Measuring person‐team fit: development and validation of the team selection inventory

Abstract

Further to the development of the team climate inventory (TCI), a multidimensional team‐level measure of team‐working style, this paper reports the development and psychometric validation of the team selection inventory (TSI), an individual‐level version of the TCI for use in selection. The importance of examining selection at both person‐job and person‐team levels of analysis is discussed, the team climate literature briefly reviewed, and the need advocated for methods and measures to evaluate person‐team fit. The TSI was developed by changing the context of the TCI, from asking respondents about the actual climate of their existing work‐team, to what their preferred or ideal team‐working climate would be. Having developed items for the TSI through this change of context, six studies (total n=1,029) were carried out over a two‐year period to establish the underlying psychometric properties of this new measure. This paper reports the results pertaining to TSI factor structure, the newly developed social desirability scale, internal reliability, test‐retest reliability, and construct validity of the TSI compared with the NEO PI‐R and 16PF Version 5. Overall, the findings of these studies revealed acceptable levels of reliability and validity, showing promise for the TSI as an individual‐level measure of team climate preference for selection and development purposes in industrial, work and organizational psychology and human resource management. In conclusion, potential uses for the TSI in team selection and development are discussed.