Use Of Personality Tests Research Articles

Intelligent Behaviour Analytics: A Novel Framework for Effective Leadership Style Transitioning

The last three decades saw a reliance on the use of personality tests by businesses and organisations trying to gain a competitive advantage in the market through avenues such as recruitment, team building, leadership development and culture alignment. The commissioning of early 20th Century personality models such as DISC and Myers-Briggs are claimed to provide valuable insights and benefits in various aspects of the employment process. They have however been controversially debated in the academic community due to issues surrounding validity and reliability. Discussions concerning leadership styles and leaders responsible for managing employees, are similarly indeterminate despite being subject to extensive research and analysis for many decades. Academics have yet to provide a comprehensive explanation of the holistic mechanisms underlying effective leadership. Instead, they have argued over factors such as a leader’s traits, attributes, power relations or unidimensional versus collaborative models of engaging a work force. Current leadership theory literature demonstrates a paucity of leader self-understanding and self-reflection. We consider these two attributes as fundamental qualities of effective leadership, whereby an individual can transform and enhance their use of any leadership style. In this paper, we propose an advanced 21st Century solution that leverages the Intelligent Behaviour Analytics (IBA) framework, incorporating a deep and more effective understanding of leaders and their ability to transition between different leadership styles. Additionally, this framework offers methods for transitioning to more effective leadership styles based on situational requirements and takes into account a leader’s own emotional and behavioural registers. This approach offers a structured opportunity for leaders to identify any biases, understand the reasons that these may develop and furthermore, evaluate the efficacy of their own behavioural traits and the way they, as individuals interact, manage and lead a team. The IBA framework is a multi-stage, holistic approach that proposes to improve performance metrics, organisational culture, business outcomes and increased wellbeing.

The Enneagram and its application in medical education

Personality testing has become increasingly popular in healthcare with multiple modalities and implementations. Although personality testing has been utilized to inform various facets of graduate medical education, little is known about how the Enneagram can be utilized throughout postgraduate training. This narrative review explores the use of personality testing in graduate medical education, how personality testing has been used in the workplace, what research is available showing its use in medical residencies, and the need for additional studies on the Enneagram’s use in these areas. We conclude the Enneagram may serve as a valuable tool that can be used in postgraduate medical education to improve learning, interpersonal relationships, and teaming.

A Scoping Review of Psychological Assessment in Mission and Ministry Candidates

Missionary attrition together with the problem of institutional child sexual abuse in the Church has highlighted the importance of a standardized psychological assessment process for mission and ministry candidates. This scoping review aimed to examine peer-reviewed publications, from 2001 to 2021, which focused on the psychological assessment of ministry and cross-cultural mission candidates, to find knowledge gaps that exist. Using scoping review guidelines, 6,739 references were identified and 2,476 duplicates were removed. A further 4,254 references were excluded because they did not meet screening criteria. A total of nine high-quality articles remained, together with five articles that were added based on the bibliography of these references. This scoping review found the few papers published either focused on the use of personality tests or made recommendations about how these assessments should be conducted. The studies reported that candidates for ministry and mission in US samples have normative personality profiles regardless of age or ethnicity. Other papers reviewed knowledge and opinion and highlighted the need for screening for psychosexual development and to prevent attrition in mission and ministry roles. The overall dearth of publications suggested a need for more international research into how to standardize and utilize psychological assessments.

Potentials of a dialogical reframing of personality testing in hiring

Personality testing is highly disputed, yet, widely used as a personnel selection tool. In most research, it is taken for granted that personality tests are used with the purpose of achieving a more objective assessment of job candidates. However, in Danish organizations the personality test is often framed as a ‘dialogue tool’. This paper explores the potentials of a dialogical reframing of the use of personality testing in personnel selection by analyzing empirical material from an ethnographic study of the hiring processes in a Danish trade union that declaredly uses personality tests as a dialogue tool. Through an affirmative critique we identify five framings that interact during the test-based dialogue: The ‘meritocratic’, ‘disciplinary’, ‘dialogical’, ‘pastoral’, and ‘con-test’ framing. Our study suggests that being committed to a dialogical reframing nurtures the possibility of focusing on what we call the ‘con-test’: Either as exploring the meta-competences of the candidate or as co-creating embryos through joint reflections on organizational issues. We argue that the long-lasting debates in the field of selection-related personality testing should be much more interested in the question of how personality tests in hiring are used, rather than whether or not they should be used.

