Abstract
PurposeBranched situational judgment tests (BSJTs) are an increasingly common employee selection method, yet there is no theory and very little empirical work explaining the designs and impacts of branching. To encourage additional research on BSJTs, and to provide practitioners with a common language to describe their current and future practices, we sought to develop a theory of BSTJs.Design/methodology/approachGiven the absence of theory on branching, we utilized a ground theory qualitative research design, conducting interviews with 25 BSJT practitioner subject matter experts.FindingsOur final theory consists of three components: (1) a taxonomy of BSJT branching features (contingency, parallelism, convergence, and looping) and options within those features (which vary), (2) a causal theoretical model describing impacts of branching in general on applicant reactions via proximal effects on face validity, and (3) a causal theoretical model describing impacts on applicant reactions among branching designs via proximal effects on consistency of administration and opportunity to perform.Originality/valueOur work provides the first theoretical foundation on which future confirmatory research in the BSJT domain can be built. It also gives both researchers and practitioners a common language for describing branching features and their options. Finally, it reveals BSJTs as the results of a complex set of interrelated design features, discouraging the oversimplified contrasting of “branching” vs “not branching.”
Highlights
Branched situational judgment tests (BSJTs) are a relatively recent innovation in personnel selection
(3) BSJTs allow for deeper construct and more complex measurement than SJTs
A finding consistent across all subject matter experts (SMEs) was that the basic purpose of branching in a BSJT is to tell a story within the assessment
Summary
Branched situational judgment tests (BSJTs) are a relatively recent innovation in personnel selection. The reasons reported for this increase in demand vary among practitioners, but generally include market demand for gamified assessments (Armstrong et al, 2015) and specific benefits commonly associated with gamification, such as improved applicant engagement, face validity, and test security. This assessment type first appeared in the scholarly literature when Olson-Buchanan et al (1998) described the creation and validation of a conflict resolution BSJT in which participant responses to questions on a video SJT led different participants to different videos. The only research we could identify comparing the impact of branching on outcomes of interest versus non-branching SJTs was one study that found that video-based BSJTs were viewed more favorably than text-based BSJTs and video-based
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