This update summarizes and provides links for the following research of interest:
- Using Integrity Tests for Employee Selection
- Does Emotional Reasoning aid Job Performance?
- What attracts Employees to Organizations?
Using Integrity Tests for Employee Selection
Integrity tests, as a part of a selection battery, have been shown to provide the greatest incremental validity over and above tests of general mental ability (Schmidt and Hunter, 1998). Building on this research, Casillas, Robbins, McKinniss, Postlewaite and Oh (2009) tested 680 job incumbents across nine organizations of different sizes spanning diverse industries to develop and validate an integrity measure called the WorkKeys Performance Assessment (WPA). This participant sample was randomly split into a development sample, which was used to select the items to be included on the test and a cross- validation sample, to identify the properties of the measure. An item pool was generated using current I/O Psychology literature, subject matter expert ratings, and readability ratings from a sample of 50 blue-collar employees. The resulting pool of 216 items was set to a 6-point Likert scale and divided into two sub-scales, GWA measuring an individual’s overall approach to their work and environment and RR, a measure of an individual’s attitude towards compliance with safety guidelines and procedures as well as accident prevention in the workplace. The measure contained both overt and covert items. Analysis of data collected from the development sample resulted in a total of 26 GWA (α=.81) and 23 RR (α=.83) items. Scores on the GWA and RR scales were correlated with both self and supervisor ratings of performance. Moreover, including RR in the analysis increased incremental validity and ability to predict safety and counter-productive work behaviours by 27.8% and 20.1% respectively. It was also observed that a composite of conscientiousness, agreeableness and emotional stability from the Big 5 was highly correlated with the WPA (range=.52-.59). Consistent with the literature, fairly low correlations were observed between demographic variables and test scores. Hence, these pre-employment tests could function as a cost-effective device to identify potentially reliable and dependable employees who may be successful on the job.
Does Emotional Reasoning aid Job Performance?
This 2-study investigation by Blickle, Momm, Kramer, Mierke, Liu and Ferris (2009) evaluated the construct and criterion related validity of a new measure of emotional reasoning called the ‘Test of Emotional Intelligence (TEMINT). This test uses a specific-ability approach to assess an important component of emotional intelligence which involves reasoning with emotions or “the ability to employ emotional knowledge to understand and analyze emotions” (Blickle et al., 2009). The measure was developed such that lower scores on the TEMINT indicate higher emotional reasoning skills. This measure was administered to 210 German employees in conjunction with another extensively validated measure of emotion perception ability called ‘DANVA’. These participants were also peer-rated by 210 assessors. Consistent with expectations, the TEMINT was significantly related to job function and job type but not age and gender. Results from Study 1 indicated that TEMINT scores were positively correlated with scores from the DANVA (r=.26, p<.05). Consistent with predictions, TEMINT scores were negatively correlated to self ratings of empathy(r=-.26, p<.05) as well as openness to experience(r=-.21, p<.05). As well, TEMINT scores were negatively correlated with all three social functioning variables including social astuteness, interpersonal influence and apparent sincerity and explained a significant proportion of the variance in these even after controlling for personality and job type but appeared to be uncorrelated with general mental ability (GMA). Study 2 revealed that the assessments of job performance by supervisors, peers and others were significantly correlated (r=-.24) with TEMINT scores. Moreover, emotional reasoning skills measured on the TEMINT explained a significant proportion of job performance even beyond those accounted for by GMA and personality. Hence, TEMINT appears to be a valid measure of emotional reasoning skills which seems to be an important predictor of job performance. Future research is required to examine the relationship of TEMINT with other relevant work outcomes as well as to design emotional competency training to develop employee emotional reasoning skills.
What attracts Employees to Organizations?
A study by Slaughter and Greguras (2009) attempted to determine whether the perceived ‘personality’ of an organization (defined as the set of human personality characteristics perceived to be associated with the organization) was a factor influencing an individual’s initial attraction to it. An organization’s “personality” can be developed through a variety of media including television/radio advertisements and other sources of information such as the internet, or from friends and family. Previous research by Slaughter et al (2004) indentified five different types of perceived organizational personality characteristics including Boy Scout (e.g. honest, helpful), Innovativeness (e.g. original), Dominance (e.g. big), Thrift (e.g. low budget) and Style (e.g. trendy). Data was collected at three time periods 2 weeks apart. Participants included 828 undergraduate psychology students at Time 1 who completed the Big 5 personality measure. At Time 2, a total of 777 participants rated a randomly assigned organization on perceptions of organizational personality characteristics and available job opportunities. At Time 3, a total of 752 participants rated organizational attractiveness.