Time to Make it Personal: How Personality Testing in Law Schools Can Improve Lawyer Well-Being

“Why don’t snakes bite lawyers? Professional courtesy.” This is one of the many “jokes” that integrate the general public’s perception of lawyers as crooks, cheats, and money-hungry badgers, yet practicing lawyers and law students alike are plagued by stress, anxiety, dissatisfaction, and substance abuse. While many articles and law journals have grappled with the idea on how to improve lawyer satisfaction, there has yet to be a dramatic improvement in lawyer well-being. By incorporating personality testing in legal education, law schools can fight back against lawyer dissatisfaction by encouraging mental wellness and growth at a lawyer’s infancy. This article illustrates how personality testing in law schools can be used to improve lawyer well-being. In the first section, I list many variations of personality testing. However, objective personality tests may be the best type indicator for law schools to use. Popular test descriptions and which of these tests are the most effective, reliable, and valid are discussed in length. Then, a discussion of personality test limitations is presented, which includes the problem with tests’ reliability and validity, test takers “faking good,” and tests leading to stereotypes. The paper continues with a discussion on current lawyer and law student well-being statistics. An analysis of legal profession statistics regarding anxiety, stress, depression, and substance abuse are listed, including ways personality testing could help law students avoid such lawyer dissatisfaction. The conversation then opens into the utility of personality testing and the benefits one receives by gaining insight and understanding of themselves. The main argument centers around how personality testing can be used in law schools. There are multiple areas personality testing can be implemented to improve law school curriculum, such as the need for a new curriculum that emphasizes soft skills and interpersonal communications and improves pedagogy with the use of personality tests. Personality testing will help professors understand different learning styles, personality types’ reactions to Socratic questioning, and new methods of teaching different types. Additionally, personality testing can improve career services by providing law students direction toward potential career paths. Testing may also improve student services’ student wellness strategies, mentoring relationships, and team/group pairings. The final piece of the argument discusses how personality testing could be utilized on the front end of a student’s law school experience through either interviews, admitted students’ welcome packages, or orientation. Ultimately, the legal profession needs to stop providing lip service that there are “ways” to improve lawyer well-being and begin aiding law students at the beginning of their legal careers. This article lists a range of ways to include personality testing in law schools from legal curriculum to group exercises to extracurricular activities. Thus, law schools may implement personality testing in a myriad of ways that will benefit students educational (and ultimately legal) experience. The only way systemic lawyer dissatisfaction will continue, however, is if the legal profession continues to do nothing. It is time to make it personal.

The use of personality tests as a pre-employment tool: A comparative study

The mechanisms of professional selection of young graduates in the labour market remain an open debate and involve all stakeholders: students, educational system, companies and administrations. These mechanisms play a crucial role in the future performances of an institution or a company, as the selection of the wrong candidate can ruin an organization. In contrast, the right candidate can take the organization to new heights. The interview presents a short interaction that may reflect the candidate knowledge and skills; however, there are many other hidden facets such as personality traits that are difficult to measure only by interviewing. Today, many countries already use personality testing during the recruitment phase. Our objective through this work is to determine the possible links between the personality of future young employees and their performance within the company. To achieve this objective, we carried out a comparative study of the different personality tests used in the recruitment process.

Personality assessment in orthopaedic residency programs: A cross-sectional survey study

Background: The use of personality-based assessments has become common practice across industries outside of medicine. Although widely used in the corporate arena, the use of personality testing in medicine is comparatively unexplored. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of personality assessment tools used by orthopaedic residency programs. Methods: Survey invitations were sent to 154 orthopaedic residency program directors from around the United States. The survey queried the use of personality assessment tools in each residency program. Participants also were asked their sentiments regarding the potential utility of personality assessment in their respective programs. Results: Of the 47 respondents, 42 program directors indicated they do not use any personality assessment in their residency program. Of the five directors answering in the affirmative, three use personality assessment to identify potential problems, two use it for mentorship selection and for investigational purposes. One director uses personality assessment in the evaluation of residency applicants. No program directors use the information to select clinical service teams. A majority indicated they are at least somewhat familiar with the Myers-Briggs personality inventory. Conclusions: Personality assessment is not a widely used tool in orthopaedic residency programs, with nearly 90% of program directors indicating they do not use it in their programs. However, nearly 70% of respondents indicated there is some utility for the use of personality testing in their residency. Future studies will be needed to further elucidate the barriers to wider spread utilization of personality assessment. Level of Evidence: Level IV.

