scholarly journals Does expertise and thinking mode matter for accuracy in judgments of job applicants’ cognitive ability?

2020 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 484-493
Author(s):  
Samantha Sinclair ◽  
Jens Agerström
2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 517-542
Author(s):  
Christopher M. Berry ◽  
Peng Zhao ◽  
Juan Carlos Batarse ◽  
Craig Reddock

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachelle Visser ◽  
Pieter Schaap

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


2015 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aletta Odendaal

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.


1994 ◽  
Vol 79 (6) ◽  
pp. 987-992 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph G. Rosse ◽  
Janice L. Miller ◽  
Mary D. Stecher

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 318-327
Author(s):  
Philipp Alexander Freund ◽  
Vanessa Katharina Jaensch ◽  
Franzis Preckel

Abstract. The current study investigates the behavior of task-specific, current achievement motivation (CAM: interest in the task, probability of success, perceived challenge, and fear of failure) across a variety of reasoning tasks featuring verbal, numerical, and figural content. CAM is conceptualized as a state-like variable, and in order to assess the relative stability of the four CAM variables across different tasks, latent state trait analyses are conducted. The major findings indicate that the degree of challenge a test taker experiences and the fear of failing a given task appear to be relatively stable regardless of the specific task utilized, whereas interest and probability of success are more directly influenced by task-specific characteristics and demands. Furthermore, task performance is related to task-specific interest and probability of success. We discuss the implications and benefits of these results with regard to the use of cognitive ability tests in general. Importantly, taking motivational differences between test takers into account appears to offer valuable information which helps to explain differences in task performance.


2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 161-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosalind Arden ◽  
Nicole Harlaar ◽  
Robert Plomin

Abstract. An association between intelligence at age 7 and a set of five single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) has been identified and replicated. We used this composite SNP set to investigate whether the associations differ between boys and girls for general cognitive ability at ages 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, and 10 years. In a longitudinal community sample of British twins aged 2-10 (n > 4,000 individuals), we found that the SNP set is more strongly associated with intelligence in males than in females at ages 7, 9, and 10 and the difference is significant at 10. If this finding replicates in other studies, these results will constitute the first evidence of the same autosomal genes acting differently on intelligence in the two sexes.


2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 157-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip L. Roth ◽  
Allen I. Huffcutt

The topic of what interviews measure has received a great deal of attention over the years. One line of research has investigated the relationship between interviews and the construct of cognitive ability. A previous meta-analysis reported an overall corrected correlation of .40 ( Huffcutt, Roth, & McDaniel, 1996 ). A more recent meta-analysis reported a noticeably lower corrected correlation of .27 ( Berry, Sackett, & Landers, 2007 ). After reviewing both meta-analyses, it appears that the two studies posed different research questions. Further, there were a number of coding judgments in Berry et al. that merit review, and there was no moderator analysis for educational versus employment interviews. As a result, we reanalyzed the work by Berry et al. and found a corrected correlation of .42 for employment interviews (.15 higher than Berry et al., a 56% increase). Further, educational interviews were associated with a corrected correlation of .21, supporting their influence as a moderator. We suggest a better estimate of the correlation between employment interviews and cognitive ability is .42, and this takes us “back to the future” in that the better overall estimate of the employment interviews – cognitive ability relationship is roughly .40. This difference has implications for what is being measured by interviews and their incremental validity.


2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 78-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janneke K. Oostrom ◽  
Marise Ph. Born ◽  
Alec W. Serlie ◽  
Henk T. van der Molen

Advances in computer technology have created opportunities for the development of a multimedia situational test in which responses are filmed with a webcam. This paper examined the relationship of a so-called webcam test with personality, cognitive ability, job experience, and academic performance. Data were collected among 153 psychology students. In line with our expectations, scores on the webcam test, intended to measure interpersonally oriented leadership, were related to extraversion, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and job experience. Furthermore, the webcam tests significantly predicted students’ learning activities during group meetings over and above a cognitive ability test and a personality questionnaire. Overall, this study demonstrates that webcam tests can be a valid complement to traditional predictors in selection contexts.


2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 70-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne Schmid Mast ◽  
Denise Frauendorfer ◽  
Laurence Popovic

The goal of this study was to investigate the influence of the recruiter’s cultural background on the evaluation of a job applicant’s presentation style (self-promoting or modest) in an interview situation. We expected that recruiters from cultures that value self-promotion (e.g., Canada) will be more inclined to hire self-promoting as compared to modest applicants and that recruiters from cultures that value modesty (e.g., Switzerland) will be less inclined to hire self-promoting applicants than recruiters from cultures that value self-promotion. We therefore investigated 44 native French speaking recruiters from Switzerland and 40 native French speaking recruiters from Canada who judged either a self-promoting or a modest videotaped applicant in terms of hireability. Results confirmed that Canadian recruiters were more inclined to hire self-promoting compared to modest applicants and that Canadian recruiters were more inclined than Swiss recruiters to hire self-promoting applicants. Also, we showed that self-promotion was related to a higher intention to hire because self-promoting applicants are perceived as being competent.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document