggest that older worker stereotypes are more likely to be used and influence applicant evaluations when raters are biased against older workers, when raters do not have the cognitive resources to inhibit the use of age-associated stereotypes, or when applicants apply for age-incongruent jobs. The researchers explored the extent to which raters differing in older worker bias make discriminatory decisions about young or old individuals applying for age-typed jobs under conditions of high- and low-cognitive demands. A laboratory study was conducted with 131 undergraduate students who evaluated applicants in a simulated employment context. Results indicated that older worker bias, cognitive busyness, and job age-type interact to affect the extent to which applicant age plays a role in selection decisions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relation between speaking times and decision in the employment interview.

Is a job applicant more likely to be hired if the personnel interviewer does the most talking? "A sample of 115 employment interviews conducted by six Army personnel officers was examined. The applicant was accepted by the interviewer in 70 cases and rejected in 45 cases. From a recording of each interview measures were taken of the time the applicant spoke, the time the interviewer spoke, and the total time. The time vacant of speech was determined by subtracting the speaking times from the total time of the interview… . The interviewer influences both the amount the applicant talks and the amount of the time free of speech that accumulates during the interview. The amount the interviewer talks appears to be directly related to his decision to accept an applicant." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Orientations toward personnel selection: Differential reliance on appearance and personality.

In two studies we examined the hypothesis that the psychological construct of self-monitoring would identify people who adopt distinctly different strategies in personnel selection. In both experiments, undergraduates examined information about the physical appearance and personalities of two applicants for a specific job and then decided which applicant should receive a job offer. In Study 1, information about the applicants' physical attractiveness and job-appropriate dispositions was varied. In Study 2, job appropriateness of the applicants' physical appearance and of their personalities were both varied. In each study, high self-monitoring individuals placed greater weight on information about physical appearance than did low self-monitoring individuals. By contrast, low self-monitoring individuals put greater weight on information about personal dispositions than did high self-monitoring individuals. We discuss the implications for understanding personnel selection as well as for decision making in interpersonal contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Big Five in personnel selection: Factor structure in applicant and nonapplicant populations.

Recent personnel selection studies have focused on the 5-factor model of personality. However, the stability of this factor structure in job applicant populations has not been determined. Conceptual and empirical evidence has suggested that similar factor structures should not be assumed across testing situations that have different purposes or consequences. A study was conducted that used confirmatory factor analysis to examine the fit of the 5-factor model to NEO Five-Factor Inventory (P. T. Costa and R. R. McCrae, 1989) test data from student and applicant samples. The 5-factor structure fit the student data but did not fit the applicant data. The existence of an ideal-employee factor in the applicant sample is suggested. The findings are discussed in terms of both construct validity issues and the use of the Big Five in personnel selection. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Explanations for selection decisions: Applicants' reactions to informational and sensitivity features of explanations.

The effects of explanation features on participants' reactions toward a selection decision were examined in 2 studies. In Study 1, students were provided with scenarios where informational (justification, procedural, personal, control) and sensitivity (sensitive or control) features of explanations were crossed with a selection decision to assess their effects on 3 applicant reactions: process fairness, self-perceptions, and organizational perceptions. In general, personal information enhanced fairness and organizational perceptions but harmed the reported self-perceptions of students role-playing rejected applicants. Explanations given in a sensitive manner accentuated these effects. Study 2 used a similar methodology to assess the effects of giving different types of procedural information. Self-reported reactions were influenced by the interactive effects of the type of procedural information provided and the selection decision. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Applicant Attraction to Organizations and Job Choice: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Correlates of Recruiting Outcomes.

Attracting high-performing applicants is a critical component of personnel selection and overall organizational success. In this study, the authors meta-analyzed 667 coefficients from 71 studies examining relationships between various predictors with job-organization attraction, job pursuit intentions, acceptance intentions, and job choice. The moderating effects of applicant gender, race, and applicant versus nonapplicant status were also examined. Results showed that applicant attraction outcomes were predicted by job-organization characteristics, recruiter behaviors, perceptions of the recruiting process, perceived fit, and hiring expectancies, but not recruiter demographics or perceived alternatives. Path analyses showed that applicant attitudes and intentions mediated the predictor-job choice relationships. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for recruiting theory, research, and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bias against overweight job applicants in a simulated employment interview.

This study assessed whether moderately obese individuals, especially women, would be discriminated against in a mock employment interview. Potential confounding factors were controlled by having 320 Ss rate videotapes of a job interview that used the same professional actors appearing as normal weight or made up to appear overweight by the use of theatrical prostheses. Results suggested that bias against hiring overweight job applicants does exist, especially for female applicants. Bias was most pronounced when applicants were rated by Ss who were satisfied with their bodies and for whom perceptions of their bodies were central to self-concept. The decision not to hire an obese applicant was, however, only partially mediated by personality attributions. Implications and limitations of these results are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of applicant's dress on interviewer's selection decisions.

Investigated the effect of female applicants' dress on interviewers' selection decisions for management positions by having 77 personnel administrators view videotaped interviews of 4 applicants in different costumes and make hiring recommendations for each applicant. Three-way ANOVA was used to determine the effect of costume on hiring decisions independent of the effects of person, sequence of showing, and costume?×?person interaction. Results confirm that masculinity of the female applicant's dress had a significant effect on interviewers' selection decisions. There was a positive relationship between masculinity of the applicant's costume and favorability of hiring recommendations received by the applicants. The influence of person on selection decisions also was significant. It is concluded that female applicants' clothing is an avenue for influencing the selection decision for management positions. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Geography and internship match rates: Quantifying competitiveness and discussing implications for the internship imbalance.