Initial Reliability and Validity for the Critical Hire - Personality Assessment

ABSTRACT The use of personality testing during the hiring process has become a common practice in general business settings. However, their use has been rather non-existent in the field of corrections. This limited use may stem from a lack of awareness about preemployment personality tests in corrections, as well as a lack of measures normed and validated for use with correctional applicants. The present study outlines reliability and validity for the Critical Hire – Personality Assessment, a Five Factor Model based assessment of personality developed for probation, parole, and other correctional officer job applicants. This study provides initial empirical support for the Critical Hire – Personality Assessment’s internal consistency, test-retest reliability, convergent validity, and criterion validity when measuring job performance ratings. Results provide practical application of the Critical Hire – Personality Assessment for correctional agencies as a tool complementing existing hiring practices.

Investigating faking effects on the construct validity through the Monte Carlo simulation study

Personality tests have been widely used for managerial and organizational decision-making in high-stakes settings. Despite its popularity, the use of personality tests in high-stakes settings has been criticized due to faking. The existing literature reached somewhat inconsistent conclusions concerning the faking effect on the construct validity and the emergence and meaning of general factor of personality (GFP). However, it has not proposed clear moderators of the inconsistent research evidence. To fill the research gap, this research investigated the effect of various faking conditions (e.g., prevalence of fakers, percentage of faked items, and magnitude of faking effect) on the construct validity of the Big Five personality measure through a Monte Carlo simulation. The results provide important evidence of how construct validity can be affected by faking under motivated testing conditions. We discuss practical implications of the results and offer suggestions for future research.

Personality testing and the Americans With Disabilities Act: Cause for concern as normal and abnormal personality models are integrated

AbstractApplied psychologists commonly use personality tests in employee selection systems because of their advantages regarding incremental criterion-related validity and less adverse impact relative to cognitive ability tests. Although personality tests have seen limited legal challenges in the past, we posit that the use of personality tests might see increased challenges under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) due to emerging evidence that normative personality and personality disorders belong to common continua. This article aims to begin a discussion and offer initial insight regarding the possible implications of this research for personality testing under the ADA. We review past case law, scholarship in employment law, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidance regarding “medical examinations,” and recent literature from various psychology disciplines—including clinical, neuropsychology, and applied personality psychology—regarding the relationship between normative personality and personality disorders. More importantly, we review suggestions proposing the five-factor model (FFM) be used to diagnose personality disorders (PDs) and recent changes in theDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM). Our review suggests that as scientific understanding of personality progresses, practitioners will need to exercise evermore caution when choosing personality measures for use in selection systems. We conclude with six recommendations for applied psychologists when developing or choosing personality measures.

“This is not a test”: How do human resource development professionals use personality tests as tools of their professional practice?

Although human resource development (HRD) professionals enjoy the use of personality tests in their practice, the appeal of these tests to some is harshly criticized by others. Personality tests attract through optimistic descriptions and ease of use for individual and team development while often lacking predictive and discriminant validities. Despite those concerns, the personality‐testing market can be characterized as a dynamic industry, with many professionals using assessments in developmental settings such as management training and executive coaching. The aim of this article is to explore how individual meaning‐making and organizational sensemaking theories help to explain the widespread and sustained use of personality tests in developmental contexts among HRD professionals. Using grounded theory and inductive analysis, we distill meaning from semistructured interviews with 18 HRD professionals. Through pattern analysis, we establish six strategies that describe practical approaches in personality testing: 1. Ethical‐protective, 2. Scientific‐selective, 3. Cautious‐avoiding, 4. Cautious‐embracing, 5. User friendly‐pragmatic, and 6. Knowledgeable‐accommodating. We find that HRD professionals deal with cognitive dissonances and paradoxical situations in their professional personality test use practice on a regular basis. Research limitations and implications for practice and future research are discussed.

The predictive validity of charge nurse personality on objective and subjective performance of subordinates

This study examines the degree to which the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) predicts leadership effectiveness for charge nurses in Danish hospitals. Personality tests are implemented in health care management in an effort to improve evidence-based personnel selection and recruit more efficient leaders. However, relatively few studies of the predictive validity of personality have been conducted in hospital management. Charge nurses (n=177) from three Danish hospitals completed a five-factor, model-based personality inventory. These were coupled with data from 3,497 subordinates. Cluster-robust regression analysis was used to investigate relationships between personality and short-term sickness absence and satisfaction and leadership ratings for the subordinates. Low subordinate sickness absence was related to leader extraversion and conscientiousness. Employee satisfaction was related to leader emotional stability, extraversion, and conscientiousness. Leadership ratings were associated with emotional stability. Personality predicted both objective and subjective measures of performance, although the effects were stronger for objective than subjective measures. The results lend support to the use of validated personality measures in recruiting and promoting nurses in the health care sector. The use of personality tests should support rather than replace other talent-management measures.

