Reactions to cognitive ability tests: The relationships between race, test performance, face validity perceptions, and test-taking motivation.

Orientation: Growing research has shown that not only test validity considerations but also the test-taking attitudes of job applicants are important in the choice of selection instruments as these can contribute to test performance and the perceived fairness of the selection process.Research purpose: The main purpose of this study was to determine the test-taking attitudes of a diverse group of job applicants towards personality and cognitive ability tests administered conjointly online as part of employee selection in a financial services company in South Africa.Motivation for the study: If users understand how job applicants view specific test types, they will know which assessments are perceived more negatively and how this situation can potentially be rectified.Research design, approach and method: A non-experimental and cross-sectional survey design was used. An adapted version of the Test Attitude Survey was used to determine job applicants’ attitudes towards tests administered online as part of an employee selection process. The sample consisted of a group of job applicants (N = 160) who were diverse in terms of ethnicity and age and the educational level applicable for sales and supervisory positions.Main findings: On average, the job applicants responded equally positively to the cognitive ability and personality tests. The African job applicants had a statistically significantly more positive attitude towards the tests than the other groups, and candidates applying for the sales position viewed the cognitive ability tests significantly less positively than the personality test.Practical and managerial implications: The choice of selection tests used in combination as well as the testing conditions that are applicable should be considered carefully as they are the factors that can potentially influence the test-taking motivation and general test-taking attitudes of job applicants.Contribution: This study consolidated the research findings on the determinants of attitudinal responses to cognitive ability and personality testing and produced valuable empirical findings on job applicants’ attitudes towards both test types when administered conjointly

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Context Effects on Test Performance

European Journal of Psychological Assessment ◽

10.1027/1015-5759/a000050 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 27 (2) ◽

pp. 103-110 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Lale Khorramdel ◽

Martina Frebort

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Ability ◽

Test Performance ◽

Context Effects ◽

Personality Tests ◽

Frustration Tolerance ◽

Cognitive Ability Tests ◽

Management Positions ◽

Ability Tests ◽

Test Order ◽

Carry Over

The effects of varied test order within a computer test battery on test performance were investigated. An experiment was performed to determine whether completing objective personality tests sensu R. B. Cattell affects test performance in subsequent cognitive ability tests and vice versa. The sample consisted of managers of an industrial corporation (an automotive supplier) in “higher management positions” (business managers, department chiefs, and team leaders) who attended an investigation of their professional potential that resembled a real selection situation. It was hypothesized that carry-over and priming effects, as well as fatigue and learning effects might occur. Results of a MANOVA showed a main effect of test order on objective personality tests, since “frustration tolerance” decreased and “decisiveness” increased when objective personality tests were presented subsequent to cognitive ability tests, while cognitive ability tests were not affected by prior objective personality tests.

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