Notable findings included the following:
Full article/abstract available at: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122204891/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
Does Emotional Reasoning aid Job Performance?
This 2-study investigation by Blickle, Momm, Kramer, Mierke, Liu and Ferris (2009) evaluated the construct and criterion related validity of a new measure of emotional reasoning called the ‘Test of Emotional Intelligence (TEMINT). This test uses a specific-ability approach to assess an important component of emotional intelligence which involves reasoning with emotions or “the ability to employ emotional knowledge to understand and analyze emotions” (Blickle et al., 2009). The measure was developed such that lower scores on the TEMINT indicate higher emotional reasoning skills. This measure was administered to 210 German employees in conjunction with another extensively validated measure of emotion perception ability called ‘DANVA’. These participants were also peer-rated by 210 assessors. Consistent with expectations, the TEMINT was significantly related to job function and job type but not age and gender. Results from Study 1 indicated that TEMINT scores were positively correlated with scores from the DANVA (r=.26, p<.05). Consistent with predictions, TEMINT scores were negatively correlated to self ratings of empathy(r=-.26, p<.05) as well as openness to experience(r=-.21, p<.05). As well, TEMINT scores were negatively correlated with all three social functioning variables including social astuteness, interpersonal influence and apparent sincerity and explained a significant proportion of the variance in these even after controlling for personality and job type but appeared to be uncorrelated with general mental ability (GMA). Study 2 revealed that the assessments of job performance by supervisors, peers and others were significantly correlated (r=-.24) with TEMINT scores. Moreover, emotional reasoning skills measured on the TEMINT explained a significant proportion of job performance even beyond those accounted for by GMA and personality. Hence, TEMINT appears to be a valid measure of emotional reasoning skills which seems to be an important predictor of job performance. Future research is required to examine the relationship of TEMINT with other relevant work outcomes as well as to design emotional competency training to develop employee emotional reasoning skills.
Full article/abstract available at: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122204894/abstract
What attracts Employees to Organizations?
A study by Slaughter and Greguras (2009) attempted to determine whether the perceived ‘personality’ of an organization (defined as the set of human personality characteristics perceived to be associated with the organization) was a factor influencing an individual’s initial attraction to it. An organization’s “personality” can be developed through a variety of media including television/radio advertisements and other sources of information such as the internet, or from friends and family. Previous research by Slaughter et al (2004) indentified five different types of perceived organizational personality characteristics including Boy Scout (e.g. honest, helpful), Innovativeness (e.g. original), Dominance (e.g. big), Thrift (e.g. low budget) and Style (e.g. trendy). Data was collected at three time periods 2 weeks apart. Participants included 828 undergraduate psychology students at Time 1 who completed the Big 5 personality measure. At Time 2, a total of 777 participants rated a randomly assigned organization on perceptions of organizational personality characteristics and available job opportunities. At Time 3, a total of 752 participants rated organizational attractiveness.
Notable findings included the following:
- The organization’s “personality” explained a significant proportion of the variance in attraction to the organization but not the likelihood of accepting a job offer.
- There was less attraction to organizations that appeared thrifty. As a result, the authors recommended that companies emphasize other qualities (e.g., portray an image of being more innovative, helpful and reliable).
- More dominant organizations seem less attractive to applicants.
- Conscientiousness moderated the relationship between attraction to the organization and a number of perceived organizational personality characteristics (Thrift, Innovativeness and Boy Scout) such that more conscientious individuals who are also more ambitious will prefer to not be associated with organizations that have a negative image.
- Results did not reveal a stronger attraction to an organization as a result of a stronger Person-Organization fit but did find a weaker attraction due to a weaker fit, especially in the cases where individuals were high on a personality dimension that the organization was perceived low on.
Full article/abstract available at: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122204898/abstract
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