Is it possible to predict bad behaviour in prospective employees? The answer is “yes”.
This study examined the degree to which the predictive validity of personality declines in job applicant settings.
Participants completed the 200-item HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised, either as part of confidential research (347 non-applicants) or an actual job application (260 job applicants).
Approximately 18-months later, participants completed a confidential survey measuring organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) and counterproductive work behaviour (CWB).
There was evidence for a small drop in predictive validity among job applicants, however honesty-humility, extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness predicted lower levels of CWB and higher levels of OCB in both job applicants and non-applicants.
The study also informs the use of the HEXACO model of personality in selection settings, reporting typical levels of applicant faking and facet-level predictive validity.
Learn more about personality testing.