In response to the internship supply/demand imbalance, the field of psychology recognized a crisis and proposed solutions. With each passing year, however, graduate students face the real possibility that they may not match. Using four years worth of site match rates, competitiveness is quantified and analyzed with respect to implications for the field, APPIC, internship sites, graduate programs, and prospective interns. Results suggest geographic differences in match rates are less meaningful for applicant strategies than monitoring competitiveness using site match rates and submitting 10 to 15 applications. Discussion includes implications for students and how they may use match rate data to improve their site selection strategies and chances for a successful match. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Vocational psychology, vocational adjustment, and the workforce: Some familiar and unanticipated consequences.

Vocational psychology, the psychological study of calling or "life work" (which for many is their work life), grew out of the vocational guidance movement. From the beginning, vocational guidance was founded on the Parsons formula of person analysis, job (or occupation) analysis, and the matching of the two. Vocational psychology, as a special case of the psychology of individual differences, has provided vocational guidance with an empirically validated technology (and accompanying theory) with which to assess the vocationally significant attributes of persons (abilities and interests, in particular), to describe occupations in person-attribute terms, and thereby to enable the matching of person and occupation on an actuarial basis. This technology has been amply validated for the prediction of both worker satisfaction and worker satisfactoriness. With the dramatic consequences for individuals and society of even modest increases in worker satisfaction and satisfactoriness, it is regrettable that vocational psychology is still unknown or unavailable to most of those who could benefit from it. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subtle effects of sex role stereotypes on recruiters' hiring decisions.

Asked 150 male job recruiters from 2 university placement officers to evaluate relevant employment materials on 1 hypothetical job applicant (male or female) for either a male-oriented (personnel technician) or female-oriented (editorial assistant) position to make a hiring decision. Results indicate that hiring decisions were not influenced independently by the applicant's sex or position for which he/she was applying, but rather by the interaction of the 2 variables. That is, significantly more females than males were recommended for hiring for the editorial assistant position, while significantly more males were recommended for the personnel technician job. Post-hoc analyses revealed different trait patterns attributed to applicants recommended for hiring based on their sex-job role congruence. Implications for further research relating to personnel-related decisions are discussed. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of performance attributions on others' perceptions of the attributor.

Two studies investigated the effects that performers' attributions actually have on others' impressions. 441 undergraduates served as Ss. "Self-serving" internal attributions for success and external attributions for failure produced slightly higher ability evaluations than did the opposite pattern in 1 of the 2 experiments. However, in both experiments, these self-serving attributions produced lower ratings on a modesty dimension. External attributions were also perceived as relatively dishonest for all Ss in Exp I and for unsuccessful Ss in Exp II. Publicity (Exp I) and task variables (Exp II) did not affect ability, modesty, or honesty judgments made from performance attributions but did strongly affect the influence these dimensions had on overall likability evaluations. In general, Ss who made internal attributions tended to be better liked than those who made external attributions. The implications and limitations of these results are discussed relative to self-presentational considerations. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Now why'd he do that? The nature and correlates of mothers' attributions about negative teen behavior.

This study examined the attributions that mothers make about their teens' negative behaviors and whether these attributions are related to their own attributional styles, as well as the relationship between mothers' attributions and parent-teen relationship conflict. Globality of mothers' attributions was particularly important: Globality of attributions about events in their own lives was correlated with globality of attributions about teens' behavior, and globality of mothers' attributions about teen behavior was correlated with conflict. The nature of the negative behavior (whether it directly involved the parent or did not) made a difference in predictable ways. The results highlight the ways in which a full understanding of the role of attributions in parent-teen relationships calls for more complex conceptualization of traditional attribution dimensions, notably, the internal-external dimension. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prototype matching: A strategy for social decision making.

116 college students responded to a series of questionnaires while they were in the process of selecting housing from a choice of 7 available options for the coming fall. Questionnaires concerned their self-concepts, housing prototypes, preferences in housing, and goals in housing selection. Ss also completed a self-monitoring scale. Analyses of the self-to-prototype matching strategy suggest that most Ss preferred the type of housing for which their prototype of the "representative" resident most closely matches their self-perceptions. Individual differences in attention to self-fit in situations were observed. Among Ss who reported that they had interpersonal goals in the housing selection task, those who reported that many personality characteristics (both positive and negative) were untrue of self were more systematic in their use of the self-to-prototype matching rule; this was also true of low self-monitors. Neither pattern of individual differences were obtained for Ss with practical goals in the housing decision. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of match importance and gender on the team-serving attributional bias among interdependent sports team players.

This study examined the team-serving attributional bias (TSAB), and moderators of this bias, in sports team players. The authors predicted that, in line with a motivational explanation for TSABs, members of successful teams would make more internal, stable, and controllable attributions than would members of unsuccessful teams, but only after an important match. The authors also examined the impact of gender. After a competitive match, 528 athletes completed a Causal Dimension Scale for Teams and measures of perceived success and match importance. A series of hierarchical multiple regressions indicated that perceptions of success were positively associated with stable, internal, and externally controllable attributions. The authors also found that stability attributions were moderated by gender and match importance, with perceptions of success being positively associated with stable attributions for males regardless of match importance but positively associated with stable attributions only for those females who perceived the match to be important. The results, therefore, provide support for the use of TSABs within sports teams but also indicate that their use may be moderated by gender and match importance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)