Occupational Personality Questionnaire Research Articles

Personality and job competences: The criterion‐related validity of some personality variables

Using a set of 20 validation studies involving the Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ), the criterion‐related validity of some personality variables was explored. Twelve criterion areas were developed and practitioners were asked to indicate their hypotheses about the predictive value of each personality scale for each criterion area. Meta‐analysis techniques were then used to cumulate the results of the studies and to assess criterion‐related validity. Three different meta‐analysis procedures were used: (i) an average scale method, which estimated the average validity of the relevant scales for each criterion area; (ii) a composite scale method, which estimated the validity of a single composite personality variable constructed by combining the scores for the relevant scales in each criterion area; and (iii) an incremental method, which estimated the validity for personality scales after ability scores had been correlated with the criteria. On average the results showed mean sample size‐weighted validity coefficients of around .20 for the personality variables, with higher values (up to .33) for criteria such as creativity, analysis and judgement; they also revealed very little overlap between the criterion variance correlated with ability and that associated with personality, with estimates of validity derived from the incremental meta‐analysis similar in magnitude to those from the methods using personality alone.

THE OPQ AND THE BIG FIVE

This article is an executive summary of a full scientific paper that appeared in the journal Personality & Individual Differences. A study was conducted to examine the factor structure of the Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ) on a sample of 94 British undergraduates. The results indicated that five factors should be extracted, providing further evidence for the “Big Five” structural model of personality. This lends support for the use of the OPQ Pentagon model (Extroversion, Vigorous, Methodical, Emotional Stability and Abstract), but use of the Concept model (containing 30 scales) cannot be recommended.

A factor analysis of the scales of the occupational personality questionnaire

The 31 Concept Model scales of the Occupational Personality Questionnaire were factor analysed in a sample of 94 British undergraduates. Parallel analysis indicated that five factors should be extracted, accounting for 50% of the variance. The five factors corresponded to the ‘Big Five’ personality dimensions, providing further evidence for this structural model of personality. Comparison of scale communalities and reliabilities suggested that the five factor solution does not fully account for the reliable scale covariance of the OPQ. Future research should be directed towards factor analysis of OPQ items, to determine the primary factor structure of the questionnaire.

A Comparison of the OPQ and 16PF in Relation to their Occupational Application

The OPQ (Occupational Personality Questionnaire) is a factor‐analytic‐based, self‐report questionnaire which has been developed in Britain as a wide‐band assessment device for use in selection and counselling in jobs at managerial and professional level where personality factors are often important variables in success.