Osobowościowe uwarunkowania dopasowania pracownika do charakteru pracy

Aim: Over the last twenty years there have been numerous studies showing significant relationships between personality dimensions and predisposition to doing a job of a specific character. The aim of this research is to examine the relationships between personality, job characteristics and perceived job satisfaction with a view to demonstrate the rationale behind the application of personality tests as the tool for predicting the employee’s fitting the job specification in the recruitment process.Design / Research methods: In order to verify the selected relationships, a quantitative study on a group of Polish workers (N = 302) was carried out. It correlated five personality dimensions (tested by the NEO-FFI questionnaire) with the level of employee’s satisfaction and the work characteristics (questionnaires made by the author were used).The satisfaction level was determined based on employees’ job assessment and professional career development, while the character of the job was examined according to seven scales: individual vs. team work, complexity of tasks, application of new technologies, procedures, customer contact, influence on customer’s emotions, dependence on supervisor.Conclusions / findings: The results of the analyses showed that each personality dimension was significantly different for respondents satisfied with their performance of work of a particular nature. This can confirm the use of personality tests in the recruitment process; however, some factors need to be taken into account, including, among others, organizational environment or specific job demands.Originality / value of the article: The article is an attempt to link comprehensively different studies focusing on the association between personality and the type of work performed, with this objective being expanded by adding a moderate variable - job satisfaction, which allows one to determine the extent to which the type of work fits a particular dimension of personality.Implications of the research: The implicational value pertains to recruitment and selection processes, justifying the validity of the personality test application in recruitment processes. Limitations of the research: In the future, it would be useful to enlarge the group examined in order to be able to generalize the results and add other moderate variables, such as, for example, organizational demands shaping the character of work.

Personality testing and workplace training

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how and why personality tests are used in workplace training. This research paper is guided by three research questions that inquire about the role of external and internal stakeholders, the value of psychometric and practical considerations in test selection, and the purpose of personality test use in workplace training.Design/methodology/approachThis research paper uses multiple-case study analysis. Interviews, test reports, product flyers and email correspondence were collected and analyzed from publishers, associations, psychologists and human resource development (HRD) practitioners in Germany, the UK and The Netherlands between 2012 and 2016.FindingsThemes emerge around industry tensions among practitioners and professional associations, psychologists and non-psychologists. Ease of use is a more important factor than psychometrics in the decision-making process. Also, practitioners welcome publishers that offer free coaching support. In the process of using tests for development rather than assessment, re-labeling takes place when practitioners and publishers use positive terms for personality tests as tools for personal stocktaking and development.Research limitations/implicationsDespite extensive data collection and analysis efforts, this study is limited by its focus on a relatively small number of country cases and stakeholders per case.Practical implicationsBy combining scientific evidence with practical application, stakeholders can take first steps toward more evidence-based HRD practice around personality testing in workplace training.Originality/valueLittle academic literature exists on the use of personality testing in workplace training. Without a clear understanding of the use of personality testing outside personnel selection, the current practice of personality tests for developmental purposes could raise ethical concerns about the rights and responsibilities of test takers.

Personality and Mentoring: Stepping Off on the Right Foot.

This column offers some innovative recommendations on the use of personality testing as a stepping-off point for mentorship pairing. Effective pairing increases the value and effectiveness of the mentoring relationship. J Contin Educ Nurs. 2016;47(5):201-203.

Finding the Right Fit: How to Use the Evidence to Make a Great Hire (FR417)

•Identify challenges specific to hiring in palliative care.•Reflect on how programs can prepare themselves to make a good hire by clearly defining their mission and strengths.•Explore strategies for screening and interviewing candidates such as the use of behavioral interviewing techniques and personality tests. Hiring the right person, whether social worker, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or physician, is a high-stakes task in palliative care. This interactive session begins by exploring challenges specific to hiring in palliative care, such as the need to screen for candidates who can process complicated emotional stressors, manage counter-transference, and work well in teams. We will then focus on strategies for making a good hire. First, we will teach how programs can reflect on their mission, vision, strengths, and needs to create a shared mental model of the right candidate and use this model to screen and recruit applicants. Second, we will discuss and practice how to use behavioral interviewing techniques to learn more about how the candidate’s job performance can be gauged during the interview. Finally, we will discuss the use of personality tests as an additional source of information in the hiring process.

