Overall, it seems that we really want personality to work out as a predictor, but it doesn’t seem to have much validity on its own. Do most organizations that use personality as a predictor use it in combination with other predictors? How might applicants perceive personality tests as predictors of job performance? And what steps would an organization need to take to ensure that personality was relevant to job performance criteria?
Overall, I think personality is useful when we have other (more) valid predictor measures but need personality to better determine the best applicants. Have applicant perceptions of personality tests been considered regarding procedural justice and P-E fit?
I feel like many people have very strong notions that personality plays a huge role in how someone does on a job, how can we make organizations expectations for the ability of personality variables to predict job performance more realistic?
I agree with Vicki's feeling of personality is trying to be forced into the selection arena without much success. Perhaps, as Raymark & Tafero (2009) were saying, my unease with accepting personality predictors comes from the lack of concreteness in the construct. It just intuitively feels like measures of general mental ability are more useful. With those measures, there is a (semi)clear idea of which person performed the best. With personality measures, there are not necessarily linear relationships with job performance and it is difficult to assess who is the best personality fit for the job. Thoughts/Comments?
So it seems that general ability measures are good for predicting overall job performance and personality and interest measures are good at predicting criteria specific to actual job. Is this the same conclusion that you are drawing?
@Nick, no, unfortunately, it still seems that the validities are too small. Another issue, if we go with the idea that personality is useful for selection to a narrowly defined job, what happens when the job changes or the individual wants to switch from say marketing to operations? Cognitive ability as a predictor will generalize to both jobs, but what of our narrowly valid personality predictor? It seems to me that companies are generally interested in hiring individuals that can do specific tasks, but who have the flexibility to move to other types of jobs within the organization as their career develops.
Overall, it seems that we really want personality to work out as a predictor, but it doesn’t seem to have much validity on its own. Do most organizations that use personality as a predictor use it in combination with other predictors? How might applicants perceive personality tests as predictors of job performance? And what steps would an organization need to take to ensure that personality was relevant to job performance criteria?
ReplyDeleteOverall, I think personality is useful when we have other (more) valid predictor measures but need personality to better determine the best applicants. Have applicant perceptions of personality tests been considered regarding procedural justice and P-E fit?
ReplyDeleteI feel like many people have very strong notions that personality plays a huge role in how someone does on a job, how can we make organizations expectations for the ability of personality variables to predict job performance more realistic?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Vicki's feeling of personality is trying to be forced into the selection arena without much success. Perhaps, as Raymark & Tafero (2009) were saying, my unease with accepting personality predictors comes from the lack of concreteness in the construct. It just intuitively feels like measures of general mental ability are more useful. With those measures, there is a (semi)clear idea of which person performed the best. With personality measures, there are not necessarily linear relationships with job performance and it is difficult to assess who is the best personality fit for the job. Thoughts/Comments?
ReplyDeleteSo it seems that general ability measures are good for predicting overall job performance and personality and interest measures are good at predicting criteria specific to actual job. Is this the same conclusion that you are drawing?
ReplyDelete@Nick, no, unfortunately, it still seems that the validities are too small. Another issue, if we go with the idea that personality is useful for selection to a narrowly defined job, what happens when the job changes or the individual wants to switch from say marketing to operations? Cognitive ability as a predictor will generalize to both jobs, but what of our narrowly valid personality predictor? It seems to me that companies are generally interested in hiring individuals that can do specific tasks, but who have the flexibility to move to other types of jobs within the organization as their career develops.
ReplyDelete