Personality Tests in Employment: A Continuing Legal, Ethical, and Practical Quandary

The controversy in human resource practice and law today continues, to wit: –the use of personality tests in employment, typically online tests, which human resource practitioners are increasingly using in the hiring process, especially for executives, sales, and customer service positions. Selecting the right people for the right positions is, of course, one of the elements of success for any business. Accordingly, it is imperative for the employer to choose highly qualified people for open positions. This article examines the effectiveness, legality, fairness, and morality of personality tests in employment. Legal aspects of the use of personality tests are examined, principally pursuant to the U.S. Civil Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. An ethical analysis of personality tests is provided to determine if their use in the context of employment is moral. The legal focus of the article is primarily on the private sector, but the principles are applicable across the board. The implications of the use of personality tests in employment are raised; and accordingly several recommendations are supplied to achieve a legal, moral, and practical use of personality tests in employment.

Personality Tests in Employment: A Continuing Legal, Ethical, and Practical Quandary

The controversy in human resource practice and law today continues, to wit: –the use of personality tests in employment, typically online tests, which human resource practitioners are increasingly using in the hiring process, especially for executives, sales, and customer service positions. Selecting the right people for the right positions is, of course, one of the elements of success for any business. Accordingly, it is imperative for the employer to choose highly qualified people for open positions. This article examines the effectiveness, legality, fairness, and morality of personality tests in employment. Legal aspects of the use of personality tests are examined, principally pursuant to the U.S. Civil Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. An ethical analysis of personality tests is provided to determine if their use in the context of employment is moral. The legal focus of the article is primarily on the private sector, but the principles are applicable across the board. The implications of the use of personality tests in employment are raised; and accordingly several recommendations are supplied to achieve a legal, moral, and practical use of personality tests in employment.

Surgeon and nonsurgeon personalities at different career points

BackgroundPrevious studies have demonstrated correlations between personality traits and job performance and satisfaction. Evidence suggests that personality differences exist between surgeons and nonsurgeons, some of which may develop during medical training. Understanding these personality differences may help optimize job performance and satisfaction among surgical trainees and be used to identify individuals at risk of burnout. This study aims to identify personality traits of surgeons and nonsurgeons at different career points. Materials and methodsWe used The Big Five Inventory, a 44-item measure of the five factor model. Personality data and demographics were collected from responses to an electronic survey sent to all faculty and house staff in the Departments of Surgery, Medicine, and Family Medicine at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Data were analyzed to identify differences in personality traits between surgical and nonsurgical specialties according to level of training and to compare surgeons to the general population. ResultsOne hundred ninety-two house staff and faculty in surgery and medicine completed the survey. Surgeons scored significantly higher on conscientiousness and extraversion but lower on agreeableness compared to nonsurgeons (all P < 0.05). Surgery faculty scored lower in agreeableness compared with that of surgery house staff (P = 0.001), whereas nonsurgeon faculty scored higher on extraversion compared with that of nonsurgeon house staff (P = 0.04). ConclusionsThere appears to be inherent personality differences between surgical and nonsurgical specialties. The use of personality testing may be a useful adjunct in the residency selection process for applicants deciding between surgical and nonsurgical specialties. It may also facilitate early intervention for individuals at high risk for burnout and job dissatisfaction.

Cross-cultural differences in social desirability scales: Influence of cognitive ability

Orientation: The use of personality tests for selection and screening has been consistently criticised resulting from the risk of socially desirable responding amongst job applicants. Research purpose: This study examined the magnitude of culture and language group meanscore differences amongst job applicants and the moderating effect of race on the relationship between social desirability and cognitive ability. Motivation for the study: The influence of cognitive ability and potential race and ethnic group differences in social desirability scale scores, which can lead to disproportional selection ratios, has not been extensively researched in South Africa. Research design, approach and method: A quantitative, cross-sectional research design, based on secondary datasets obtained from the test publisher, was employed. The dataset consisted of 1640 job applicants across industry sectors. Main findings: Moderated multiple regression analyses revealed that the relationship between social desirability and general reasoning was moderated by culture and language, with group differences in social desirability being more pronounced at the low general reasoning level. This suggests that social desirability scales may be an ambiguous indicator of faking as the scales may indicate tendency to fake, but not the ability to fake, that is likely to be connected to the level of cognitive ability of the respondent.Practical/managerial implications: Individual differences in social desirability are not fully explained by cognitive ability as cultural differences also played a role. Responding in a certain manner, reflects a level of psychological sophistication that is informed by the level of education and socio-economic status. In relation to selection practice, this study provided evidence of the potentially adverse consequences of using social desirability scales to detect response distortion. Contribution/value-add: The exploration of cross-cultural differences in the application of social desirability scales and the influence of cognitive ability is seen as a major contribution, supported by possible explanations for the differences observed and recommendations regarding the practice of universal corrections and adjustments.